Bar Associations: Sexual Abuse of Children Cannot be Justified by Laws

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Sixty-three bar associations have released a joint statement in reaction to recent discussions about releasing convicts of child abuse who married children after sexually abusing them.

The bar associations, including İstanbul, Ankara and İzmir, stated that the recent discussions about a law proposal dubbed as "the marriage pardon" are "outdated, unlawful and unacceptable."

Around 10 thousand people currently behind bars for sexually abusing and then marrying a child.

Reasons such as the defendant did not know the child's age, the marriages are continuing without any problem, the child not filing a complaint against the abuser "prepares the groundwork for early age marriages to become legal," the statement said.

All kinds of sexual behavior against children is a crime, the bar associations stated, noting that sexual relationships between peers should be regulated separately.

"Therefore, we say that children are not sexual objects. They should not be part of the institution of marriage. Amnesty to perpetrators of sexual abuse of children is against the child's best interests. We will not allow it to be justified by legal regulations." (AÖ/VK)