Sinem Gençay - 14 April 2022 - Comments

CHILD LABOR

Child labor is the process of working in a way that can harm children\\\'s inappropriate conditions and development. The problem of child labor is still an important social problem that still exists today. It is one of the areas that needs to be solved because it affects children\\\'s psychological and sociological development. Legal steps are being taken for the solution at this point in the world and in Turkey.The main reasons for the prevalence of this problem in Turkey; the income level of the family, the education level of the family, the poverty, the belief that the child should work in social culture.We will analyze child labor in the world and turkey with statistical data.We will examine the laws regulated in the national and international arena. One of the main problems with child labor is the definition of this concept.According to a definition made by the doctrine, the child is the person who needs the protection of the adult for his physical, mental and cultural development until he gains the ability to participate as an independent individual in the world of adults .According to the Turkish Language Association\\\'s Turkish Dictionary, the child is a boy or girl who is in the development period between infancy and adolescence. If we refer to the concept of child labor, we can define as a person who works in a contract of employment and under a certain age . Child worker and working child concepts are different from each other. Studies that do not harm the child\\\'s health, personal development and education are defined as child work and are not prevented. The type of work, which is defined as child labor, is the work that prevents the child from having his other rights, especially the right to education, which prevents him from experiencing his childhood and damages his physical and psychological development .Today, children cannot reach the life they deserve for various reasons, and they are exposed to neglect and abuse. Child rights violations are continuing all over the world. Child labor is one of the most important areas of child rights violations.Child labor occurs in both developing countries and developed countries.Governments struggle with child labor in both developed and developing countries.Child labor; It is an important social problem that has social, psychological, economic, physical and cultural dimensions.. This problem is among the problems that many national and international institutions and organizations are trying to find a solution.. Important steps were taken in the legal sense of the world and in Turkey in order to avoid this problem.However, the concept of child labor continues to exist due to non-compliance with regulations and the inadequacy of studies.The purpose of this article is to analyze extent of child labor in Turkey and examine the legal aspects of child labor in Turkey. A. Child Population in The World and Turkey According to TÜİK 2017, 30.3% of the world\\\'s population is composed of children.The first three countries with the highest child population ratio are; Niger with 56%, Uganda with 55.3% and Mali with 54%. According to TUİK 2014 Compared with the proportion of the child population in the total population of the European Union member country, Turkey has been the country with the highest 29.7% in 2013.Germany was the country with the lowest child population with 16%. The rate of child population in France is 22.2%, Tahsin 21.2%, Tehran 20.2%, Greece 17.6% and Italy 16.8%. According to TUİK 2016\\\'s datas child population in Turkey, including the 0-17 age group constituted 45% of the total population in 1935, %31.5 of the total population in 2008 and 28.7% of the total population in 2016. According to population projections, the rate of child population in 2040 is estimated to be 23.3%, while it is 20.4% in 2060 and 19% in 2080. B. Child Labor in The World Even if the number of child labor decreases by years, it still remains an important problem and continues to exist. There are 168 million 5-17 years old children in the world in 2012. As the income level increases, child labor decreases.When we examine the regional distribution of child labor, it is observed that child labor is mostly in Asia and Pacific countries in 2012 according to The Ministry of Labor and Social Security 2017 datas. There are 77 thousand 723 child workers in this region. It corresponds to 9.3%. 33 thousand 860 of these children is working in bad conditions, 4.1%.When we look at child labor according to gender, it is seen that in 2000, there were 132,200 in males and 113,200 in females. These are approximate values. C. Child Labor and Legal Aspects of Child Labor in Turkey For many years the child labor issue has occupied an important place in Turkey\\\'s agenda. With the increasing interest in this subject in the 1990s, radical steps have been taken. Child labor is a widespread problem in Turkey and this problem\\\'s causes can be listed such as income situation of families, parents\\\' education level, poverty, can say that the belief that children should work in the social culture. It is foreseen that child labor will decrease as the income level of families increases. There is an increase in the number of child labor when the income level of families decreases. In times of small economic crisis, families use their property to keep their children away from employment, but in the course of major crises, their children are directed towards employment . Families who have poverty problems have directed their children to employment to get rid of this problem. It is a fact there are internal migrations and negative consequences of internal migration at the root of child labor in Turkey . The families migrated from the countryside to the city due to the economic problems but they couldn\\\'t get what they expected and they encouraged other members of the family to work. If education is not considered necessary in a society, if there is a belief that the child should work and this is accepted as a natural process, the rate of child employment in that society cannot be reduced. child labor decreases when a society develops a culture of society which regards children as valuable individuals and cares about education . Turkey can be regarded as a transit country in this regard. The traditional structure and culture patterns that find the child\\\'s work right still remain dominant. However, it is observed that this structure began to break through educated families especially in the western provinces . According to TUIK data, 5.9% of the 15 million 247 thousand children in the 6-17 age group in Turkey has been working economic work (893 thousand people).Of these, 44.8% (400 thousand people) live in urban areas and 55.2% (493 thousand people) live in rural areas.68.8% of the employed children are male and 31.2% are female.. 49.8% of the working children attend school while 50.2% do not attend school. 44.7% (399 thousand persons) of the children working in economic affairs are employed in agriculture, 24.3% (217 thousand persons) in industry and 31% (277 thousand persons) in service sector.Some studies have been done in order to reduce these rates are available in Turkey. The Ministry of Labor and Social Security prepared the National Program on Combating Child Labor for the years 2017 -2013 to combat child labor and to stop child labor.However, this struggle program could not play an important role in dealing with this issue and could not achieve the desired success. In order to find a solution to this issue, first of all, the extent of this problem should be determined. data on child labor in Turkey has not been published for many years, literally. The audits to be carried out on this subject have not been performed and it has been neglected. Due to the lack of necessary measures to be taken and the lack of necessary audits, adequate improvement in the scope of child labor has not been demonstrated. D. Legislation Related to Child Labor in Turkey Republic of Turkey to protect children from exploitation Since its inception in 1923 has always been at the forefront of the national agenda .Turkey has made legal arrangementsrelating to child labor at the national level and participated in international regulations.There are many laws regulating child labor. According to the 1982 Constitution. The state shall take protective measures against all forms of abuse and violence against children and No one shall be employed in work that does not conform to his / her age, sex and strength.Young people and women, and those with physical or mental disabilities are specially protected in terms of working conditions . Article 71 of the Labor Law No. 4857, dated 22.05.2003, contains a special provision concerning child labor:Children under 15 years of age are prohibited from working. However, children who have completed fourteen years of age and who have completed primary education may be employed in light work which will not prevent their physical, mental and moral development and education from continuing to their schools.Children who have completed basic education and who are not attending school cannot have more than seven hours a day and more than thirty-five hours a week. However, for children who have completed their fifteen years of age, this period can be increased to eight per day and forty hours per week. If we talk about the international dimension,turkey on 9 December 1994 the United Nations adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child. İn conclusion; Child labor, which means the use of child labor in the 21st century, remains up to date. Many steps have been taken on this topic in the international arena and turkey.Many international agreements were signed and national regulations were made.It is difficult to talk about a clear lack of legislation in child labor but the fact that laws are not fully implemented makes it difficult to deal with this problem.The flexibility of the law should be abandoned immediately. Flexible legal regulations should be reviewed. Inspections for the implementation of laws should be increased.Parents should be informed about children\\\'s rights.social institutions and organizations should raise awareness on this issue.The employment of children as workers means the removal of their rights to education and play. In a world where technology and information can be reached and shared easily and in the last quarter century, per capita income has tripled; there can be no excuse for not fulfilling the rights of all children, including children with the highest number of victims.