Say Yes, Spring 2005: Öner Ergenç

Member of Parliament for Siirt, Öner Ergenç heads the Parliamentary Research Commission’s Working Group on Street Children. The Commission presented it’s report on one of Turkey’s most important social issues to Parliament in March. Mr Ergenç spoke to UNICEF Turkey about what he has learned from his work and how he sees the solution.

Street children constitute an end-result or outcome of a variety of processes. The basic cause can be found within families -- fragmentation, poverty, domestic violence, economic exploitation and other forms of abuse that stem from a lack of care and affection -- and no project or initiative can be successful unless it respects this.

The most important problem we are facing at the organisational level is that no specific governmental unit is directly interested in this issue. This is critical since even a single night out in the streets for a child can be an occasion for harassment, abuse or crime.

It would appear that the Social Services and Child Protection Agency (SHÇEK) fulfils the role but SHÇEK’s remit only covers a child once his or her case has been examined and a court decision is issued to protect the child. Otherwise, thousands of children remain out of the domain of SHÇEK. So we suggested that SHÇEK should be reorganised as the Ministry of Social Services and Assistance with the role of coordinator, with legislation to clarify the roles of the other ministries.

MONE has to be central to any organisation in this field because the education and support of children and their families is vital -- with 600,000 teachers and so many schools they must have primary responsibility. Our schools should be centres where families can find guidance and help. The Ministry of Health can also help with early childhood care and development. The Ministry in Charge of Religious Affairs can help to clarify the role of parents by promoting good parent-child relations.

The universities, NGOs, chambers of commerce and professional organisations as well as individual citizens should also have specific roles. When you simply say that ‘each should play his part’ nothing happens.

I believe that UNICEF, offering its worldwide experience, is one of our most valuable and supportive partners. One provincial governor said that he didn’t need financial assistance so much as a good model to follow.

Hopefully the media will continue to support us as they have done throughout the four months of this Commission. They can focus on public information, airing short films at prime-time without resorting to sensationalism. Again UNICEF’s support will be helpful in this area.

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