CHP Report: There are 1.7 Million Refugee Children in Turkey

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The main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) has released a report on children in Turkey on the occasion of the Universal Children's Day.

Sezgin Tanrıkulu, a CHP MP and the deputy chair of the Human Rights Inquiry Committee at the parliament, announced the report's content in a press conference.

He also recalled that Turkey ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1994, despite having reservations on articles 17, 20 and 30, which deal with children's rights to education, freedom of expression, to enjoy their own culture, and to speak their own language.

Turkey does not fulfill the agreement, including the articles that it signed without reservations, Tanrıkulu asserted, saying that "There are countless areas where the rights of the child are either not protected or violated."

Here are highlights from the report:

• At least 1,014 children were sexually abused in the first 10 months of 2018, according to the We Will Stop Femicide Platform.
• Between 2014 and 2017, a total of 59,284 children were sexually abused, with 1,466 boys and 51,818 girls, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat).
• In 2017 and the first half of 2018, 21,957 impregnated children were recorded.
• There are 1,703,665 refugee children in Turkey, according to the Ministry of Interior. 568,527 of them are in the 0-4 age group, 477,960 are in the 5-9 age group and 657,178 are in the 10-18 age group.
• 61 child workers, including 18 workers younger than 15, lost their lives in the first 10 months of 2016, according to the Health and Safety Labor Watch (İSİG).
• At least 16 refugee children lost their lives in the seas or land borders.
• During the state of emergency period between July 20, 2016, and July 18, 2018, the number of occupational homicides increased by 14 percent and 124 child workers lost their lives.
• There are an estimated 1,185,000 child workers in Turkey, with 292 thousand of them being in the 6-14 age group.
• The number of child agricultural workers is estimated as 893 thousand. 44 of them are seasonal workers.
• Since 2008, 18 children have lost their lives and 14 children have been injured due to being hit by an armored vehicle, according to the Human Rights Association (İHD).
• There seven "Children and Youth Closed Penal Institutions" and four "Children's Education Centers" in Turkey. There are also children in prisons for adults.
• Alawite children are forced to take the religion class, which is against the Convention. (RT/VK)