“Impunity” in Child Worker Death Case

An Adana province court issued a verdict in the case of Ahmet Yıldız (13), an undocumented child worker, died on the job due to a press machine. 

The defendant employer was initially convicted to 5 years of prison - a sentence that was commuted to a 30,040 lira fine with 24 monthly installments.

The fine was based on a daily penalty of 20 liras after the reduced sentence of 4 years and 2 months for various extenuating circumstances. 

Şahin Antakyalıoğlu, a children’s rights advocate from Gündem Çocuk Association, told bianet that the court issued  a decision in the favor of defendant. 

“The sentence need not to be commuted to a fine. The court might have issued a decision in the favor of defendant as there was no purpose. Of course, we still have no idea because the detailed verdict is yet to be released. 

“The court initially orders a five year sentence and then reduces it to 4 years and 2 months. Due to good conduct and expression of regret throughout the hearings, the court commutes the prison sentence to a fine. Under normal circumstances, the sentence must not be left commuted.

“We claimed that as child labor was illegal, the case could be categories under actionable negligence. If such was the case, the verdict would be more severe. However, the court didn’t admit that.” 

Gündem Çocuk Association released a statement, saying that the incident was not by mistake nor an actionable negligence. 

“In other words, there is no excuse or lack of precautions here. It is neither inexperience nor carelessness. We are talking about the life of a human being here. It is about the waste of life in the aim of profit. This is a workplace murder.” 

Child labor must be prevented

The association also underlined the fact that child labor could first of all be prevented by not leaving such cases with impunity. 

“Instead of policies that only count as make-up, we need multi-dimensional policies that would demolish child labor as a whole. 

“However, 4+4+4 education system makes it possible for children to work legally after secondary school. Profession schools also reduce the minimum apprenticeship age. A recent amendment on the child labor regulations removed the statement ‘Children under 18 can’t work in hard labor’. All these prove that the state is not working to prevent child labor related deaths but on the contrary to lead the way to them.” 

Gündem Çocuk also said that they applied for appeal of the case. 

What happened?

On 14 March 2013 Ahmet Yıldız (13), undocumented child worker, died on the job at an unlicensed workplace due to a shut off security sensor to increase productivity.

He was transferred to a hospital by his employer Ali Koç who claimed that an unknown vehicle hit him. Though later, doctors found out that Ahmet Yıldız was killed by a press machine at work.

During the course of trial, Ahmet Yıldız’s father allegedly negotiated with the employer, an effort that resulted in the withdrawal of Yıldız’s complaint. While the defendant lawyer requested for release, the court ordered the continuation of arrest. (YY/BM) 

* Click here to read the original article in Turkish.