Say Yes, Spring 2005: Editorial

As we move into the second quarter of 2005, UNICEF and the Government of Turkey are looking forward to agreeing a new Country Programme of Cooperation (CPAP) for 2006-2010. Child protection will be one of the main pillars of the new CPAP, consolidating advances made in the fields of education, health and children’s rights under previous country programmes.

Child protection means that children’s rights are routinely respected and that every element of the environment contributes to the child’s healthy growth and development. This is the cornerstone of the business of development, everywhere in the world and at all levels of society.

But children’s rights are not just for the attention of governments and legislators, they are everyone’s responsibility and as such they should be central to every aspect of our lives -- as children are themselves.

In Turkey, education will continue to be the linchpin of all activities under the new CPAP because child protection and education go hand in hand. The girl who doesn’t go to school and who has to work instead is being exploited as child labour and child labour is a child protection issue.

One of the most effective responses to reducing, or better still preventing, child labour is through education -- education for the child and education for the child’s family. So parents and immediate family, the most important figures in any child’s life, will continue to be very much at the centre of all our initiatives in Turkey.

Again the problem of street children -- one of the most socially excluded and misunderstood groups on the margins of society -- cannot be addressed without looking into the dynamics of the family. As the children themselves speak about the problem in this issue of Say Yes, it is clear that familial bonds, whether good or bad, undercut each and every moment that they spend away from their homes and their schools.

We also hear from colleagues within UNICEF Turkey, the Government, the voluntary sector and the media as they discuss the issue from their various perspectives and look at how we are going to reach a solution.

Edmond McLoughney
UNICEF Representative, Turkey

PS: We’d very much like to hear readers reactions to this issue, so please feel free to contact us with your comments and suggestions.

Previous page  |  Next page

ARCHIVE

Search UNICEF Turkey
   

• Advanced Search

Download this issue in pdf format. [PDF 1.1MB]

 * How to use RSS …