Textile Sector Top Priority for Child Labour
Ulku proposes in the draft to limit imports to Turkey of all products that result from child labour with textile products coming at top of the list.
Speaking on the issue, the MP said that if the law was eventually passed by Parliament, Turkey's indirect contribution to products resulting from labour of children aged under 15 would come to an end and that "the exploitation of global capital in this way will be weakened and to a certain degree, placed under control".
Recalling that the Turkish Parliament had ratified the [ILO Convention No. 182] on the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour and Immediate Measures to be Taken to Eliminate this Phenomenon on 25 January 2001, as Act 4623, Ulku said he expected his draft law to mature at various commissions and eventually be submitted to the General Assembly for approval.
Child rights denied
Millions of children throughout the world are estimated to be put to labour "in order to contribute economically to their families".
The physical and mental development of these children are affected negatively and as they are forced to work at a very young age, they are deprived of their right to education.
Although the exact number is not known, it is estimated by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) that at least 250 million children between the ages of 5-14 are made to work throughout the world and the number of children aged between 12-17 deprived of education due to work is approximately 285 million.
It is a reality that children under the age of 15 in under-developed or developing countries are used as illegal labour and exploited.
According to a [Turkish] State Institute of Statistics survey conducted in 1999, of the 16 million children in the country aged between 6 and 17, 1 million 635 thousand were involved in economic activities added up to 10.2 percent of the population at that age. It is estimated that this figure has reached 4 million today. (KO/II/YE)