CHP Report: Child Abuse in Turkey Increased Nearly 10 Times Since 2006

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The main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) has released a report on violations of children's rights on the occasion of the April 23 Children's Day.

In a press briefing, İstanbul MP Sezgin Tanrıkulu has announced figures regarding children's issues such as abuse, marriage, employment and imprisonment. The report was compiled from figures provided by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) and rights groups.

Child abuse and marriage

Since 2006, child abuse offenses increased nearly 10 times. According to the TurkStat, the yearly number of court decisions for child abuse increased from 2,337 in 2006 to 21,528 in 2018.

The TurkStat did not announce 2019 figures and removed child abuse offenses from the 2020 statistical agenda.

MP Tanrıkulu also recalled that the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) wanted to add "child marriages" to a recent sentence reduction and prison release bill but the opposition parties rejected that.

According to the TurkStat, girls in the 16-17 age group makes up 3.1 percent of all official marriages in the country. In the last year, 17,047 girls married.

Child employment

About 720 thousand children were employed in 2019, the TurkStat figures say. Accordingly, 79.7 percent of the children are in the 15-17 age group, 15.9 percent are in the 12-14 age group and 4.4 percent are in the 5-11 age group. There are about 28 million employed people in Turkey and its population is 82 million.

Among the working children, 70.6 percent and boys and 29.4 percent are girls. 65.6 percent of the boys and 66 percent of the girls both study and work.

In 2019, 67 children died in "work accidents," according to the Health and Safety Labor Watch (İSİG). Twenty-nine of them were under the age of 15.

Violations of the right to life

Between 2011 and 2019, at least 4,104 children's right to life was violated. In this year, the right to life of nine children, including eight refugee children, was violated.

Juvenile delinquency

The TurkStat also did not announce juvenile delinquency figures for 2019 and removed it from the 2020 agenda. In 2017, 107,984 children were brought to security units for various offenses. Among those children, 57.7 percent were in the 15-17 age group, 23.3 percent were in the 12-14 age group, and 18.5 percent were below the age of 12.

Children in prison

According to a report by the Human Rights Association (İHD), 3,100 are convicted or remanded in prison while 780 children live in prison with their mothers. (RT/VK)