The Right Initiative Association organized a panel discussion on children's rights on the occasion of Human Rights Week yesterday (December 16).

 

The speakers of the panel "Children are Right" were Human Rights Association (İHD) Ankara Children's Rights Commission member Sevinç Koçak and Amnesty International Turkey Human Rights Training Program Coordinator Mehmet Onur Yılmaz. The panel was moderated by Right Initiative (Hak İnisiyatifi) Chair Mehmet Arif Koçer.

 

Indicating that 97 children lost their lives in the period of curfews in Kurdish-majority provinces of Turkey, Mehmet Onur Yılmaz said that no lawsuits were filed into those deaths.

 

YILMAZ: 97 CHILDREN DIED, NO LAW SUITS FILED

 

Amnesty International Turkey Human Rights Training Program Coordinator Mehmet Onur stated the following in brief:

 

"Wherever we are in life, children are there. But, do we really see children as individuals?

 

"We always find children cute and funny, but children are everywhere in life and these children live this life.

 

"When something happens to adults, it is relatively easier to call [the responsible] to account. Because when something happens to children, the society says, 'it happened to him or her for once' and close the subject.

 

"We see that in the periods of blockade, 97 children lost their lives and no lawsuits have been filed.

 

"There are 400 thousand refugee children with disabilities who do not receive any aid. There are children in Turkey who cannot be placed in anywhere in life, like our children.

 

"Women's rights have women defenders, LGBTIs have LGBTI defenders; however; children do not, unfortunately, have defenders.

 

KOÇAK: 21 THOUSAND PREGNANT CHILDREN

 

İHD Ankara Children's Rights Commission member Sevinç Koçak indicated that the United Nations (UN) Declaration of the Rights of the Child is on shaky ground when it comes to practice.

 

Koçak also stated that there were over 3 thousand arrested children in prisons and 21 thousand pregnant children according to official figures. Koçak continued as follows:

 

"Children are individuals who have rights. Children's right to life and their all types of social and vital rights are usurped by war policies of the state.

 

"Children who are victims of migration are broadly subjected to discrimination. Kurdish children are subjected to discrimination because they throw stones. Lessons on discrimination and social equality should be taught at all schools.

 

"33 percent of children are subjected to sexual abuse in Turkey. The data on courthouses show that lawsuits on abuse are the most prevalent.

 

"When we take all of these into consideration, when there is not a judicial mechanism to the benefit of the child, we cannot talk about social policies for children or heavy penal sentences."