Child Rights Monitoring Committee Established in the Assembly
Child Rights Monitoring Committee under the auspices of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TGNA) has been established through the participation of 8 deputies from all political parties represented in the Parliament. As the first example both in Turkey and the world, the committee is assigned to work for the protection and enhancement of children’s rights.
It has a great importance to solve the problems of children, the guarantee of our future, to educate them in better circumstances within an environment free from violence and oppression.
Protection of Child Rights is guaranteed in Turkish Constitution through the obligations attributed to state and family.
Children’s rights are not only a prominent indicator demonstrating the level of development in a country, but also a requirement to be a social welfare state.
Various international organizations, especially UNICEF under the United Nations, spend intense effort in order for the elimination of negative circumstances for children and providing them a better life.
Turkey, as a prominent country in terms of observing and contributing the development of children’s rights in the international arena, is one of the leading signatories to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989.
Turkish Parliament, as the supreme representative organ in Turkey, also undertakes the responsibility of the supervision for the execution of children’s rights through the commissions, in addition to the legislation concerning the protection and enhancement of children’s rights.
Declaration of April 23, the anniversary of the establishment of the Turkish Grand National Assembly, as the Day of Children by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of modern Turkey, clearly indicates the significant evaluation of issues related to children.
TGNA aims to institutionalize the operations for the enhancement of the children’s rights in order to activate more projects. For this reason, Child Rights Monitoring Committee has been formed to achieve these goals by the representatives of all political party groups in the parliament.
Direct contact will be provided between MP’s and children through the new web portal of the committee.
The committee is assigned to work as an advisory board, which will monitor the results of the execution of the legal regulations related to children’s rights.
The committee will contribute the sensitivity in public for the enhancement of the children’s right, also utilizing the works of several organizations in public sector and civil society, including international organizations such as UNICEF.
Committee member deputies will evaluate the messages sent by the children to conduct research on various issues occupying public agenda or directly reported by children and to produce bimonthly reports to the President of TGNA.
The committee will assume a pioneering role for the development of the children’s rights, as the first example in the world.
The secretariat functions for the committee are executed by the Parliamentary Commission for Health, Family, Labor, and Social Affairs. The committee members are:
Cevdet ERDÖL (President of the Health, Family, Labor, and Social Affairs Commission - Justice and Development Party, Deputy for Trabzon)
Necdet ÜNÜVAR (Member of the Planning and Budget Commission - Justice and Development Party, Deputy for Adana)
Halide İNCEKARA (Member of the Human Rights Observation Commission - Justice and Development Party, Deputy for Istanbul)
M. Emin EKMEN (Member of the Justice Comission - Justice and Development Party, Deputy for Batman)
Avni ERDEMİR (Member of the National Education, Culture, Youth, and Sport - Justice and Development Party, Deputy for Amasya)
Nevin Gaye ERBATUR (Member of the European Union Harmonization Commission – Republican People’s Party, Deputy for Adana)
Şenol BAL (Member of the Human Rights Observation Commission – Nationalist Movement Party, Deputy for Izmir)
Sevahir BAYINDIR (Member of the Health, Family, Labor, and Social Affairs Commission – Democratic Society Party, Deputy for Şırnak)
Köksal Toptan, President of TGNA, declared the official establishment of the committee, sending a memorandum to all political party groups in the Parliament.
