News
Stakeholders Meeting on Combating Child Labour in Seasonal Agriculture
With participation from national and local stakeholders, the meeting discussed the activities in the hazelnut harvest season of 2018 and ways of extending the combat to other crop groups within the framework of relevant policies to eliminate child labour in seasonal agriculture.
23 November 2018
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A stakeholder meeting was held on 22 November 2018 in Ankara to assess the activities in the hazelnut harvest season of 2018 and discuss extending the combat to other crop groups in the context of the Project “An Integrated Model for the Elimination of Worst Forms of Child Labour in Seasonal Agriculture in Hazelnut Harvesting in Turkey”* jointly implemented by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Services.
With participation from national and local stakeholders, the meeting had two sessions. The first session addressed the current work in the framework of the Circular No. 2016/5 of the Ministry of National Education on the Access to Education of Children of Seasonal Agricultural Workers and Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Families and Circular No. 2017/6 of the Prime Ministry on Seasonal Agricultural Workers, and exchanged views and recommendations on the issue. The second session discussed the extending the combat against child labour to other crop groups.
Mr. Nejat Kocabay, Senior Programme Manager in the ILO Office for Turkey, expressed his happiness on this occasion of coming together with the national and local stakeholders in the context of the Project to eliminate child labour in seasonal agriculture launched in 2012 and scheduled to conclude at end 2020, and emphasised that the meeting was an important platform to assess the current activities for the implementation of the Circulars by the Prime Ministry and Ministry of National Education, share good practices and discuss recommendations. Noting that the civil administrators and representatives from the Project provinces of Ordu, Düzce, Sakarya and Şanlıurfa as well as the provinces of Eskişehir, Konya, Malatya and Adana were present in the meeting, Mr. Kocabay stated that discussing the experience of provinces which had various crop groups involving seasonal agriculture was a significant opportunity to extend the combat against child labour in seasonal agriculture.
Mr. Şeref Kazancı, Deputy Director-General of Labour in the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Services said: “When seasonal agricultural workers depart for the location of work, they take along their children who then work in agricultural jobs not suitable for their age to contribute to the family economy. In that context, the Prime Ministry’s Circular on Seasonal Agricultural Workers was issued last year to address the problems of seasonal agricultural workers and families, and direct their children to education and social activities rather than work.”
Expressing that the “Seasonal Agricultural Workers Project (METIP)” was implemented by the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Services in the framework of the said Circular, and the “Seasonal Agricultural Workers Information System (e-METIP)” was established within their Ministry in partnership with the Ministries of Interior, Health and National Education, Mr. Kazancı continued: “In today’s meeting, we will elicit your assessments of the work in your provinces in the context of METIP and functioning of the e-METIP system. We believe that your input will significantly contribute to enhancing the effectiveness of our Project and the system.”
Indicating his firm belief that the support will continue at the same rigor and efficiency to the work undertaken in the context of the Project to contribute to eliminating the worst forms of child labour in seasonal hazelnut agriculture in Turkey, Mr. Kazancı thanked all stakeholders for their participation.
Present at the meeting were the representatives of the Ministries of Family, Labour and Social Services, National Education, Agriculture and Forestry, Health, Interior as well as the civil administrators and representatives of the provincial/district directorates of the aforelisted ministries and ISKUR of the provinces of Ordu, Düzce, Sakarya and Şanlıurfa where the Project was being implemented as well as of the provinces of Adana, Eskişehir, Konya and Malatya where various crop groups were harvested.
* The Project was started in 2012 under the partnership of ILO and Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Services to eliminate the worst forms of child labour in seasonal hazelnut agriculture in Ordu, in the East Black Sea region of Turkey. Following the successful conclusion of the first period, the Project was expanded in 2015 to cover the provinces of Düzce and Sakarya in the West Black Sea region, and Şanlıurfa which supplied the migrant workers for seasonal agriculture, and extended until the end of 2020. The overall objective of the Project is to contribute to eliminating the worst forms of child labour in seasonal agriculture in line with the government’s National Employment Strategy (2014-2023) and National Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (2017-2023). The Project aims to contribute to the processes of policy development and implementation, strengthening the national and local capacities and raise awareness on the issue to ensure that children are withdrawn from worst forms of labour and prevent children under risk from entering into work.
With participation from national and local stakeholders, the meeting had two sessions. The first session addressed the current work in the framework of the Circular No. 2016/5 of the Ministry of National Education on the Access to Education of Children of Seasonal Agricultural Workers and Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Families and Circular No. 2017/6 of the Prime Ministry on Seasonal Agricultural Workers, and exchanged views and recommendations on the issue. The second session discussed the extending the combat against child labour to other crop groups.
Mr. Nejat Kocabay, Senior Programme Manager in the ILO Office for Turkey, expressed his happiness on this occasion of coming together with the national and local stakeholders in the context of the Project to eliminate child labour in seasonal agriculture launched in 2012 and scheduled to conclude at end 2020, and emphasised that the meeting was an important platform to assess the current activities for the implementation of the Circulars by the Prime Ministry and Ministry of National Education, share good practices and discuss recommendations. Noting that the civil administrators and representatives from the Project provinces of Ordu, Düzce, Sakarya and Şanlıurfa as well as the provinces of Eskişehir, Konya, Malatya and Adana were present in the meeting, Mr. Kocabay stated that discussing the experience of provinces which had various crop groups involving seasonal agriculture was a significant opportunity to extend the combat against child labour in seasonal agriculture.
Mr. Şeref Kazancı, Deputy Director-General of Labour in the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Services said: “When seasonal agricultural workers depart for the location of work, they take along their children who then work in agricultural jobs not suitable for their age to contribute to the family economy. In that context, the Prime Ministry’s Circular on Seasonal Agricultural Workers was issued last year to address the problems of seasonal agricultural workers and families, and direct their children to education and social activities rather than work.”
Expressing that the “Seasonal Agricultural Workers Project (METIP)” was implemented by the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Services in the framework of the said Circular, and the “Seasonal Agricultural Workers Information System (e-METIP)” was established within their Ministry in partnership with the Ministries of Interior, Health and National Education, Mr. Kazancı continued: “In today’s meeting, we will elicit your assessments of the work in your provinces in the context of METIP and functioning of the e-METIP system. We believe that your input will significantly contribute to enhancing the effectiveness of our Project and the system.”
Indicating his firm belief that the support will continue at the same rigor and efficiency to the work undertaken in the context of the Project to contribute to eliminating the worst forms of child labour in seasonal hazelnut agriculture in Turkey, Mr. Kazancı thanked all stakeholders for their participation.
Present at the meeting were the representatives of the Ministries of Family, Labour and Social Services, National Education, Agriculture and Forestry, Health, Interior as well as the civil administrators and representatives of the provincial/district directorates of the aforelisted ministries and ISKUR of the provinces of Ordu, Düzce, Sakarya and Şanlıurfa where the Project was being implemented as well as of the provinces of Adana, Eskişehir, Konya and Malatya where various crop groups were harvested.
* The Project was started in 2012 under the partnership of ILO and Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Services to eliminate the worst forms of child labour in seasonal hazelnut agriculture in Ordu, in the East Black Sea region of Turkey. Following the successful conclusion of the first period, the Project was expanded in 2015 to cover the provinces of Düzce and Sakarya in the West Black Sea region, and Şanlıurfa which supplied the migrant workers for seasonal agriculture, and extended until the end of 2020. The overall objective of the Project is to contribute to eliminating the worst forms of child labour in seasonal agriculture in line with the government’s National Employment Strategy (2014-2023) and National Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (2017-2023). The Project aims to contribute to the processes of policy development and implementation, strengthening the national and local capacities and raise awareness on the issue to ensure that children are withdrawn from worst forms of labour and prevent children under risk from entering into work.