VZCZCXYZ0001
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHAK #1060/01 1611157
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 091157Z JUN 08
FM AMEMBASSY ANKARA
TO RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC
RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6507

UNCLAS ANKARA 001060 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR DRL/ILCSR: MARK MITTELHAUSER AND G/TIP: STEVE 
STEINER; LABOR FOR DOL/ILAB RACHEL RIGBY AND MIHAIL SEROKA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ELAB EIND ETRD PHUM SOCI
SUBJECT: TURKEY: INFORMATION ON FORCED LABOR AND CHILD 
LABOR IN THE PRODUCTION OF GOODS 
 
REF: A. STATE 43120 
     ¶B. 07 ANKARA 2965 
 
¶1. (U) Post consulted with GOT officials, representatives of 
organized labor, employers' organizations, and ILO 
representatives in Turkey in an effort to determine the level 
and nature of the use of child and forced labor in the 
production of goods, per request in ref A.  Post is aware of 
one report of several individuals from Turkmenistan who were 
involved in forced labor in the construction industry in 
Turkey, but post was unable to uncover any evidence of the 
use of forced labor in the production of goods here.  The use 
of child labor undoubtedly continues in some sectors of 
Turkey's economy, but the GOT continues to make strides 
toward its goal of reducing the overall incidence of child 
labor, as well as eliminating the worst forms of child labor 
in Turkey by 2014, as reported in ref b. 
 
¶2. (U) Reliable data that accurately portray the true level 
of the use of child labor in Turkey are difficult to find. 
According to a 2006 study conducted by Turkey's State 
Statistics Institute, the number of children aged 6-17 
thought to be engaged in some form of economic activity was 
958,000.  Of these, the study estimates that just over half 
of those children (about 500,000) engage in work in rural 
areas.  Officials of the Turk-Is labor confederation and the 
Turkish Confederation of Employer Associations (TISK), which 
have conducted their own studies on the use of child labor in 
Turkey, conducted a joint 2002 study on the incidence of 
child labor in the agricultural sector in the Adana area. 
According to estimates from that study, well over half of 
Turkey's working children are employed in the agricultural 
sector.  Most are unpaid workers in a family farming 
business, while upwards of 200,000 children are reportedly 
engaged in agricultural work as a result of being born into 
migrant worker families.  These children are employed in 
seasonal work in crop harvesting, forestry activities, and 
animal husbandry. 
 
¶3. (U) According to data provided by the Ministry of Labor 
and Social Security's Labor Inspection Board, in calendar 
year 2007, a total of 27,500 work places were inspected for 
workplace health and safety.  In those inspections, a total 
of 2279 children were found to be working in various 
enterprises.  2182 of these were engaged in employment as 
part of approved apprenticeship programs tied to vocational 
schools, while 97 were employed outside the realm of an 
associated educational program (no further information was 
available on the places of employment of those 97.)  More 
complete data provided by the Board for 2006 indicates that a 
total of 61,113 workplaces were inspected.  26,617 workplaces 
were inspected for workplace health and safety, while another 
34,496 workplaces were inspected with a view toward overall 
working conditions (work hours, salaries, leave, etc.).  In 
all of these inspections, a total of 2697 children were found 
to be working in 2006.  Of these, 1074 were working in 
commercial offices, 659 in the production of wood products 
and furniture, 68 in electrical repair services, 61 in shoe 
production, 47 in educational and health services (museums, 
libraries, health institutions), 40 in auto repair services, 
34 in metal goods production, 31 in the construction 
industry, 21 in the weaving industry, 21 in the production of 
roofing tiles/bricks, 14 in the production of machinery, 12 
in foodstuff processing, and 11 in the chemical industry. 
Nearly all of these children are employed in small businesses 
which employ between one and ten workers, which generally are 
not registered. 
 
¶4. (U) The employment of children in these enterprises, 
specifically in shoe production, furniture production, metal 
goods production, and roof tile and brick production, as well 
as in auto and electrical repair services, is illegal under 
Turkish law unless it occurs as part of an approved 
vocational program.  When children were discovered to be 
working in such enterprises through Labor Board inspections, 
employers were told to enroll the children in approved 
apprenticeship programs so that the children could continue 
their education.  Labor inspectors then informed National 
Education Ministry officials about the children so that they 
could be tracked.  Employers also received fines for 
employing children outside an approved apprenticeship 
program. 
 
¶5. (U) While the data cited above points to some incidence of 
the use of child labor in the production of some goods in 
Turkey, the nature of children's involvement in that 
production is impossible for post to discern.  Equally 
difficult for post to determine is whether that work was 
necessarily exploitative.  For example, while 61 children may 
 
have been involved in shoe production as discovered in 
inspections in 2006, post was unable to obtain information 
regarding the hours worked by those children, their ages, 
whether any were also attending school, etc. 
 
¶6. (U) As a result, post is unable to obtain or provide 
specific data that points to widespread use of either forced 
or exploitative child labor in the production of goods in 
Turkey. 
 
¶7.  (U) However, the continued use of labor provided by 
children of migrant worker families in the agricultural 
sector, particular in southern/southeastern Turkey, remains a 
concern.  Post does not have data to point to the degree of 
use of child labor in harvesting/processing specific crops, 
but anecdotal evidence points to continued involvement of 
children in harvesting cotton in southeastern Turkey, as well 
as involvement in the harvesting of tobacco, sugar beets, and 
hazelnuts.  The 2002 Turk-Is/TISK joint survey of migrant 
worker families in the Karatas District of Adana Province was 
undertaken to obtain both qualitative and quantitative data 
on the nature, conditions, and effects of employment on the 
health, education, and development of children engaged as 
seasonal laborers in cotton harvesting.  It was, however, 
conducted on a geographically small basis from which it is 
difficult to extrapolate the scope of the problem nationally 
in that sector.  Children of migrant worker families have 
been, and continue to be, the focus of efforts by the 
Ministry of Labor and Social Security, and the Ministry of 
National Education, together with ILO/IPEC and USDOL through 
sponsored programs, to reduce and eventually eliminate their 
involvement. 
 
Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at 
http://www.intelink.sgov.gov/wiki/Portal:Turk ey 
 
WILSON