İSTANBUL - Stating that all their applications regarding unaccompanied children were left unanswered, lawyer Çisel Demirkan from the Association of Women and Children First said that the purpose of handing over children to religious sects is ethnic and cultural assimilation.

 

Discussions about the fate of children who lost their families and were injured in the earthquake that took place in Maraş on February 6 continue. Allegations that unaccompanied injured children were abducted during their transfer to the hospital or after their treatment, and that they were handed over to congregations and sects remain on the agenda.

 

Lawyer Çisel Demirkan from the Women and Children First Association and Aytül Özcan and Sevinç Koçak from the Disaster-Child-Civil Coordination Center Team made assessments on the situation of missing children.

 

NUMBER OF APPLICATIONS INCREASED

 

Stating that they made many press statements about unaccompanied children falling into the hands of sects and communities, Demirkan said: “We continue to meet with the Ministry of Family and Social Services to investigate the situation with unaccompanied childrens or families who cannot find their children. Antakya Bar Association has a study on this subject. We are also working in coordination with them. Apart from this, studies are continuing to find the children of the families we contacted and to determine their whereabouts.”

 

Pointing out that the applications were made after the news about the earthquake victims staying with their families in the village belonging to the Menzil Sect, Demirkan said: “After the earthquake, we filed a criminal complaint after the images showing that the children were in a village belonging to a cult. After this notification, the number of complaints increased. The Ministry made a statement regarding this and it had a statement that the woman in the image was the mother of the children. The process continues.”

 

CHILDREN ARE GIVEN TO COMMUNITIES

 

Emphasizing that the Ministry of Family and Social Policies should record unaccompanied children when sending them to hospitals, Demirkan said: “It is useful to remember that there were people who introduced themselves as police or any public official in the first days of the earthquake. We learned that 1,100 unaccompanied children are in a village belonging to the sects. To date, neither the Ministry nor the government has made a statement. From the very beginning, the children had to be protected by the state, registered and then handed over to their families. They need to be handed over to families, not to their own sects, congregations, or third parties. Children who were not delivered to their families should have stayed in state dormitories. Children aged 5-6 are given to congregations under the name of 'wanting to learn the Qur'an'. "According to the statement made by the Ministry, 1,100 children are in a village and the sect has information."

 

PROTECTIVE FAMILY CONCEPT

 

Referring to the "Foster family" method, Demirkan said: "If foster families are not regularly legally controlled, they are a method open to abuse. We saw an incredible sect and congregation at the meetings held for foster families. The concept of foster family is unfortunately a concept that paves the way for child abuse. Especially in such a disaster process, children were not protected and aid was not provided. Children are the first people we need to protect in such traumatic moments because children are vulnerable, they are alone. At this point, we expect the state to support children, but unfortunately we see that our children are not protected in any way.”

 

LOST CHILDREN ARE FOLLOWED

 

Noting that the working groups and all the content produced by the Disaster-Child Civil Coordination Team can be accessed on the website https://afetcocukkoordinasyon.org/, Özcan shared the following information about their work: “As a team, we do not act as a direct application channel. We follow, list and confirm the wanted unaccompanied children advertisements. We also forward the lists to the Ministry of Family and Social Services. We monitor the processes carried out regarding the wanted, unaccompanied and unidentified children, and develop alternative suggestions against malpractices and deficiencies in terms of child safety and share them with both the relevant public institutions and the public. We have a registration system that is only accessible to our friends in the study group. In terms of child safety, we do not share any personal data with third parties in an uncontrolled manner. We frequently scan social media and news. We are trying to confirm the information we get from social media postings. We strive to keep data up to date with periodic social media browsing and phone calls.”

 

AN EMERGENCY ACTION PLAN

 

Sevinç Koçak, from the Disaster-Child Civil Coordination Team, pointed out that support units should be established to facilitate the process of those affected by the earthquake, their relatives receiving treatment in hospitals, the cemeteries of the orphans and the families looking for their children, that do not require searching from city to city, and that they can access all information from wherever they are. Koçak continued as follows: “When families looking for their missing children need to go to other cities, support mechanisms such as transportation, accommodation, legal and psychosocial support, and direct communication with experts who follow the subject should be provided to speed up the process. The Ministry of Family and Social Services should transparently share with the public how it fulfills its obligation to protect all unaccompanied children, and all processes regarding institutional care, foster family and other protection measures.

 

MA / Esra Solin Dal