Abstract:
This study examined the right to health care and access to the healthcare facilities for Syrian women refugees living in Ankara within the scope of The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). The issue of migration gains even more importance in the context of human rights. One of the most affected groups by the migration process is women. One of the main reasons for this is that women suffer a lot more during the migration process as they encounter more problems both as women and refugees. As a result of this, the health care problems they experience constitute one of the important issues which needs to be addressed. Refugee women face serious health problems that stem from insufficient language knowledge, environmental factors, lack of health insurance and economic reasons. These factors prevent refugee women from accessing reproductive, psychological, and physical health services. Furthermore, violence, sexual harassment and sexually transmitted infections are other problems faced by women refugees. In this study, qualitative research techniques were deployed and to be able to obtain data semi-structured interviews were conducted with Syrian female refugees living in Ankara. CEDAW stated that women can benefit from the field of health on equal terms with men and without discrimination. The aim of this study thesis is to reveal the health problems of Syrian women refugees living in Ankara and how they experience problems in accessing the right to health, and how the CEDAW Convention shapes the right to health. The research question of this thesis is "How effective CEDAW in protecting the right to health care of Syrian women refugees in Ankara is." This study showed that it is necessary to implement more effective policies to protect the right to health of Syrian women refugees. The study has also revealed that the health policies for refugees should be applied more efficiently by raising awareness about the implementation of human rights.
