Children should be protected as individuals, not victims, amid armed conflicts: Lawyer

Children's status as individuals and right owners should be recognized amid ongoing armed conflicts in Turkey's eastern and southeastern provinces, Humanist Bureau co-founder Seda Akço has said.

"The child-state relationship is different," said Akço, a lawyer who works on children's rights, adding that the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) was created "to protect the value of childhood and children."

Akço added that children were "objectified" in conflict as a result of having been considered "victims" in legal terms. According to Akço, liabilities of the U.N. treaty and special rights stemming from child's status have not been recognized in Turkey. "Children and childhood have been under a full scale attack. This scares me," she said.

The Humanist Bureau has released a report entitled "Situation of Children Affected by Armed Conflicts," reiterating Turkey's responsibilities under UNCRC Article 38 and the "Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict." Article 38 ensures the "liability of all state parties to protect children within international humanitarian law and meet all basic needs."

Tisdall: Children affected by armed conflict the most

A professor of childhood policy, Kay Tisdall from the University of Edinburgh, works on children's rights and legislation. She explained to Do?an News Agency the importance of Article 38.

"When adults go to war, it is frequently children who are the worst affected by it," and it is this article that attempts to make its signatories responsible for children's wellbeing in conflict, she said. "This [responsibility] applies to all children up to the age of 18, whatever their role in the...