A Syrian child labourer, aged 12, has been fatally injured in accident in a lift in Adana, Turkey. The incident occurred early on Tuesday morning when the boy, identified only as Ahmet, got into the lift but got trapped between the wall and the lift itself in a local textile workshop. Firefighters recovered his body from the scene.
The tragedy struck on the eve of 12 June, the World Day Against Child Labour, highlighting the perilous conditions under which many refugee children work in Turkey. Reports indicated that the lift had been malfunctioning for some time, yet it continued to be in operation.
This incident highlights the broader issue of refugee child labourers in Turkey, many of whom are compelled to work under hazardous conditions due to economic necessity. It is reported that the workshop in the Dağ Textile Emporium, where the accident took place, benefited from government employment support initiatives, but it still failed to ensure basic safety standards.
Local workers expressed their distress, noting that the lift had been known to be unreliable, reflecting the low value placed on human life in unsafe workshops predominated by refugee labour.
The Worker Health and Work Safety Council (İSİG) reported that over the last 11 years, at least 695 child labourers have died in workplace accidents across Turkey, with the majority of these tragedies occurring in the agriculture and construction sectors. This alarming statistic was released just as the world prepares to mark World Day Against Child Labour, highlighting a grim reality for underage labourers in high-risk industries.
The Turkish Education Ministry’s Vocational Training Centres have also come under scrutiny for their role in increasing child labour. The İSİG report indicates that these programmes, while intended to provide vocational training, often lead to the exploitation of child workers, with students being placed in hazardous working environments without adequate protections.
Despite the dangers faced by child labourers, the plight of refugee workers, particularly children, is often overshadowed by increasing anti-refugee sentiment in Turkey. Campaigns targeting refugees frequently ignore the exploitative conditions, including child labour, under which many refugees work. These campaigns, while vocal about national security and cultural integrity, rarely address the critical issues of labour exploitation and the urgent need for protective measures in workplaces employing vulnerable refugee populations.
