Turkey: 24 percent of childeren between 10-14 years are working

[english at ozgurluk.xs4all.nl]

Subject:  Turkey: 24 percent of childeren between 10-14 years are working
From: Press Agency Ozgurluk <ozgurluk at xs4all.nl>

04-08-97
                                      
            '250 million children employed under tough conditions'
                                       
     * Millions of children, especially girls are employed as 'servants
       with no charge,' millions of others are already trapped by 'child
       prostitution.' The ILO report describes that situation as
       'equivalent to slavery'
       
     _________________________________________________________________
                                      
   Turkish Daily News
   
   Ankara - Two-hundred-fifty million children have been employed under
   tough conditions that will badly affect their health and growth in
   many countries, the Anatolia news agency reported.
   
   The International Labor Organization (ILO) estimates that 24 percent
   of Turkey's children between the ages of 10 and 14 are working.
   
   The findings are in a report prepared by ILO and the Dutch government,
   which was presented to a conference held a few months ago in Amsterdam
   on child labor. According to the report, 250 million children between
   the ages of 5 and 14 are working, and 20 percent of those are under 10
   years of age.
   
   Especially in developing countries, 90 percent of working children are
   employed in the agricultural sector. The situation of the children
   employed in the manufacturing sector is described as "poor." Millions
   of children, the report says, do not even notice that they are exposed
   to various chemical and toxic materials, especially radiation.
   
   Additionally, the report notes, millions of children, especially girls
   are employed as "servants with no charge," millions of others are
   already trapped in "child prostitution," situations which the ILO
   report describes as "equivalent to slavery."
   
   Africa comes first among the continents where child labor is most
   prevalent, approximately 40 percent of the world's working children
   are in African countries. Of the 250 million working children, 20
   percent are in Asian and Latin American countries.
   
   In Turkey, 24 percent of the 10-14 age group are employed in areas
   that require physical labor; a figure exceeding the percentage in many
   countries, including Algeria, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Bolivia,
   Guatemala, Nicaragua, Malaysia, the Philippines and Pakistan,
   according to Anatolia.
   
   Officials who have been calling for the implementation of eight year
   compulsory education have argued that many children have been employed
   before they are finished even with current mandatory schooling. They
   insist that employers regularly ignore the minimum work age of 15
   established by ILO ir order to exploit children.

-- 
Press-Agency Ozgurluk: http://www.ozgurluk.org
The struggle for human right, freedom, justice and democracy in Turkey
and Kurdistan
Press Agency Ozgurluk
The struggle for human rights, justice and democracy in Turkey and Kurdistan
http://www.ozgurluk.org