UN Asks Turkish Government About Children Tried as Terrorists

The United Nations' Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) has prepared a list of questions for Turkey in order to determine whether children are being kept out of armed conflicts, as laid down in the convention that Turkey is signatory to.

The Committee is currently examining a report on Turkey related to the additional protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, related to the involvement of children in armed conflict.

The government sent its own report, but the Initiative for Justice for Children (ÇİAG) sent an alternative report, in which it described its efforts to prevent children from being tried for terrorist crimes. The government's report does not mention this issue at all.

The committee, made up of 18 independent experts, has added this issue to its questions and has asked the government to reply by 3 August. Following the answers, there will be a meeting on 14 September. The meeting will also include a government representative.

The questions asked by the CRC, sent to Turkey on 24 June, are:

* Referring to a previous suggestion for Turkey to lift its reservations on the convention, the committee asks to be informed about developments in that direction.

* The committee further wants to know that Turkey is protecting anyone under the age of 18 from being taken into the military and wants to know how age is determined.

* It further wants information on the penalties arranged for anyone under the age of 18 being used in battle or as a soldier, and whether Military Law No. 1111 contains such penalties. It further asks whether Turkey would try a Turkish citizen who forced children into the military in a different country.

* The committee requests information on the number of children being tried under anti-terrorism legislation and from what age this is applied. It also wants information on the accusations levelled against the children, a definition of the terrorist acts that children can be accused of, on whether these trials take place in civilian or military courts, on whether the judiciary has been given special powers in these cases, and what sentences have been handed down. It also wants to know whether the children's rights during the process are protected and how a fair trial for children is guaranteed.

* The CRC also asks how many children have been used in armed groups outside of the state, what mechanisms are used to identify these children, how such abuse is prevented and how affected children are rehabilitated.

* The CRC demands to know how the state prevents underage children from joining the village guard system.

* Turkey must present the CRC with data on children coming to Turkey as refugees or asylum seekers from countries where they could have been used in armed conflict in 2006, 2007, and 2008, organised according to gender, age and country of origin. Turkey must further inform the CRC on how the requests for asylum were dealt with.

* Turkey should tell the CRC about how information on and education about the optional protocol on children being used in armed conflict is being spread to officials dealing with migration, lawyers, judges, health workers, social workers and journalists.

* The CRC further wants to know about human rights, and particularly children's rights, education being given to police and army members. It also asks whether military rules and procedures respect conditions laid out in the optional protocol.

* Other questions concern the curriculum and complaints mechanisms in military schools and whether these schools are inspected by  independent bodies.

* The CRC wants to know whether the public is being informed about the protocol.

* Finally, it asks whether Turkey has banned the sale of weapons to countries where children are or may be used in armed conflict. (EÜ/AG)