Children Shoulder Agriculture in Southeast

In southeastern Turkey, some 90,000 children between the ages of 12 and 14, 50,000 of whom are girls, comprise part of the workforce. Some 80,000 of those are in the agricultural sector, with Sanliurfa having the highest rate of child employment.

Batman newspaper - Batman

29-08-2005

According to the Labor and Social Security Ministry some 80 thousand children of 12-14 ages are working in agriculture in southeastern Turkey. Another 10 thousand also work in various other sectors.

49,294 of the working children are girls, with 44,410 working in agriculture; and 38,626 are boys, with 34,338 in agriculture.

Sanliurfa the highest population of working children

About 15,206 girls in the province of Sanliurfa work in the agriculture sector. The number of working boys is 11,886.

The province of Diyarbakir is second to Sanliurfa, with 21,287 children working in various sectors. The province of Kilis has the lowest rate of child employment, with only 1,551 working children.

However, experts say that the actual number of working children is much higher than what the official figures show, and argue that the issue should be realistically researched.

The children mostly work with their families in the fields of Harran, Soke, Cukurova and Ege during the summer months. (TK/EA/YE)

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