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Many an
April 23rd has passed while we continue to exploit children
by
Murat İnanç*
by
Murat İnanç*
Of the children in the 6-17 age group in Turkey, 6 percent (958,000) are made to work. Of them, 66 percent are male, while 34 percent are female. Forty-one percent of them work in agriculture, 28 percent are employed in the industrial sphere, 21 percent in commerce and 9 percent are clocking time in the service industry. Of children aged 6-14, 57 percent are working in agriculture.
Today is April 23, the day on which exactly 90 years ago we accepted the rights of children, granting them a special holiday.
But do our children enjoy their rights?
Child workers are employed at low wages, working long hours under unfavorable conditions; they are carrying a weight that is beyond their capabilities. The misfortune of Turkey's high number of off-the-record or illegal enterprises brings with it uninsured employment that does not look for the prerequisite of education. This is one of the reasons we see a high number of employed children.
The migratory trend from rural areas to urban centers has led those who have undergone the transformation from agriculture to industry to create a child labor sector; many families agree to allow their children to work on the streets so that they can survive. Child labor, which feeds off poverty, migration, the traditional family structure, the lack of education, unemployment and the search for cheap labor, can only be eradicated through the implementation of child-related regulations.
Our love of children is being abused
Our children receive attention due to their pure, adorable and convincing nature, and the love of children our society has is abused by employers. And we become a part of this game, playing into the hands of those who are abusive.
We watch and at times cheer this misfortune. As a representative of a nongovernmental organization, I must say that there is an urgent need for us to devise a permanent and soundly based action plan that is supported politically. I think it is high time that we end the suffering of our young children in factories, fields and at home; the abuse of the labor, innocence and sexuality of children must be ended once and for all. We have full belief that all those who head decision-implementing mechanisms will work to this end. Child labor is a very serious human rights problem with many social and financial repercussions. We cannot conceal this fact
First and foremost, children lose their innocence and childhood under difficult working conditions. Under long work hours and strict discipline, they become forced to live the life of an adult. They lose their ability to dream about the future while their personality, which is still developing, becomes thwarted as their self-esteem is crushed. The children pay a bill up front for their employment through their innocence lost. But an even greater bill -- of a financial and emotional nature -- comes to the families that are forced to send their children off to work, societies which cannot take care of their children and governments which fail to take action to counter this problem. Children are our hope for the future. The adults of tomorrow are the children of today.
It is imperative that we prepa-re our children for the future
Our children are faced with financial and emotional threats and risks; let us shield them from their vulnerability to all sorts of violence and abuse. Let us prepare them for the future through education and love so that as a family, a country and a society we have a future to look forward to.
*Murat İnanç is the chairman of the Öz İplik Trade Union.
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