39 Child Workers Killed on the Job in 2014

According to Worker Health and Occupational Safety Assembly, at least 39 child workers lost their lives on the job in 2014 as of September 17. 

The data were collected through written, visual and digital media coverage as well as information from worker unions and worker relatives and acquaintances. 

The report revealed that the youngest deceased worker was aged 6. 

While most deceased child workers were from the agriculture sector, traffic and shuttle accidents were also among the main causes of death. 

Sectors

The distribution of child worker deaths according to sectors is as follows: Agriculture (23), construction (5), trade (2), accommodation (2), general (2), chemistry (2), textile (1), food (1), steel (1) and transport (1). 

Causes of death

The distribution of child worker deaths according to causes of death is as follows: traffic/shuttle accidents (13), falls (5), crushing/subsidence (5), poisoning/drowning (5), other including lightening (5), electroshock (4), explosion/burning (1) and hit by falling object (1). 

Ages

While 32 of the casualties were boys, 7 were girls. The youngest child murder victim was 6 years old. The oldest one was 17. 

The distribution of child worker deaths according to age is as follows: 6 y.o. (1), 10 y.o. (1), 12 y.o. (1), 13 y.o. (7), 14 y.o. (3), 15 y.o. (6), 16 y.o. (12) and 17 y.o. (8). 

Cities

Most child worker murders occurred in Adana. Child murder cases were reported in 25 cities across Turkey.

The distribution of child worker deaths according to cities is as follows:

Adana (5), Urfa (3). 2 cases were reported in Ankara, Bursa, Düzce, Antep, Hatay, İstanbul, Konya and Mardin. One case was reported in Ağrı, Denizli, Erzurum, Eskişehir, Karaman, Kilis, Kocaeli, Malatya, Muğla, Osmaniye, Rize, Samsun, Şırnak, Tokat and Muş.

Months

Most child worker murders occurred in July and August where 18 deaths were reported. 

The distribution of child worker deaths according to months is as follows: January (5), February (5), March (3), April (4), May (2), September (2).  

39 child workers’ names

The following are the names of deceased child workers as of September 17, 2014:

Bedirhan Ok, İsmail Gür, Seda Nur Tatar, Çetin Akdoğan, Zehra Alda, Ayşe Alda, Oğuzhan Çalışkan, Emin Halastar, E.P., Kübra Yaşatır, Süleyman Sertan Buluş, Nacin Freyş, Hale Çelik, Sedat Yalçın, Furkan Çavuş, Osman Özen, Ali Saltık, Barış Ergin, Yasir Geylani, Yılmaz İdareci, Hamitcan Aslan, F. Y., Sebahat Ö., İbrahim Can Duran, Resul Yılmaz, Hüseyin Demir, Ali Fırat Belder, Ahmet Güneysu, Seyrani Köstü, Emre Aksüt, Abdul Hakim, Yavuzhan Gemici, Mehmet Öztürk, Serdar Özdemir, Osman Avcı, İbrahim Bozkurt, Yücel Arı, Samir Muhammed and Berkan Altay. (BK/BM)

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