‘Social experiment’ video violates children’s rights, says Diyarbakır Bar

Click to read the article in Turkish

The Diyarbakır Bar Association's center on children's rights has released a statement about a video recently circulating on social media in Turkey.

The video features two YouTubers, Burak Tutal and Mert Karakaş, who went to Turkey's Kurdish-majority Diyarbakır province, spoke to children there, saying that "they were hungry" and asked them if they could buy them food. While all these conversations were secretly filmed and shared as a "social experiment", those children who offered help were given tablets as a present.

Releasing a statement within this context, the Children's Rights Center of the Diyarbakır Bar has indicated that the video in question is in violation of children's rights, urging people to not share it.

'It violates privacy, right to be forgotten'

In its message on Twitter, the Center has said:

"This video called social experiment, which is the product of a mentality looking down on people who are not one of them as even devoid of basic human qualities, constitutes a violation of children's rights. The video shared with a desire to be visible violates children's privacy and right to be forgotten.

"Before it is shared, the video needs to be edited in a way to prevent children from being recognized and subjected to any danger, and -similarly- their parents must be asked for their consent. Posts shared without considering these important points will lead to problems further in children's lives.

"As we know that if we stay silent today, such incidents will increase even more, we express our reaction and wish that the related video is not shared." (RT/SD)