Turkey needs help now to get child workers into school
Child labour
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Syrian refugee children at a primary school in Sanliurfa
Turkey needs urgent help to stop the spread of child labour and get more Syrian refugee children into school, according to a fact-finding mission.
There aremore than 800,000 school-age Syrian children in the country and they are often their family鶹APPs only source of income.
That means many of them are working in textile factories, agriculture, street vending and collecting scrap metal instead of getting an education.
The Council of Europe 鶹APP a human rights body representing 47 countries 鶹APP has been urged to work with the Turkish authorities to tackle the various problems preventing refugee children from going to school.
A, the council chief鶹APPs special representative on migration and refugees, comes as world leaders have failed to keep their promise of providing $1.4 billion to get one million Syrian refugees into school for the 2016-17 academic year.
The children鶹APPs charity 鶹APP revealed recently that there is still a massive funding gap that will leave thousands of children out of school in neighbouring countries, including Turkey.
Boček 鶹APP who made a fact-finding trip to Turkey 鶹APP agrees time is running out for those Syrian refugees not yet in school.
In his report, he said: 鶹APPI fully share the concerns expressed by the Ministry of Education that, while it may not be too late, there is not much time left to ensure that the generation of refugee and migrant children currently in Turkey is not lost.鶹APP
He said lack of education could aggravate the trauma children have suffered having to flee from their homes. It also increases the risk of alienation and disaffection, which could lead some into criminality or extremism.
He added: 鶹APPResources are needed to build infrastructure and increase capacity; to develop incentives for school attendance, especially for girls; to recruit and train a sufficient number of teachers; and to provide material and financial support.鶹APP
A Syrian boy makes shoe parts at a workshop in Gaziantep
On child labour,Boček鶹APPs report said: 鶹APPThe employment of children under the age of 15 remains a considerable problem in Turkey.This is both a consequence of and a cause for children not attending school.鶹APP
He said Turkish authorities want to tackle the issue and are launching projects to give financial help to parents who send their children to school.
He added: 鶹APPThey have not been rolled out widely enough to create an incentive for most Syrian parents not to send their children to work.鶹APP He called for a nationwide scheme to be developed as a priority.
Boček also said he was 鶹APPvery concerned to hear of an increasing number of cases of early marriage of Syrian girls, primarily due to poverty or as a means to 鶹APPsecure the child鶹APPs honour鶹APP.鶹APP
He called for Turkey to provide safe and confidential ways for girls to seek help and for those having sex with underage children to be prosecuted.
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