Human Rights Association (IHD) has released a report on occasion of 20 November Universal Children’s Day. IHD General President Öztürk Türkdoğan stated that 3,861 children suffered a violation of their rights and 617 others died during the 11 months of 2015.
Among these, 57 lost their lives as a direct result of state violence. On the other hand, over 6 thousand children are currently jailed in Turkish prisons.
Türkdoğan underlined that children suffer violence in all spheres of life, and mainly a violation of their right to life in the first place. He remarked that international conventions on children’s rights aren’t practiced in the Turkey, including the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
617 CHILDREN LOST THEIR LIVES
According to the IHD report, the period between 1 January and 20 November of 2015 witnessed 3,681 violations of children’s rights in Turkey. 617 children lost their lives during the same period.
While 2 children died in prison, 14 child workers were verified to have lost their lives in work-related deaths.
TURKISH STATE KILLED 51 CHILDREN IN 11 MONTHS
In the meantime, 51 children have lost their lives in the “armed conflict atmosphere” caused by the violence cycle created by the AKP government after 7 June.
As the refugee crisis resulted by the Middle East war claims more lives every day, a total of 105 refugee children lost their lives under heavy circumstances.
According to the report, hundreds of children died as a result of an accident and negligence during the first 11 months of 2015, which on the other hand witnessed an injury of 1,750 children due to same reasons. Besides, 74 children got wounded as a consequence of intervention on social events as police violence gets heavier across the country.
388 CHILDREN DETAINED
During the same period, 388 children were detained and among these, 69 were remanded in custody. In the meantime, 872 children in Amed were blacklisted by the Ministry of National Education.
172 CHILDREN TORTURED
IHD report also revealed that 172 children were subject to torture and ill-treatment during this year, and these include 38 under custody, 27 in prison, 4 in childcare institutions and 50 in family house and social sphere.
AKP’S WAR HAS INCREASED THE RATE OF CHILDREN’S DEATHS
According to the report, out of 51 children who lost their lives in the armed conflict atmosphere, 43 died in the areas of clashes and curfews imposed by the AKP government. While separate explosions of military ammunition left 5 children dead, 3 others lost their lives in different cases, which include denial of an ambulance access, disobedience to stop warning and an armed attack against a passenger minibus.
The report underlined that the war concept initiated by the AKP government as of July 2015 has startlingly increased the figures of children’s deaths and right violations.
The report also put emphasis on the right violations suffered by children in the areas where an unlawful curfew has been put into practice in the Kurdish region.
6,132 CHILDREN IN PRISON
The report also highlighted that 6,132 children aged between 12 and 17 are currently jailed in Turkish prisons. While 97,3 of these is made up by male children, 600 children are imprisoned alongside their mothers.
68,6 percent of the children aged under 18 were once again subject to arrest and penalty one year after their release.
