Rights of the Child Must Always Be a Priority, Not Only for One Day!
Today is the 32nd anniversary of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, a benchmark in respect for, protection and promotion of the human rights of children. 20 November is, thus, an important day to remember and remind all that children are right holders and equal citizens; adults have responsibilities and states have obligations for their good. And we would like to persistently and adamantly underline that the human rights of the child are not merely words squeezed in a single day but are a basis for thought, approach and action that should always be prioritized and maintained on the agenda.
Turkey, too, is a party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the starting point of which is the fact that human rights necessitate special requirements for children, which has become the most widely ratified human rights treaty in history. However, Turkey’s already poor record of children’s rights has been deteriorating because of high number of violations of children’s rights.
So much so that problematic areas with even more destructive impact on children that account for about one third of the population have been expanding. The negative effects of the pandemic and the global climate crisis, the impacts of which have been deeply felt recently, along with those of dominance-producing relations, structural and naked violence, poverty, deprivation; racist, sexist and all kinds of discriminatory treatment have been multiplying. Policies and approaches designed by adults lead to the intersectional multiplication of violations against children.
But who are to be held responsible, obligated? Is it children?
It is the state itself that is responsible for the violations of children’s rights as it, rather than serving the best interests of the child, fails to focus its obligations to prevent violations in line with the requirements of a culture of peaceful coexistence before violations are committed, to initiate effective intervention, to focus on the chain of responsibility, to serve restorative justice, and to eliminate the culture of impunity.
Turkey’s recent withdrawal from the İstanbul Convention (Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence), which is not only vital for women who are subjected to violence but also for children and young people, also clearly reveals the inclination that disregards the best interests of the child.
We would like to remind all that withdrawal from the Convention paves the way to the failure to take steps to remedy gender inequality, to the prevention of the development of preventive programs, and to impunity for acts of violence and abuse against women and children. It lays the groundwork for unacceptable violations like the adoption of child abuse through marriage, failure to provide support systems after abuse and violence, encouragement of hate speech and hate crimes against the LGBTI+.
We call on the Turkish State to urgently take the following measures in order to comply with its obligations set forth in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child to which it is a party:
- To provide all kinds of infrastructure for each child in order to ensure equal opportunity in education in accordance with Articles 28 and 29 of Convention on the Rights of the Child;
- To extend support networks easily accessible by children subjected to violence;
- To disclose the number of incarcerated children and to release them all immediately;
- To enable working children’s free access to education and healthcare services;
- To announce that the bill prescribing impunity for child abuse through marriage is annulled so as not to be considered ever again;
- To make the marital age over 18 years unconditionally, which is currently prescribed as 17 trough family consent and 16 through a court ruling in the Civil Code;
- To eliminate the culture of impunity by taking into account the best interests of the child in crimes against children;
- To withdraw its reservations on Articles 17, 29 and 30 of the Convention and grant children the right to education in their mother tongues;
- To design an implementable, holistic child protection policy through cooperation with children’s rights organizations;
And to reinstate the İstanbul Convention that is based on human rights documents, most notably the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
We do remind all and demand the implementation of the obligations set forth in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child that Turkey signed, ratified and put into effect but does not fulfil its obligations therein.
Human Rights Association
Children’s Rights Commission