Turkey has always boasted “being the first and only country to gift a holiday to children” and has stressed the importance of children. But Turkey’s children rights report is not so bright.

If you don’t see or hear the working children, children who can’t go to school, sexually abused and assaulted children, children killed by the state, and children who drown on the Aegean waves you can in fact be “filled with joy on April 23”, as the famous song goes.

It is enough just to look at the data released by human rights institutions to see how much children’s rights are valued in Turkey and what “children’s rights” means.

Approximately 16 million families in poverty are registered with the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK). 44.3% of the families in poverty have children. One out of every 3 children in Turkey live in extreme poverty households. More than 7 million children in poverty can’t fulfill their need for protein with meat, chicken or fish.

“THERE ARE AT LEAST 900 THOUSAND CHILD WORKERS”

According to TÜİK data, one of the biggest issues regarding children in Turkey is child labor. TÜİK 2012 data shows that there are approximately 900 thousand child workers aged between 6 and 17. Working children are concentrated in the agriculture industry. Only 49.8% of working children continue their education, the remaining 50,2% don’t/can’t.

“HIGHEST RANKED COUNTRY IN OPPORTUNITY GAP”

UNICEF conducted a research among the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) member countries on inequal distribution of opportunities for children. The income, education, health and life satisfaction inequality in children from different economic classes from 35 countries was reported. The largest opportunity gap is in Israel, coming in 35th at the end of the list. Turkey is one step above Israel in providing equal opportunities, coming in at 34th out of 35 countries.

“HIGH RATES OF SEXUAL ABUSE”

One of the most important issues regarding children is sexual abuse. The official records alone show 650 child abuse cases are recorded at the Institution of Forensic Medicine every month. Ministry of Justice data shows 40 thousand lawsuits of “sexual abuse of a minor” were filed in 2014 in Turkey. 24,285 of these were concluded, 13,968 of them resulted in convictions.

“CHILD MARRIAGE INCREASING”

Child brides continue to be an important issue for Turkey. Changes in the education system during the AKP governments have led to an increase in child brides. United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child states the age of marriage as 18. 232,000 children have been forced into marriage in Turkey between 2010-2015. It is estimated that the actual number is much higher as child marriages are not registered.

“AT LEAST 80 CHILDREN KILLED IN 8 MONTHS”

The “curfews” in Kurdistan’s cities has hit children the hardest. The Human Rights Association report of last year cites 81 children killed in conflict. According to the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (TİHV) 78 children were killed between August 2015 when the curfews were declared and April 2016.

“ONE OF THE MOST PROBLEMATIC AREAS IS THE PRISONS”

Another area of increased violence and sexual abuse that children experience is prisons. According to 2015 data from the Ministry of Justice, there are 2,302 children in Turkey’s prisons, 661 convicted and 1,641 awaiting trial. There are 600 babies staying with their mothers in prisons. The reports cite 479 children detained and 92 of them arrested in 2015 alone. 38 children were tortured in custody and 27 in prisons.

“91 CHILDREN DROWNED”

According to UNICEF’s October 2015 report of “Syrian Children in Turkey”, there are 1,123,180 registered refugee children in Turkey. 385,000 children out of 600 thousand who are at school age can’t go to school. 91 children drowned in Turkish territorial waters in 2015.

“THEIR RIGHT TO EDUCATION IS TAKEN AWAY”

The curfews also affect the children’s right to education. Even in regions with curfews that only take effect at night, 325,047 students have been stripped of their right to education in a total of 1317 schools. Thousands of other students took a break from their education because they would have to travel tens of kilometers every day to study in schools in different towns with the mobile schools.