Refugee Rights Türkiye is an independent NGO with the status of an association that works to strengthen the access of refugees and other vulnerable migrants, who have sought asylum in Turkey due to war or persecution, to rights arising from national and international legislation. Its headquarters is in Istanbul. In addition to the legal support services it provides to asylum seekers, RRT also carries out training and capacity-building activities for lawyers and civil society organizations, prepares information and reference sources on various issues related to refugee law, and carries out advocacy activities to encourage the development of legislation, policies and practices in the field of asylum in Turkey in line with international standards.

Refugee Rights Türkiye is committed to providing its support services to asylum seekers, refugees, vulnerable migrants, and other relevant persons with the highest compliance with ethical and professional conduct. In addition, we are aware that RRT’s service delivery involves unequal power relations between our clients and our employees; we believe that to provide effective services to our clients, we need to have well-defined institutional standards of conduct. These principles are a set of values ​​and rules established to ensure that RRT and its staff maintain the necessary standards of conduct and avoid any abuse. Ethics and professionalism are essential to ensure RRT provides effective and responsible service to its clients. They are also critical to maintaining RRT’s reputation for transparency and competence. The principles of Ethics and Professionalism apply to RRT and all its staff (including staff, volunteers, contractors and staff of MHM’s partner organizations). Employees at all levels of our institution have a special responsibility to uphold these standards, set a good example and create a work environment that supports our employees in this regard.

In the implementation of free legal support services provided to refugees and other vulnerable foreigners, the Refugee Rights Türkiye:

• Treats beneficiaries equally regardless of race, language, skin colour, ethnic and religious affiliation, political views, age, disability, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and other individual differences.
• Within the framework of standardized service policies established to ensure equal treatment and service quality, all beneficiaries benefit from services of equivalent level and quality regarding the same type of legal support requests.
• Provides beneficiaries with clear, accurate and realistic information about the positive and negative possibilities and options they may encounter in the relevant migration and asylum processes and avoids creating unrealistic expectations.
• Refrains from making decisions on behalf of individuals regarding legal options and supports beneficiaries in making their own decisions in the light of accurate and reliable information and consultancy.
• Provides beneficiaries with clear and accurate information regarding the content and limits of the legal support services provided and avoids making unrealistic or unfulfillable commitments.
• Communicates with beneficiaries based on mutual respect, professional distance and personal courtesy.
• All legal information materials and legal support services of RRT are completely free of charge. This includes printed and visual legal information publications, online and face-to-face group information and capacity-building seminars. To avoid any perception or misunderstanding to the contrary, RRT employees cannot accept any gifts or financial or personal benefits from beneficiaries.
• Beneficiaries can directly send us their questions and requests to benefit from RRT legal information and support services, without the need for any third party or institution; RRT has no relationship with any third party or institution that claims to provide ‘referral’ or ‘association’ services to asylum seekers and immigrants regarding our services in return for a fee or other personal benefit; beneficiaries should not trust malicious individuals and institutions that may aim to gain benefit from such misleading promises.
• In the execution of legal support services and about the work and transactions that are promised to be followed regarding the administrative and legal processes of the individuals, it meticulously observes the principle of diligent work; and assumes institutional responsibility for any negligence or error that may occur in the legal support service provided. 
• It meticulously observes the confidentiality of personal information; as an independent legal support actor, it ensures that the personal information of the beneficiaries is kept confidential.
• It fulfils all obligations arising from the legislation regarding the protection of personal data; provides the necessary information to the beneficiaries regarding the issues that may arise regarding the protection of personal data during the legal support relationship and interactions, and brings the issues requiring approval to the beneficiaries’ attention.
• In its capacity as a legal support provider, it never encourages beneficiaries to provide false information and statements or false documents; it never mediates the presentation of false information, statements or false documents on behalf of individuals. It never participates in or mediates criminal acts.
• It respects the principle of “Best Interest of the Child” regarding child beneficiaries.
• It undertakes a safe working and service environment for all beneficiaries and employees; it does not accept any attitude or behaviour that constitutes disrespect, violence, harassment or exploitation based on any identity or difference element, especially gender, sexual orientation and gender identity.

Sexual exploitation is the exploitation or attempted exploitation of a sensitive situation, power relationship or trust for sexual purposes. 

Sexual abuse is sexual activity that is carried out or threatened to be carried out by using force or under unequal or coercive conditions. Sexual exploitation and abuse are human rights violations and constitute serious acts of misconduct for RRT employees. RRT has a zero-tolerance policy against all forms of sexual violence, recognizing that even one case of sexual exploitation and abuse is too many. If you believe that you have been subjected to sexual exploitation and abuse by RRT personnel, or if you have any knowledge or suspicion that RRT personnel have been involved in a possible incident of sexual exploitation or abuse, please report the situation directly to RRT Feedback and Complaint Mechanism detailed below. Please remember that your complaints are kept confidential and that the information you report will not be shared with others without your consent.

RRT has a zero-tolerance policy against sexual exploitation and abuse. We take measures to protect our beneficiaries from sexual exploitation and abuse and to ensure adequate intervention when such abuse occurs. In this context; we adopt and meticulously implement the following principles:

1. Sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) is considered serious misconduct by RRT employees and results in termination of their employment.
2. Sexual interaction with children (persons under the age of 18) is prohibited. Misinformation about the child’s age is not an excuse.

III. Providing money for sexual intercourse, providing employment, receiving goods or services; sexual favours or any other humiliating, degrading or exploitative behaviour is prohibited. This also includes assistance services provided to beneficiaries.

1. Sexual relations between the institution’s staff, partners, volunteers and beneficiaries are prohibited since they are based on unfair power dynamics. Such relationships damage the reliability and integrity of institutions.
2. If an employee has any doubts or reservations about SEA within the institution, he/she must immediately inform his/her manager about the issue and report it to the internal complaint mechanism.
3. RRT is responsible for creating and maintaining an environment that prevents SEA, and all employees are responsible for encouraging the implementation of the SEA policy. The managers of the institution must provide the appropriate environment for the implementation, support and development of the SEA policy.

Fraud is an action taken to intentionally mislead the other party to gain benefit.

Corruption is the direct or indirect offering, giving, receiving or requesting of any benefit to ensure that a person acts improperly. All legal information materials and legal support services of RRT are completely free of charge; this includes printed and visual legal information publications, online and face-to-face group information and capacity-building seminars. To avoid any perception or misunderstanding to the contrary, RRT employees cannot accept any gifts or similar material or personal benefits from beneficiaries. Beneficiaries can directly forward their questions and requests to us without the need for any third party or institution to benefit from RRT legal information and support services; RRT has no relationship with any third party or institution that claims to provide ‘referral’ or ‘association’ services to asylum seekers and immigrants regarding our services in return for a fee or other personal benefit. Beneficiaries should not trust malicious individuals and institutions that may aim to gain benefits with such misleading promises. Remember that any RRT service offered to you in exchange for money is based on fraud. To access real information about RRT’s activities and services, please contact us. If you have any information that RRT personnel or personnel working within RRT partners or contractors are involved in corruption or fraud, please report the situation to the RRT Feedback and Complaint Mechanism immediately.

Refugee Rights Türkiye is committed to acting by the above-mentioned principles of ethics and professionalism in the conduct of all its activities, particularly legal support services. If RRT employees or representatives violate these principles, you can apply to the RRT Feedback and Complaint Mechanism.

RRT is committed to receiving feedback and responding to complaints from all stakeholders regarding its conduct in a timely and appropriate manner. Feedback and complaints are handled professionally and in a manner that promotes fairness, transparency and accountability. The Feedback and Complaint Mechanism is an institutional structure demonstrating that RRT considers the following when conducting its activities:

• Affirming the dignity and value of our stakeholders and their right to be heard and recognized,
• Understanding the needs of our stakeholders and improving quality and impact by tailoring our programs to better meet their needs,
• Raising institutional awareness of misconduct and assuring stakeholders that RRT does not tolerate misconduct.

All beneficiaries who receive support from Refugee Rights Türkiye can apply to RRT Feedback and Complaint Mechanism. All stakeholders who participate in the activities of our institution and are in contact with our institution can apply to the Feedback and Complaint Mechanism in case they are exposed to or observe a situation that violates the principles of Ethics and Professionalism, or to convey their positive or negative feedback regarding the services they receive from RRT:

• All RRT beneficiaries,
• Other persons directly affected by RRT’s policies and actions,
• Partners, funding organizations and their employees (humanitarian aid partners, contractors and authorities).

The Feedback and Complaint Mechanism is not only a mechanism where you can share your positive and negative opinions about the legal support services provided by Refugee Rights Türkiye, the events it organizes and all its activities, but it is also an institutional structure that can be applied in case of violations of the principles of Ethics and Professionalism. The Refugee Rights Center aims to receive feedback on the services and operations it provides, respond to complaints and improve the support it provides in line with these opinions. Feedback/complaints submitted in the following categories will be evaluated:

• Positive/negative feedback on the services provided
• Operational complaints (delays in services provided, etc.)
• Corruption (fraud, theft, etc.)
• Privacy violations
• Sexual exploitation and abuse
• All forms of discrimination
• Harassment, bullying and verbal abuse

The following feedback/complaint categories will not be evaluated within the scope of the Feedback and Complaint Mechanism:

• Notifications/complaints regarding issues unrelated to the RRT,
• Notifications/complaints regarding internal operations (There is a separate internal feedback and complaint mechanism.)

As Refugee Rights Türkiye, we wish to receive feedback on the services we provide to you, listen to any complaints you may have about the service you receive, and improve the support we provide in line with your opinions. In addition to our other support lines, you can use any of the following communication channels created solely for your feedback and complaints.

RRT Feedback and Complaint Line:

Phone: 0543 329 61 90. Weekdays, Monday through Friday, between 10:00 and 17:00. The line in question provides service in English and Turkish, and upon request, translations will be provided in Arabic, Farsi, French and other languages. 

SMS, Whatsapp, Telegram, Signal, Viber messages sent in any language will also be evaluated.

E-mail: [email protected]  ya da [email protected]   E-mails sent in any language will be evaluated.

Online form: You can also send us your feedback or complaint by filling out the online form in Turkish, English, French, Arabic or Farsi.

The information of each person and institution that reaches us will be meticulously evaluated confidentially. This information will not be shared with third parties for any reason other than legal obligations. During the evaluation and investigation of the application, the privacy of the applicant and other relevant parties is taken into consideration. In addition, RRT would like to remind you that the notifications made will not affect your status of receiving or continuing to receive service from our institution. RRT is committed to providing a service environment that does not tolerate any type of discrimination or harassment and does not ignore such situations that may arise. When making a complaint, please write your notification in detail about what happened, what you know about the incident and/or incidents; if possible, the person who attempted misconduct and other people involved in this incident, specifying their name, surname, job and, if possible, the day and time. Complaints can be made anonymously, however, if you choose to make a complaint anonymously please ensure that you include all relevant details. We may need to contact you to understand the scope of your complaint and feedback and to obtain more detailed information about the issue you have brought to our attention. Applications made to the Feedback and Complaint Mechanism will be responded within 3 business days with a confirmation of receipt and information about the inquiry/investigation procedure that will be conducted.

Yes. RRT confirms that the notifications made will not affect the beneficiaries’ status of receiving or continuing to receive services from our institution.

Of course. You can also submit your complaints or feedback face to face during our office hours (9:30-17:30). We recommend that you make an appointment by calling 0 543 329 61 90 before coming to the office. You can also use the complaint boxes in our office to submit your complaints and feedback.

RRT is only responsible for its employees and activities. Depending on the nature of your complaint, you may need to contact the relevant institution or the police. If you have questions about such issues, you can call RRT general legal advice line 0 850 218 48 30.