Say Yes, Winter 2005: Development

Buse Sarışen: Everyone should work to ensure that every child has the right to an education.
Photograph by Rana Mullan
© UNICEF Turkey 2005

Buse Sarışen, 12, Çanakkale

We need to know about the rights to live, to protection, to education, to participation and to healthy development. Everyone should work to ensure that every child has the right to an education.

Sevinç Kaya,16, Karaman

Children’s rights start with education. Also there is the right to protection. For example, I don’t want to see children suffering domestic violence. I live in a children’s home and some of my friends there are seeking shelter from violence. I don’t have these problems with my family but I know that this sort of situation can cause psychological problems.

Atilla Doğan, 11, Bitlis

The phrase children’s rights tells me that, yes, children also have rights -- education, security, protection and health -- and that they can have a safe future with education. With what we have learned here at this forum we can go back and inform others in our hometowns about these rights.

Cihat Bayat, 16, Iğdır

I think people should pay attention to children and, if something is to be decided on, ask them their opinions and what they think about it. People set children to work on the streets and take the cash they earn for themselves. This is why I would like to change the present world for a better one. I would like to see families educated about how to protect and raise children properly.

Süleyman Peraçi: Children’s education is the most important issue for us.
Photograph by Rana Mullan
© UNICEF Turkey 2005

Süleyman Peraçi, 16, Uşak

Children’s education is the most important issue for us. First of all, we need a better education so that we can defend our other rights such as a healthy life, development and participation. But we can’t do this without education.

Sevcan Demirhan, 15, Batman

Children have many such rights: protection, development, education, participation, the right to a healthy life, to freedom -- we have all kinds of rights. I wish I could keep these rights throughout my life. I’m 16 now and I have two more years to enjoy these rights but I’ll continue to inform and educate younger people about their rights. I believe that children have a bright future ahead.

There are street children or children working on the streets and they have to be there because they have no choice. To change this we need to educate them, we need to work hard at that and we need to succeed -- we can change everything for these children when these three elements come together. Firstly, children who have to work are deprived of their right to play. They’re on the streets in cold weather selling things like chewing gum. We should do all we can to change this situation and I think that giving them an education is the best solution.

İzzet Bal: We have learned a lot and we are going to learn more.
Photograph by Rana Mullan
© UNICEF Turkey 2005

İzzet Bal, 11, Kütahya

For me children’s rights means that the State and other institutions protect and care for children and that children come before everything else. This forum has taught us that our children’s rights are protected. We were told about this in our groups and we played some games about it. We have learned a lot and we are going to learn more.

Sibel Gedik, 14, Denizli

Children have lots of rights -- protection, development, education -- amongst all of these, I think the most important is the right to freedom. Families put all kinds of restrictions on their children’s lives. Grown-ups don’t listen to what children say and they think that they are always right. They don’t send their girls to school and this has become almost a tradition, especially in the villages. This is the first time that I have taken part in this forum. Having learned about my rights in the family, in the community and at school, I feel ready to look after myself.

Şeval İrem Lafçı, 9, Afyon

I think children should defend and protect their own rights. Society and the public need to be much more informed on this issue and families also need a little training about it. Some people don’t think much of children’s ideas but I think our opinions should be taken more seriously.

On the way to Ankara, I saw children selling sweets, paper hankies and shining shoes. People encourage them, buying the hankies and having their shoes shined. This is very wrong. They could help them in other ways.

Fatih Altaş, 14, Sakarya

Some people dismiss us as children and pay no heed to us or they admit that children have rights but they do nothing about it. I think the right to education is the most important. I would like to see education for everyone. Many children don’t go to school. I know that the government and agencies like UNICEF are trying to change this. We should make sure that they succeed.

Sabahattin Boylu, 18, Bingöl

Children have rights to education, healthy life, safety and freedom. In the east, girls aren’t allowed to use their right to an education. They are often married off when the reach 14 years of age. I want to change that and I want families to be informed about the necessity of sending all their children to school. Families need to be taught about this issue. They need to be educated just as we do.