Turkey’s lost children

The Prime Ministry’s Human Rights Directorship (IHB) stated that there were 7183 lost children reported in 2007. 6350 of these were found and 833 of them are still lost.

The provinces with the highest number of lost children were Istanbul, Balikesir, Bursa, Ankara, Sanliurfa and Mardin.

According to the figures of the Police Department, there were 1446 lost children as of January 15. The reason behind this discrepancy is the disagreement on the concept of lost children.

IHB defines the concept of “lost child” as the child between the ages of 0-18 who ran away or taken away form his/her family without their knowledge and thus is in danger and sends no information about his/her welfare. These figures do not include the “unrecorded children”, whose status is not communicated to the necessary public institutions.

According to the report, the reasons the children are lost are the following:

– Children born to early marriages may not get enough attention from their parents. Too many children may also lead to abuse.

– Excessive violence, poverty, unemployment may force children to leave their families.

– Migration, inability to adapt, and limited employment opportunities for young people.

– Kidnapping children for various reasons.

According to the report the children groups under risk are:

– Those under institutional care.

– Those lost because of accidents and natural disaster.

– Those forced to commit crimes.

The report indicates that the negative programs in the media may affect the children. Similarly, it places the negative use of the internet as one of the reasons.

The report recommends giving support to the children and the families under risk in the cities with high migration rates.

The report also recommends that the sexual abuse of children should be taken out of the category of crimes that require formal complaint first. It also recommends that the authorities fight against the employment of children.