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ABSTRACT
Children consist of one-third of the population of Turkey that has the second highest level of child poverty among the OECD countries. Child labour is widely observed, especially in the poor families, according to the last official statistics obtained in 2013 in Turkey more than 900.000 children are working. Child labour deprives children of their childhood with short-term and long-term negative consequences. Not only those children who work under the legal age but also children aged 15–18 who can legally work are often working illegally due to existing informal labour market conditions that do not fulfil legal requirements. Using the findings of the pilot research project on child labour in 2017 in Istanbul (Bağcılar and Küçükçekmece), we will elaborate on various dimensions of child labour in urban settings. The research was conducted, in thirty-seven neighbourhoods with 301 working children between the ages of 12–18 and with one of their parents. Acknowledging its limitations, the findings of the pilot research still provide important insights. Poverty is the root cause of child labour, especially in urban Turkey, nevertheless, our work seeks to determine which other factors play an important role in influencing the decision to enter a child into the labour market. Material well-being is crucial for children's wellbeing, but it is not the only determining factor. By clustering analysis, we elaborate on which group of children are more vulnerable and therefore should be immediately targeted. Presenting the environment in which children are working, the costs of being a child-worker are discussed in terms of school performance and drop-out, housework and leisure time activities. Finally, we focus on the reasons of being a child worker.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1.. According to the 2017 Report of Worker Health and Security Council (İSİG), 60 children who had been working died in the year 2017, noting that 18 of them below the age of 15.
2. Anyone who employs children under the age of 15 is open to prosecution and for the age group. According to Turkish law (4857), only those who have completed primary education and are above 14 years of age are allowed to work. Workers who are 14 years old are defined as ‘child workers,’ while those between 15 and 18 years of age are defined as ‘young workers.’ Child and young workers are only allowed to be employed in jobs that do not hinder their success at school and it is forbidden to employ young workers who are not 16 years old in jobs identified as heavy and dangerous. Furthermore, a work contract is necessary for regular health control and social security.
3. The new regulation within the Health and Safety Law (6331) is that the employer will have to assign a workplace doctor and other health care personnel for all the places of work, in order to avoid occupational risks is postponed and will be implemented by the year 2020. The previous legislation which obliges the employer to assign a workplace doctor in cases where the number of employees is 50 and above is abolished and the workplace doctor becomes compulsory for all workplaces regardless of which danger classification they fall under, in order to avoid occupational risks and to provide labor health and safety services involving the workplace in order to protect employees.
4. Uyan Semerci;Erdoğan and Durmuş (Citation2017) available at https://goc.bilgi.edu.tr/media/uploads/2017/11/22/calisan-cocuk-web.pdf .
5. Çocuk ve genç işçilerin çalıştırılma usul ve esasları hakkında yönetmelik, (2004).
6. Since target population of the survey didn't include Syrians or other immigrants, this definition includes children of internal migrants.
7. ‘Deserving poor’ are those in need who are unable to work because they are too old, disabled, or too sick which have been reflected in differences in treatment of welfare recipients by governments (Bridges Citation2017).
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Emre Erdoğan
Emre ERDOĞAN is associate professor at the Department of International Relations, Istanbul Bilgi University. He graduated from the Galatasaray Lisesi and from the Political Sciences Department of Boğaziçi University, where he also completed his MA and PhD. He has been working in the public opinion and marketing research sector since 1996 and became one of the founders of the Infakto RW (2003). He is expert on quantitative techniques, sampling, and political methodology and the author of numerous papers about foreign policy and public opinion, political participation, volunteerism, and social capital. He has conducted various research projects on Europeanization and European perceptions of Turkey, othering and empathy, polarization, populism, and seasonal agricultural workers.
Pınar Uyan Semerci
Pinar UYAN SEMERCİ is professor of Politics at the Department of International Relations, Istanbul Bilgi University and director of the Centre for Migration Research. She holds a Ph.D. in political science from the Bogazici University, Turkey. Her research interests lie at the crossroads between political philosophy, political economy, social policy and methodology in which she focuses on topics relating to universalism, global justice, human development, capability approach, vulnerable groups, poverty, migration; collective identity formation (gender, religion and nationalism) and well-being of children. She has coordinated numerous research projects and published mainly on othering; polarization; poverty; capabilities; child labour and well-being.