İlayda Eskitaşcioğlu Karavelioğlu [she/her]

TURKEY | Health/Reproductive Health
Dr. İlayda Eskitaşcıoğlu is an award-winning feminist human rights lawyer, attorney-at-law, menstrual justice activist, and children's book author. She holds a Ph.D. in public international law from Koç University in Istanbul, where she researched the human rights responsibilities of multinational corporations. She is currently a postdoctoral researcher and affiliated scholar at the Koç University UNESCO Chair for Gender Equality and Sustainable Development.

İlayda is the president and co-founder of We Need to Talk Association (Konuşmamız Gerek), a youth-led feminist NGO established in 2016 to fight against period poverty and menstruation stigma in Türkiye. The organization provides sanitary products and menstrual care support to three vulnerable target groups: seasonal agricultural workers, the Syrian refugee community, and pre-teens attending school in remote rural areas. Through its programming, the NGO sparks honest and open conversations about menstruation, works to dismantle taboos, and advocates against the unjust taxation of menstrual products in Türkiye and the Middle East.

Her international recognition includes being selected as one of Turkey’s Changemakers in 2020, a member of the Generation Equality Youth Task Force led by UN Women, and one of the 17 United Nations Young Leaders for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). İlayda has also supported the UN Women Europe and Central Asia Regional Office as an international consultant on youth engagement.

Her academic and advocacy interests lie at the intersection of gender equality, business and human rights, women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), climate justice, child labour, and international human rights law.

İlayda continues to amplify the voices of young feminists and marginalized communities through her legal, scholarly, and grassroots work—committed to creating inclusive, just, and period-positive societies.