Pandemic in Turkey: 'Violence against children, women has increased by 27.8 percent'

* Photo: Anadolu Agency (AA)

Click to read the article in Turkish

Today is November 20 World Children's Day. Releasing a statement on this occasion, the Children's Rights Commission of the Human Rights Association (İHD) has raised concerns that children's rights violations have been increasing exponentially all across the world.

Noting that the COVID-19 pandemic has affected children's life routine negatively, the İHD has underlined that "children, against their nature, were and are still confined in their homes for a long period of time." 

The Association has also noted that violence increases in closed spaces and indicated that violence against women and children has increased by 27.8 percent during the COVID-19 outbreak.

"According to World Health Organization (WHO) reports, children's mortality rate from COVID-19 is quite low, but children are still most affected by this process," the İHD has emphasized, adding that distance learning introduced to Turkey's education system as part of pandemic measures has made the problems of the system more visible.

"A wide majority of children have been deprived of their right to education for reasons such as a lack of access to Internet, computers, tablets, mobile phones or suitable time and place," the Association has noted.

Referring to the EBA distance learning system introduced by the Ministry of National Education, the Association has said that only 15-20 percent of children have been able to access their live online lessons.

"The right to education, which is a Constitutional right, has been rendered unusable," the İHD has protested further.

Earthquake, distance learning, child labor...

Against this backdrop, the Children's Rights Commission of the İHD has listed some of the children's rights abuses during the pandemic:

• 8-year-old Çınar Mert followed his father to the top of the roof where he went to run the Internet cable so that his child could access the EBA system. He slipped, fell from the 4th floor and lost his life.
• Seasonal agricultural worker children kept on working during the pandemic as well. While the Minister of National Education, who is obligated to ensure that children can use their right to education, contented himself with having his pictures taken with child workers working in agricultural fields and sharing these pictures on his social media account, 15-year-old seasonal agricultural worker Ayşe Daş lost his life in Urfa after a midibus with workers on board overturned.
• The Law on Criminal Enforcement, which was passed as part of COVID-19 measures, did not directly apply to children in prisons. No enlightening explanation has been made about the children released with sentence reductions. No sufficient information could be obtained from children's prisons regarding children. The number of children kept in prisons is still not shared with the public.
• In May, when the pandemic curfews were in effect, police dispersed a group of children playing in a housing estate's garden in Nusaybin by firing into air. After the video of this incident was shared, it caused a public pressure and the officer was suspended from duty.
• In July, a specialized sergeant attempted to sexually assault a 13-year-old girl in Şırnak. After the girl cried out, he was caught by the people from the same neighborhood.
• The bill of law foreseeing impunity for child abuse through marriage was put aside thanks to the pressure of children's rights and women's rights organizations.
• 27 children lost their lives in the İzmir earthquake on October 30; several children were wounded or lost their parents. The rights of children rescued from collapsed buildings were disregarded with their images and identities published. Instead of being protected in such a traumatic process, they were neglected and abused.

"It is not the pandemic what is responsible for all these violations of children's rights, it is the State of Turkey, which does not have a policy to protect children and does not fulfill the obligations arising from the international conventions that it is a party to." (AÖ/SD)