Arrested for protesting child labour and work-related child deaths
On 1 December, members of the Private School Teachers’ Union and 17 student members of the Workers’ Party of Turkey (TİP) were arrested while protesting Turkey’s Education Minister, Yusuf Tekin, and the government’s Vocational Training Programme (MESEM) at a summit in Istanbul.
The Committee for a Workers’ International (CWI) sends its solidarity to TİP and to all working-class people and young people struggling against Erdogan’s government.
MESEM is a government scheme in which hundreds of thousands of school students in Turkey are currently enrolled. As part of this programme, schoolchildren as young as 14 and 15 years old are working in extremely dangerous environments, such as construction sites, factories, and workshops.
Students enrolled in this programme attend school one day a week and spend the other four days working full-time for a pittance. Their poverty wages are not paid by employers but by the government.
According to the Health and Safety Labor Watch (İSİG) – a network founded by workers and their families – 85 children have died this year in work-related incidents. Many more have been injured while working in unsafe conditions. A significant number of them were working in these environments as part of MESEM.
Outrageously, students who exercised their democratic right to protest this extremely exploitative training scheme – which is killing and injuring children – have been arrested and remain in police detention.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s regime knows how deeply unpopular it is and fears any protest or campaign that exposes government policies designed primarily to meet the needs of the bosses.
The richest 35 individuals in Turkey possess three times more wealth than the bottom 50% of the population (42.5 million people). Erdogan’s policies have allowed the rich to become richer while everyone else has experienced a massive deterioration in living standards. Young people have been denied a decent future.
Despite the regime’s attempts to clamp down on protests and intimidate young people, Erdogan is weak and will inevitably face mass working-class opposition.
Release all 16 TIP members!
Defend the right to protest!
Solidarity!