Four-fold increase in child sexual abuse cases in Turkey in 10 years

ANKARA

The number of child sexual abuse cases that Turkish courts have settled in the last 10 years has quadrupled, according to figures provided by the Justice Ministry.

The number of such settled cases was 3,718 in 2007, whereas it spiked to 16,041 in 2017, as per the data highlighted by main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) deputy Aydın Özer. On the other hand, the total number for the period of 2007-2017 was recorded as 153,139.

“It is wrong to take this increase normally, to face it with an attitude of ‘Things like this occur in every part of the world, this is not only our problem.’ It is also wrong not to speak about methods that can be a solution to children’s rights issues and to turn a blind eye to them,” Özer said.

“As it appears, the justice system regarding children needs to be reorganized and a children rights commission needs to be established in the Turkish Parliament. This is why when we started our duty, the first bill we submitted was on the establishment of a permanent commission in the parliament under the name of the Children’s Rights Monitoring Commission,” Özer said.

According to the data provided by the Justice Ministry, the numbers of child sexual assault cases settled in the courts over the last 10 years are as follows: Some 3,718 in 2007, 4,261 in 2008, 6,415 in 2009, 10,900 in 2010, 14,066 in 2011, 17,457 in 2012, 19,754 in 2013, 22,865 in 2014, 21,175 in 2015, 16,487 in 2016 and 16,041 in 2017.