24 child labour murders in 4 months!

Labour Service

In Kangırlı village of Lapseki district, Çanakkale, 15-year-old Şerafettin Başarır lost his life the day before yesterday following a workplace accident. Suffering burns on 85% of his body, Başarır had been receiving treatment in hospital for about 10 days. Despite all medical efforts, he could not be saved and died after a 10-day treatment period.

According to data from the Health and Safety Labour Watch (İSİG) Assembly, 15-year-old Başarır was the 24th child to die in a workplace accident since the beginning of 2025. The İSİG Assembly released a statement that read: “For the past fifteen days, we and our university comrades have made press statements in İstanbul, Ankara, İzmir, Kocaeli and Samsun, declaring ‘We stand against child labour’. At the May Day rallies, the slogan ‘Children are not workers’ echoed in every city, and the photos of the children who lost their lives were carried. But this is not enough.

In the first three days of May, two more children working in industry lost their lives. On May Day in Antep, 15-year-old Syrian child worker Ali; and today, 15-year-old child worker Şerafettin in Çanakkale… Enough is enough! Now is the time to raise the banner of ‘Fighting Against Child Labour’ even higher, everywhere.”

The İSİG Assembly listed their demands as follows: “Child labour must be banned, vocational training must be planned in a way that is suitable for child development and within a framework of public regulation. Education at every level must be free, and the curriculum should be restructured in line with science and in connection with life. Our living spaces must be cleared of drugs and gang activity, and made suitable for children's development (with sports, arts, cultural activities, etc.).”

Note: This text has been translated from the original Turkish version titled 4 ayda 24 çocuk işçi cinayeti!, published in BirGün newspaper on May 5, 2025.