BDP takes child abuse allegations to Parliament
BDP takes child abuse allegations to Parliament
Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) Batman MP Ayla Akat Ata presented a parliamentary question to the Minister of Justice Sadullah Ergin about child sexual abuse claims in Pozantý prison.
“Children who have been released from Pozantý prison say that they have been sexually abused many times by ordinary prisoners. They also tell they have been forced to undress, strangled on the neck with ropes, beaten and insulted because of their Kurdish identity. The prison administration did not take into account the children’s demands to change wards despite its responsibility to prevent this kind of incidents,” noted Ata.
Stating that Turkey breached the Convention on the Rights of the Child which gives to the states the responsibility of preventing child sexual abuse and molestation, Ata asked if steps were being taken to investigate and solve the problem in the Pozantý Prison.
BDP Istanbul MP Sebahat Tuncel said the Ministry of Justice should remove the Pozantý Prison administration without investigation. Giving data from the report of the Mersin Human Rights Association (ÝHD) on child sexual abuse in the prison, Tuncel noted a long-lasting investigation was not necessary for the claims were many and serious.
On the other hand prisoners in the Osmaniye T Type Prison claimed they were attacked by wardens. Mustafa Ýlgen, a political prisoner, had a cardiac spasm after the attack as many were injured and some fainted. The injured prisoners were taken to the infirmary only after 36 hours and the bruises caused by the attack were not recorded. Eight prisoners, including Ýlgen, started an indefinite hunger strike to protest the incident as lawyer Tugay Bek said, “The Osmaniye Prison is a pilot prison where special procedures [of right violations] are implemented for the prisoners.”
“Children who have been released from Pozantý prison say that they have been sexually abused many times by ordinary prisoners. They also tell they have been forced to undress, strangled on the neck with ropes, beaten and insulted because of their Kurdish identity. The prison administration did not take into account the children’s demands to change wards despite its responsibility to prevent this kind of incidents,” noted Ata.
Stating that Turkey breached the Convention on the Rights of the Child which gives to the states the responsibility of preventing child sexual abuse and molestation, Ata asked if steps were being taken to investigate and solve the problem in the Pozantý Prison.
BDP Istanbul MP Sebahat Tuncel said the Ministry of Justice should remove the Pozantý Prison administration without investigation. Giving data from the report of the Mersin Human Rights Association (ÝHD) on child sexual abuse in the prison, Tuncel noted a long-lasting investigation was not necessary for the claims were many and serious.
On the other hand prisoners in the Osmaniye T Type Prison claimed they were attacked by wardens. Mustafa Ýlgen, a political prisoner, had a cardiac spasm after the attack as many were injured and some fainted. The injured prisoners were taken to the infirmary only after 36 hours and the bruises caused by the attack were not recorded. Eight prisoners, including Ýlgen, started an indefinite hunger strike to protest the incident as lawyer Tugay Bek said, “The Osmaniye Prison is a pilot prison where special procedures [of right violations] are implemented for the prisoners.”
