CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM PACKAGE

The constitutional reform package prepared by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) was presented to the Parliament yesterday (30 March). The term "The state takes protective measures against child abuse, sexuality and violence against children" as written in the first version of the draft was removed after it had been criticized by children's rights defenders.

Article 41 on "Protection of the Family" saw a couple of amendments. The heading was changed to "Protection of the Family and Children's Rights". The following provision was added to the article:

"Every child has the right to benefit from adequate protection and care and to establish and maintain a personal and direct relationship with his/her mother and father, unless this is to the clear disadvantage of the child. The state takes protective measures against all kinds of child abuse".

Pre-emptive protection

Lawyer Seda Akço from the Istanbul Bar Association Commission on Children's Rights prefers the new wording of the draft law to its former version.

"The actual duty of the state is providing a safe, just and fair environment for children that grants the children's rights. This is not provided. If a child is under risk of sexual abuse for instance, this means that the state did not fulfil its duty. In other words, the state takes pre-emptive measures but does not protect the child later on".

No use of going into detail

Akço pointed out that other rights should be mentioned in the constitution as well if details such as "sexual" are included.

"If details such as "sexual" are going to be included, then the rights to live, development, protection and participation must be emphasized as well. The draft prepared by Ergun Özbudun represented an approach regarding 'protection', we voiced the same criticism then. When you say 'protection from sexual abuse' you have to include issues such as the children's right to a fair trial at specific courts, appropriate health service and access to equal, free and high quality education, protection from poor working conditions and protection from armed conflicts. So once you start specifying, there are many things to say, but this is not a suitable procedure for designing the constitution", Akço explicated. (SP/EÜ/VK)