Today, 6 workers lost their lives in a fire and explosion at a perfume factory in Kocaeli. One of them was 17 years old. According to the report of the ISIG council, at least 71 children have lost their lives in work murders this year. If a child dies on the job, it is not called an “accident at work”. This is clearly a child labor murder. Because that child is already in a place where they shouldn't be: in the mines, in the factory, in construction, in the fields or in the workshop...
But in the aftermath of these murders, another painful picture is unfolding in Turkey: blood money negotiations.
The Price of a Child's Death
“Blood money” is not a legally defined concept; it is used colloquially to mean “peace money” after death. However, this concept is used in child labor murders, a dirty mechanism that takes the place of justice has become. A child dies, the boss or subcontractor comes to the family. “Don't go to court, don't bother,” he says. He offers some money: 50 thousand, 100 thousand, sometimes 200 thousand liras...
The poor family cannot even afford to pay for the funeral; desperation prevails over “justice”. And most of the time it is money, becomes a veil pulled over a child's right to life.
Justice or Hush Money?
Blood money, a is hush money. The family is silenced, no lawsuit is filed, the public forgets. The bosses continue to produce, the system continues to function at the same speed. But what happens is that silence that is left behind. Such “reconciliations” do not legally absolve criminal responsibility. But in practice, investigations are slowed down, sentences are postponed, trials drag on for years.
Conclusion: The culture of impunity is strengthened.
Exploitation of Poverty
The blood money system is in fact the most naked exploitation of poverty. A family that has lost a child is already impoverished by the system. On the one hand, the struggle to make ends meet, on the other, the financial burden of seeking justice. If there is no social support from the state, if legal aid mechanisms are weak, the money offered to the family seems like “salvation”. But in reality it is not, renouncing justice is an economic imposition.
Conscience of a Society
Every blood money is a new wound opened in the conscience of society. When the death of a child is “covered by money”, there is a silence in which the state, the judiciary and the conscience are silent together, and that silence leads to the death of other children. Because every death that is not held to account legitimizes new deaths.
Where is Real Justice?
Real justice does not take place in courtrooms, but in a country where children no longer work and there are no more workplace murders. Not blood money, Justice should be discussed. A system must be established where those responsible are held accountable, not poor families. Because no amount of money, no compensation can be worth the life of a child.
A child's life is not negotiable.
Justice is not about money; with truth, responsibility and conscience is provided. The child is an individual like adults and has the right to enjoy his/her childhood. As a structural problem, child labor should be addressed together with its conscientious dimensions. Conscientious evaluations alone cause us to regret the consequences of the problem, not its solution.