Policy Note / Recep Doğan

An Evaluation of the Recent Proposal Aiming to Improve Conditions of "Children Throwing Stones to Security Forces" by Amending Certain Statutes

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United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child was adopted by United Nations General Assembly on November 20, 1989 and came into force on September 2, 1990.  After the ratification of the Convention by TBMM (Grand National Assembly of Turkey) in 1995, the Convention is now the part of Turkish domestic law, and the coordination of the implementation of the Convention was assigned to SHÇEK (Directorate General for Social Services and Child Protection). Following the ratification, Child Protection Act (dated 3/7/2005, Statutory Number 5395) was enacted for the efficient implementation of the Convention. With this respect, 'Practice Direction on the Procedures and Principles Concerning the Implementation of Child Protection Act' and 'Regulation on the Implementation of the Protection and Support Orders Taken Pursuant to Child Protection Act' were put into effect after being promulgated in Official Gazette No 26386 on 24/12/2006. Furthermore,  Turkish Penal Code (dated 26/09/2004, Statutory Number 5237), The Criminal Procedures Act (dated 04/12/2004, Statutory Number 5271), The Act on the Execution of Custodial Sentences and Security Measures , (dated 13/12/2004, Statutory Number 5275),  The Act On Probation and the Establishment of Parole Boards,  Assistance and Protection Centers (dated  3/7/2005, Statutory  Number 5402) were enacted in order to harmonize domestic Turkish Law with the acquis of the European Union.  When enacting all these acts, Child Protection Act was also taken into account and necessary amendments were made for the purpose of complying with the relevant law of European Union.  In addition, The Act on Fighting against Terrorism (dated 12/04/1991, Statutory Number 3713) was significantly amended on 29/06/2006 (Statutory Number 5532). Despite mentioned changes in the legislation intended for the efficient implementation of United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, as will be discussed in details below, defects of the youth justice system and the violation of child rights remained intact.  The perception of "child" and "childhood" in Turkey, which showed no significant change since the ratification, has impact on these defects and violations.