A total of 888 child workers have died in work-related accidents since the Justice and Development Party (AKP) came to power in November 2002, according to a report by the Health and Safety Labor Watch (İSİG).
At least 11 children have died in workplace accidents in Turkey to date in 2023. There were 64 child workplace deaths in the country in 2022, 62 in 2021, 68 in 2020 and 67 in 2019, said the report, published on June 12, World Day Against Child Labour.
According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), approximately 160 million children worldwide are involved in child labor, which represent 1 in 10 children. “Nearly half of all those in child labour – 79 million children in absolute terms – are in hazardous work that directly endangers their health, safety, and moral development,” the ILO said.
According to İSİG, there are at least 2 million child workers in Turkey, with the number increasing to approximately to 4 million in summer.
People have been suffering from lax work safety standards for decades in Turkey, where workplace accidents are nearly a daily occurrence. In the worst work-related accident in the country’s history, 301 miners lost their lives in an explosion in Manisa’s Soma district in May 2014.
According to İSİG, at least 31,276 work-related accidents have taken place since 2002.
