Say Yes, Summer 2007: Assault on child poverty comes closer

The Ministry of Labour is to take the lead in developing a strategy to counter the scourge of child poverty. The decision to develop the strategy follows on from the Child Poverty Conference held in Ankara in June 2006. It will aim not only to make life incomparably more pleasant for millions of girls and boys, but also to benefit the national economy and reduce violence, crime, child abuse and other social problems.

Turkey is to develop a strategy to reduce and eventually eliminate child poverty. The move was announced by Minister of Labour and Social Security Murat Başesgioğlu at a press conference in Ankara on May 23. The Ministry is now holding consultations concerning the design of the strategy. Other government agencies, local authorities, civil society, academics, the EU, UNICEF, parents and children themselves are all expected to be involved. The strategy is likely to cover the period 2007–14.

The press conference, held at the Social Security Agency, was also addressed by İsmail Barış, Director–General of the Prime Ministry Social Services and Child Protection Agency (SHÇEK), UNICEF Turkey Representative Edmond McLoughney, Gülay Aslantepe, Director of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Office in Ankara, Cafer Yılmaz, head of the EU Coordination Department at the Ministry, and Seda Ceylan and Canser Karadaş of the Ankara provincial Children’s Rights Committee. The speakers were introduced by TV presenter Tayfun Talipoğlu. Among the audience were Professor Talat Halman, President of the Turkish National Committee for UNICEF, members of staff of the UNICEF Turkey Country Office and members of the national press.

Official figures

According to the Turkish Statistical Institute (Turkstat), over 5.6m, or 27.7%, of under–fifteens were living in food and non–food poverty in Turkey in 2005. This means that their parents or caregivers did not have enough means to feed, clothe, shelter, educate and protect them.

Turkey’s poor children are mostly to be found in underdeveloped provinces, in rural areas and in poor districts of major cities, often populated by recent migrants. In the majority of cases, their parents have limited education and are not employed on a regular basis. In rural areas, 40.6% of all under–fifteens face food and non–food poverty. Children from large families are much more likely to live in poverty than children from smaller families.

Drastic effects

Poverty has drastic effects on children’s lives. Children in poverty are often excluded from the social, cultural and recreational activities in which other children take part. Poverty is also the main reason why children are to be found working in the fields, in industry, on the street and in the home, and why children have to be cared for in institutions. Poverty leads to nutritional deficiencies, stunted growth and all the health and safety risks associated with overcrowded housing conditions. Yet poor children are also less likely than other children either to be fully immunised or to be able to obtain health care when they need it.

Poverty also deprives children of educational opportunities. Parents of poor children may not be able to send them to school regularly due to the cost of clothes, transport, meals and stationery. Girls, especially, may never attend school or drop out at an early age — a great loss of human capital for the national economy.

The poverty trap

Lacking an adequate education, most poor children will become poor adults. Moreover, poor girls who miss out on a good education are statistically likely to marry at an early age and have a large number of pregnancies, threatening their own well–being, and increasing the risks that their own children will face a lifetime of underachievement, poor health and material deprivation.

Those who experience poverty as children, and who are a prey to all kinds of exploitation and violence, are more likely to engage in criminal or anti–social behaviour as adolescents and adults. But intervention on behalf of children has the potential to break down this continuous cycle of poverty.

Policy choices

So far, efforts to alleviate poverty have centred on the green card scheme for access to health services, the assistance provided through the Social Assistance and Solidarity Fund (SYDTF), the conditional cash transfer payments made to families who send their girls to school or take up basic health services and the new service model for children working or living on the street. Broadening the conditional cash transfers into a conditional benefit available to all children within a comprehensive social policy framework will constitute an important option for the new national strategy for reducing child poverty.

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