Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2014, published 104th ILC session (2015)

Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138) - Türkiye (Ratification: 1998)

The Committee notes the observations of the Confederation of Turkish Trade Unions (TÜRK-İŞ) dated 2 January 2014.

Article 1 of the Convention. National policy designed to ensure the effective abolition of child labour and the application in practice of the Convention. The Committee notes the indication of the TÜRK-İŞ that child labour in Turkey is found in the urban informal sector, in the domestic service, and in seasonal agricultural work.

The Committee notes the Government’s statement that the Ministry of Labour and Social Security has launched a project on the Activation of Local Sources on Preventing Child Labour, targeting children engaged in hazardous occupations in small and medium enterprises, on the street and in seasonal agricultural work. The Government also indicates that child labour monitoring units in five pilot provinces have carried out studies to establish an effective monitoring system through coordination and cooperation with other agencies in the provinces. It is planned to extend these units and institutionalize them, with a view to establish sustainable child labour monitoring systems at local levels. The Government also provides information on the numerous measures it is taking to strengthen the functioning of the education system, including measures to improve the quality of education, to raise awareness concerning the importance of education, to increase the school enrolment rates of girls and to decrease the number of drop-outs.

The Committee notes the Government’s indication that a child labour force survey was conducted by the Turkish Statistical Institute in 2012. This survey revealed an increase in the number of children aged 6 to 14 years who are in child labour, and indicated that 2.5 per cent of children between 6 and 14 years of age were found to be engaged in work. The Committee also notes that the Committee on the Rights of the Child, in its concluding observations of 20 July 2012, took note of the substantial progress made by the Government in developing policies, programmes and action plans to prevent child labour, but noted that the large number of children still employed constituted a significant challenge to the rights of the child, including the right to education (CRC/C/TUR/CO/2-3, paragraph 62).

While taking note of the measures taken by the Government, the Committee notes with concern the rise, in recent years, of the number of children below the minimum age of 15 years engaged in child labour in the country. The Committee therefore urges the Government to strengthen its efforts to ensure the elimination of child labour. It requests the Government to continue to provide information on the measures taken in this regard, including measures to establish child labour monitoring systems, as well as the results achieved. It also requests the Government to continue to provide statistical information on the number of children under the minimum age engaged in child labour in the country.

The Committee is raising other matters in a request addressed directly to the Government.