HDP MP Tosun: Why Do Children Have to Work Rather Than Going to School?
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Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Diyarbakır MP Remziye Tosun has brought child labor and seasonal agricultural labor into the parliamentary agenda, reminding the two child workers who lost their lives recently: Seasonal agricultural worker Berivan Karakeçili (13) and child worker İbrahim Halil Oruç (16).
In the parliamentary question she submitted, MP Tosun quoted the father of Karakeçili, who lost her life while working during a whirlwind on January 24:
"On the day the whirlwind occurred, the workers in other groves did not go to work, but their bosses told them 'Even if it is raining stones, you will work.'
"İbrahim Halil Oruç, a 16-year-old who had to leave school for work, seriously wounded because of the explosion of the oil stove in his workplace. Oruç was taken to a hospital and lost his life one week later. After his father was discharged from his job at the Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality with a statutory decree, Oruç dropped out of the school to support his family. While his peers study at high school and celebrate their end of semester reports, Oruç lost his life in an occupational homicide."
"Will the Ministers take responsibility?"
MP Tosun has directed the following questions to Minister of Family, Labor and Social Services Zehra Zümrüt Selçuk:
-Has any investigation been launched against the bosses who caused Berivan Kaçakeçili to lose her life by saying, 'Even if it's raining stones, you will work.'
-Berivan Karakeçili's father made serious statements about both the bosses' approach to seasonal workers and the incident [that took Berivan's life]. Will an investigation or inquiry be launched because of these statements?
-Did the Ministry begin a work regarding the workers who are employed without insurance and security?
-Does the fact that Berivan Karakeçili and İbrahim Halil Oruç work to support their families rather than going to school comply with the social state principle?
-İbrahim Halil Oruç's father was discharged from his job at the Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality with a statutory decree, but without a court ruling or concrete evidence. Oruç left school and began to work to support his family, whose economic situation got worse. Will the government or the cabinet who signed the statutory decrees make a statement or take responsibility?
-Has any investigation been launched into the incident in which İbrahim Halil Oruç lost his life?
-How many child workers have lost their lives in occupational homicides in the last 10 years?
10 child workers lost their lives in January
According to the report by the Laborers' Health and Occupational Safety (İSİG) Assembly, 155 workers lost their lives in January. 10 of them were child laborers, with three of them being under the age of 14. (AÖ/VK)