As Human Rights Defenders e.V. (HRD) and London Advocacy we have submitted a Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Report concerning Turkey’s Non-Compliance with Its International Human Rights Obligations Relating to Children’s Rights. This submission highlights several key areas of concern regarding Turkey’s non-compliance with its international human rights obligations relating to children’s rights.
In our Report we have evaluated the implementation of regulations on Children´s Rights concerning its international obligations and the recommendations it received in the Second Cycle of the UPR in 2015. Turkey received 34 recommendations from participant countries, 33 of which, the Turkish delegation supported. The only exception was the recommendation to “allow children of Greek citizens working in Istanbul to attend the Greek minority schools as fully-fledged students,” which was noted by the delegation.
Furthermore, we emphasized in our Report that Under the State of Emergency that was declared after the coup attempt of 2016, more than a thousand schools and education institutions, including dorms and education charities were dissolved. This caused direct and indirect suffering to children, from the kindergartens to universities. Also, we brought to attention the denials of passports as well as the refusing to assign National IDs to new-borns.
As co-authors we call upon the Government of Turkey to significantly improve the overall conditions for the rights of the child in the country. In particular, the government of Turkey must, immediately end its pattern of detaining or arresting women just before or immediately after giving birth; ensure that children held with their imprisoned mothers are never treated as prisoners; prefer non-custodial measures for pregnant women and those with dependent children; provide citizenship to all babies born to Turkish citizens; ensure that all legal, administrative, and practical measures are taken to end discrimination of children whose parents have been targeted due to alleged links to the Gulen Movement.
For the report please follow this links