International Children’s Center launched the Council of Europe’s 1in5 Campaign in Turkey with a meeting at the Grand National Assembly of Turkey.

“International Law in Protection of Child Rights: The Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of  Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse (Lanzarote Convention)” Panel was in collaboration with UNICEF Turkey and Turkish Association of Legislation under the auspices of  Health, Family, Labour and Social Affairs Commission – Child Rights Monitoring Committee of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey in commemoration of the Universal Child Rights Day on 20 November 2013 at Grand National Assembly of Turkey.

Over 100 participants comprised of 15 Members of the Parliament, NGO representatives and academicians attended to the Panel.

Opening speeches are done by Prof Dr Necdet Ünüvar, President of GNAT Health, Family, Work and Social Affairs Commission,  Türkan Da?o?lu,  President of GNAT Child Rights Monitoring Committee, Ayla Akat Ata, Member of Parliament of Batman,  Ruhsar Demirel, Member of Parliament of  Eski?ehir, R?za Mahmut Türmen, Member of Parliament of ?zmir (Former Judge, ECHR), Fato? Gürkan, Member of Parliament of Adana, Habip Kocaman, General Secretary of Turkish Association of Legislation, Simon Vis, UNICEF Turkey Office Representative, Govert Visser, Undersecretary of Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and Prof. Dr. Münevver Bertan, Executive Director of International Children’s Center.

Our Executive Director Prof. Dr. Münevver Bertan referred to the importance of international conventions in her speech.

Severine Jacomy Vite, Head of UNICEF Turkey Child Protection Unit gave a presentation on “International Framework of Protection of Children from Sexual Violence”.

Adem Arkada?-Thibert, ICC Human Rights and Child Rights Officer, gave a presentation on “Implementation of Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse (Lanzarote Convention) and introduced ONE in FIVE campaign.

Our requests in order to end Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse of  Children were expressed in the presentation, which are;

• To equip children, their families/carers and societies at large with knowledge and tools to prevent and report sexual violence against children, thereby raising awareness of its extent.
• To achieve further signature, ratification and implementation of the Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse (Lanzarote Convention) by Local authorities.
• To review and strengthen Turkish Criminal Law based on Lanzarote Convention for efficient protection of children.
• Ratification and implementation of two linked Council of Europe Conventions:; Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime and Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings.
• Ratification of the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child on a communications procedure which enables children right holders to direct use.

After the Parliamentary launching of the campaign, several organisations including UNFPA Turkey and International Medical Student’s Association approached ICC to voice their support to the campaign. This is very encouraging, especially in terms of sustainability of the campaign in Turkey.

In addition to this, national and local press showed great interest in taking up the campaign story. You may see the media coverage (Turkish) in this link: http://www.5te1.cocukhaklariizleme.org/kategori/haberler-ve-duyurular

The great thing about such a national coverage is that it is not taken up by alternative media that cover NGO related news, national newspapers with highest circulation such as Hurriyet, Milliyet, and Cumhuriyet covered the story of the project/campaign. Several other national news outlets (such as HaberTurk, Fox Tv) are also after the story on 1in5 Campaign so we are expecting further coverage of the project.

The meeting and the attention it attracted also reignited the debate and dialogue we aimed to initiate at the Parliament.

In short, as ICC we are content  with the first visible output and outcomes of the project/campaign.

Habip Kocaman (General Secretary of Turkish Legislation Association)

Simone Vis (UNICEF Turkey Office)

Govert Visser (Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands)

Severine Jacomy Vite (UNICEF, Head of Child Protection Unit)

Ruhsar Demirel (Member of Parliament, Eski?ehir)

R?za Mahmut Türmen (Member of Parliament, Izmir)