‘At least 787 child workers have lost their lives in Turkey in the AKP era’

* Photo: Anadolu Agency (AA) - File

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On the occasion of November 20 World Children's Day on Saturday, the Health and Safety Labor Watch released a report on occupational homicides of children in Turkey since the year 2002.

According to the report, at least one child died while working in 2002. This number was at least 18 in 2003, at least 28 in 2004, at least 27 in 2005, at least 29 in 2006, at least 28 in 2007, at least 29 in 2008, at least 12 in 2009, at least 24 in 2010, at least 24 in 2011, at least 15 in 2012, at least 59 in 2013, at least 54 in 2014, at least 63 in 2015, at least 56 in 2016, at least 60 in 2017, at least 67 in 2018, at least 67 in 2019, at least 68 in 2020.

The report has indicated that at least 57 children have so far lost their lives in Turkey while working, which has shown that at least 787 child workers have lost their lives during the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) era in the country, which started in 2002.

Referring to the official statistics of the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat), the report has underlined that there are 720 thousand child workers; while 70.6 percent of them are boys, 29.4 percent are girls.

It has raised concerns that "Turkey has been covering up the real dimensions of child labor in the data," explaining that there are now at least 2 million (4 million in summer months) child workers in the country.

According to the report, 30.8 percent of child workers are in the agriculture sector while 23.7 are in the industrial sector and 45.5 percent have been working in the service sector. Moreover, only 65.7 percent of child workers can continue their education.

The Ministry of National Education has announced that the number of children who have been detected to be working while they should be at school but cannot be "reached" is nearly 440 thousand.

'345 children, 780 babies in prison'

Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) İstanbul MP Turan Aydoğan also released a statement on November 20.

Referring to the Justice Ministry data, Aydoğan raised concerns that 345 children and 780 babies are held in prison with their mothers.

The MP has also underlined that "especially during the pandemic, an increase has been observed in the number of sexual abuse and violence cases against children." According to the Justice Ministry's 2019 data, Aydoğan said, 49 thousand 57 court cases were filed on charges related to the "offenses against the sexual inviolability of the child."

Of these nearly 50 thousand cases, 22 thousand 689 involved the offenses of sexual abuse of children, the MP added further. (RT/SD)