Turkey Has Failed Its Promise to Children

Bianet asked Adem Arkadas from the International Children's Centre (ICC) to evaluate the work of the Turkish Parliament on children's rights. Arkadas conceded that there was an apparent increase in work on children, but that basic rights were not in place, and that Turkey had not kept its promise of creating a legal framework to protect the rights of children according to the 1995 Convention.

He said that parliamentary research commissions tended to focus on the rise in violence among children and the young. There are, he added, attempts to provide for children's rights legally, but they have not narrowed the gap between the Convention and Turkey's legal, political and economic structure. In short, Turkey has not kept its promise.

Arkadas also drew attention to children's rights as referred to in the Paris Principles . The principles are concerned with children who have experienced war, either as active participants or as victims of war. He also called for a parliamentary analysis on how laws and budgets affect children.

Laws need to be explained to children

According to Arkadas, laws concerning children should be presented to children in a manner they would understand, so that children can have an input.

There is also a need for a law that forbids any violence towards children.

Lack of research

Ayhan Bilgen, independent candidate for Konya and former president of the Association for Human Rights and Solidarity for the Oppressed (MAZLUMDER), said that there was urgent need for research and work on education in the mother tongue, the traumas of children experiencing war, and adaptation problems of displaced children. The internal displacement of a considerable part of the population has resulted in child labour being considered normal in many cities.

He said that one of the poignant problems was children who were left to fend for themselves on the streets.

For Bilgin, the lack of recognition of refugees in Turkey also means that many refugee children have no rights to education and health services. (NZ/TK/AG/EÜ)

* For more information on the situation for children in Turkey, visit the UNICEF webpage on Turkey.