Diyarbakır Bar Association Children Rights Center distributed a bilingual pamphlet - in Turkish and Kurdish - that aimed to inform children a list of contacts in case they were subjected to violence. The pamphlet also aimed to create awareness among parents.
“We initially planned to distribute the pamphlets in public schools, but then it requires ministry consent. So instead, we distributed them on our own means,” said Nahit Eren, coordinator at Children Rights Center.
“We are trying to inform children on the following questions: What are children rights? What rights do children have? Where can they apply in Diyarbakır if they are subjected to violence?” he continued.
We have printed around 6,000 pamphlets and we applied to the authorities in order to distribute them in public schools. However, the governor’s office said we needed ministry approval after seeing that the pamphlets were both in Kurdish and Turkish. We didn’t get a response for long time and decided to go on our own way.”
Eren said the frequent media coverage on violence against teenanger girls and children brides motivated them to release an informative publication.
Liabilities of the state
The pamphlet covered a variety of issues including right to life, education, health, development, name and social security.
It also aimed to convey the message that basic human rights like freedom of expression and create an association can no way be restricted.
On the top of that, it reminded the liabilities of parents and state during the development of children.
Lastly, it reiterated that it was in the liability of state to ensure children’s basic rights if they faced legal investigation, urging the authorities to avoid prosecution or relocation of their homes. (YY/BM)
Photo credit: The drawing of Pervin Şimşek, an 8th grader from Vali Ahmet Cemil Serhatlı School.
* Click here to view the pamphlet.
