Seng Yang/January 25, 2008/1:13am/Human Rights/Post2
United Nation’s International Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has come up with a report that states around 9.7 million children in the world die before they reach the age of five. The article also states, “While 270 out of a thousand children die in Sierra Leone, in Turkey this number stands at 26.”
In Turkey, there is favoritism for boys than girls; it is shown in the statistics of their education, in school registration and literacy. 18 percent of young girls are married underage.
Although there is still 18 percent of children being married off underage, the death rate of children under five has decreased. Turkey ranks 96th, in 1990, 82 out of 1,000 children died before that age in Turkey, but in 2006 this number fell to 26. For deaths of one years and younger, it has also dropped from 67 in a thousand to 27.
They have improved some of the health risks in Turkey, such as improving drinking water, 96 percent of Turkey has access to drinking water. Also, the rate of immunization against various illnesses among one-year olds ranges from 82 to 98 percent.
There is still inequality in gender and education, the statistics are, “Between 2000 and 2006, 96 percent of school age boys were registered at primary school, compared to 91 percent of the girls. 89 percent of the children persist in their schooling. In addition, 83 percent of the boys in the relevant age group continue into high school, the rate among girls is only 68 percent. And still the rate of child marriage is at 18 percent.
The 18 percent does not seem that large of a number when you compare it to 83 percent that are going to school. But just the thought that Turkey has not yet outlawed this is outrageous. Turkey is slowly accepting the role of women, but this is still going on.
http://www.bianet.org/english/kategori/english/104372/unicef-two-in-ten-people-in-turkey-marry-underage
2 comments:
This is so crazy to me! I think coming from a country where women are, now more than ever, highly valued, it's hard for me to accept that this is standard for many other countries! These Eastern European countries are in such need of realizing how important every single person there is, and how valuable their place in society can be!!
I wonder what the marriage age is for people in Turkey. It may be a social norm to marry at a particular age that urks many of us in the US. There is the debate of what is moral against what is the law. While it is morally wrong to marry under a certain age it may not be legally outlawed.
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