12th June
World Day against Child Labour
Child Labour in Türkiye
- Child labour is among the outstanding human rights issues in Türkiye. According to the ‘Child Labour Force Survey’ of Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) published on 31 March 2020, there were 720 thousand child workers in Türkiye in 2019.
- However, it is estimated that the current situation is considerably higher than the data due to the fact that the survey does not include data on child labour in seasonal agriculture as it is conducted during the periods when schools are closed, Syrian and migrant children are excluded from the sample and unregistered employment is not included.
- The fact that there is no official data on child labour since 2019 causes the current state of child labour to be unknown.
Various factors such as lack of up-to-date data, problems in the supervision of legislative measures and legal sanctions, unregistered employment, increasing poverty and barriers to access to education, especially for Syrian and migrant children, worsen the current situation in Türkiye in regards to child labour.
Agriculture, manufacturing and service sectors stand out as most risky sectors in Türkiye in terms of child labour. In addition, internship and apprenticeship students in the manufacturing sector under the Vocational Education Law can be exposed to exploitation of child labour and fatal work accidents due to problems in the implementation of the legislation and inadequate measures.
According to the data of the Health and Safety Labour Watch, at least 631 children working in Türkiye lost their lives between 2013 and 2023; 56% of these deaths occurred in agriculture, 22% in manufacturing and 22% in the service sector.
Child Labour from the Perspective of Business and Human Rights
In order to address the risk of child labour in their own activities and business relations in a child rights-sensitive and effective manner; it is crucial for the business to:
- Develop policy commitments in accordance with international standards and ensuring applicability through regular monitoring activities,
- Conduct human rights and environmental due diligence (HREDD), covering their own activities and business relationships, and establishing a risk management system to address these risks in light of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights,
- Ensure meaningful stakeholder engagement, including involving relevant civil society organizations, in particular UNICEF,
- Establish grievance mechanisms and effective remedies that are responsive to children’s rights.
The Children’s Rights and Business Principles, jointly developed by the UN Global Compact, UNICEF and Save the Children, provide a comprehensive set of principles to guide companies on all steps they can take to respect and promote children’s rights.
For more details: You may review our report “Business and Human Rights in Türkiye: A Review of Current Events” and “Child Labour from the Perspective of Business and Human Rights” prepared with the support of Etkiniz EU Programme!