‘TurkStat’s Child Labor Survey is Not Realistic as it Does Not Cover Syrian Children’’

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Nail Dertli, a volunteer for the Fişek Institute Science and Action Foundation for Working Children, and lawyer Fırat Çiçek, the Secretary of İstanbul Bar Association Children's Rights Center, have commented on the "Child Labor Survey", which was announced by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) on March 31 after an interval of seven years.

CLICK - There are 720 Thousand Child Workers in Turkey

'Survey conducted when fewer children working'

Reminding us that the TurkStat conducted its Child Labor Survey in the last three months of 2019, as it was also the case in its previous surveys, Nail Dertli has briefly stated the following:

"As agricultural activities come to an end and schools open in this period, it is a time when the number of working children is lower than the other months. Considering the period when the survey was conducted, it is impossible to say that it reflects the real situation about child workforce.

"Another thing about the survey is that it covers the children in the 5-17 age group, it is different than the method of previous surveys. It used to be conducted in the 6-17 age group. It means that the child labor force, which is the subject matter of this survey, has increased by 1.2 million, but it shows that the result has not changed much.

"Another critical factor here is that, after 2011, Turkey has received a considerable amount of migration from Syria. There are perhaps hundreds of thousands of children among them. We know that a major part of these children work in industry, textile, agricultural fields and in the service sector. The survey has excluded these children from the study. It is a survey that does not cover a wide Syrian population.

"We know that Syrian children are widely used to substitute local labor force, especially by local employers. As this survey does not cover Syrians in general, it does not give us a clear picture.

'Data on occupational accidents don't overlap'

"Another point that I think is missing is the occupational accidents had by children. They have announced it as 1.3 percent. However, the Social Security Institution (SGK) also shares statistics for occupational accidents in 15-17 age group. The SGK announced that 48 thousand children had 7 thousand occupational accidents, which accounts for almost 15 percent. The rate shared by the TurkStat is extremely law.

"And another thing... The data announced by the SGK are about the children working formally, they are registered workers. I think they work in relatively safe conditions. The figures of the TurkStat also cover informal workers. TurkStat statistics cover the children working in safe sectors as well as the ones working in bad conditions. I think that the rates of the TurkStat must be higher. It does not reflect the reality.

'Child labor is changing form in Turkey'

"The most important finding of the survey is the following: Child labor is changing form in Turkey. In the past, working in agriculture and other sectors on one's own account and being an unpaid family worker were common.

"But, in the last survey, we see that paid work has become more dominant than other economic activities in child labor. 63 percent of all working children are paid workers. They work in their workplaces regularly. This rate has increased from 29 percent to 60 percents.

"We are faced with a problem different than the one we had in the past. We are not talking about a child who does unpaid work at his or her family's shop, we see that the number of children working at a factory, at a restaurant for a fee has increased substantially. A policy needs to be developed about it.

"By the way, the number of child labor force seems to have dropped by 173 thousand in comparison with 2012. The data have also shown that child labor in agriculture has decreased. The increase in non-agricultural sectors is around 5 thousand. However, it is not because a special program has been put into effect to combat child labor in agriculture. It is due to the total elimination of agricultural activities."

'Deterrent sanctions must be imposed on employers'

Lawyer Fırat Çiçek has underlined that the survey conducted by the TurkStat after an interval of seven years should be released every year. Çiçek has briefly stated the following to bianet:

"It was in 2013 when the TurkStat published its report for the year 2012. It has released a report after seven years while it must publish it every year. The data show where we stand in terms of children's rights. The data must be released every year and policies must be developed about violations. While Turkey declared 2018 as the year for 'struggle against child labor', it does not release data on an annual basis, which is a right violation in itself.

"According to the report, there are 720 thousand child workers in Turkey. These are, of course, the official figures that are included in the report; there are several other child workers not covered, especially refugee children. That child labor, which hinders the personal, physical and mental development of the child, is in high numbers in Turkey shows that we are in a grave point.

"In fact, the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Turkey is a party, has placed responsibility on the state party for preventing child labor in following words:

State parties recognize the right of the child to be protected from economic exploitation and from performing any work that is likely to be hazardous or to interfere with the child's education, or to be harmful to the child's health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development.

"The state authority must work to prevent child labor in both legal regulation and employment. Especially the inspection of employees must be increased and the sanctions to be imposed on them must be deterrent." (AÖ/SD)