Keep Us Strong WikiLeaks logo

Currently released so far... 97115 / 251,287

Articles

Browse latest releases

Browse by creation date

Browse by origin

A B C D F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z

Browse by tag

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
ETRD EAGR ETTC EAID ECON EFIN ECIN EINV ELAB EAIR ENRG EPET EWWT ECPS EIND EMIN ELTN EC ETMIN EUC EZ ET ELECTIONS ENVR EU EUN EG EINT ER ECONOMICS ES EMS ENIV EEB EN ECE ECOSOC EK ENVIRONMENT EFIS EI EWT ENGRD ECPSN EXIM EIAD ERIN ECPC EDEV ENGY ECTRD EPA ESTH ECCT EINVECON ENGR ERTD EUR EAP EWWC ELTD EL EXIMOPIC EXTERNAL ETRDEC ESCAP ECO EGAD ELNT ECONOMIC ENV ETRN EIAR EUMEM ENRGPARMOTRASENVKGHGPGOVECONTSPLEAID EREL ECOM ECONETRDEAGRJA ETCC ETRG ECONOMY EMED ETR ENERG EITC EFINOECD EURM EENG ERA EXPORT ENRD ECONEINVETRDEFINELABETRDKTDBPGOVOPIC EGEN EBRD EVIN ETRAD ECOWAS EFTA ECONETRDBESPAR EGOVSY EPIN EID ECONENRG EDRC ESENV ETT EB ENER ELTNSNAR ECHEVARRIA ETRC EPIT EDUC ESA EFI ENRGY ESCI EE EAIDXMXAXBXFFR EETC ECIP EIAID EIVN EBEXP ESTN EING EGOV ETRA EPETEIND ELAN ETRDGK EAIDRW ETRDEINVECINPGOVCS EPEC ENVI ELN EAG EPCS EPRT EPTED ETRB EUM EAIDS EFIC EFINECONEAIDUNGAGM EAIDAR ESF EIDN ELAM EDU EV EAIDAF ECN EDA EXBS EINTECPS ENRGTRGYETRDBEXPBTIOSZ EPREL EAC EINVEFIN ETA EAGER EINDIR ECA ECLAC ELAP EITI EUCOM ECONEFINETRDPGOVEAGRPTERKTFNKCRMEAID EARG ELDIN EINVKSCA ENNP EFINECONCS EFINTS ECCP ETC EAIRASECCASCID EINN ETRP EAIDNI EFQ ECOQKPKO EGPHUM EBUD ECONEINVEFINPGOVIZ ENERGY ELB EINDETRD EMI ECONEFIN EIB EURN ETRDEINVTINTCS EIN EFIM ETIO ELAINE EMN EATO EWTR EIPR EINVETC ETTD ETDR EIQ ECONCS EPPD ENRGIZ EISL ESPINOSA ELEC EAIG ESLCO EUREM ENTG ERD EINVECONSENVCSJA EEPET EUNCH ECINECONCS ETRO ETRDECONWTOCS ECUN EFND EPECO EAIRECONRP ERGR ETRDPGOV ECPN ENRGMO EPWR EET EAIS EAGRE EDUARDO EAGRRP EAIDPHUMPRELUG EICN ECONQH EVN EGHG ELBR EINF EAIDHO EENV ETEX ERNG ED
KMDR KPAO KPKO KJUS KCRM KGHG KFRD KWMN KDEM KTFN KHIV KGIC KIDE KSCA KNNP KHUM KIPR KSUM KISL KIRF KCOR KRCM KPAL KWBG KN KS KOMC KSEP KFLU KPWR KTIA KSEO KMPI KHLS KICC KSTH KMCA KVPR KPRM KE KU KZ KFLO KSAF KTIP KTEX KBCT KOCI KOLY KOR KAWC KACT KUNR KTDB KSTC KLIG KSKN KNN KCFE KCIP KGHA KHDP KPOW KUNC KDRL KV KPREL KCRS KPOL KRVC KRIM KGIT KWIR KT KIRC KOMO KRFD KUWAIT KG KFIN KSCI KTFIN KFTN KGOV KPRV KSAC KGIV KCRIM KPIR KSOC KBIO KW KGLB KMWN KPO KFSC KSEAO KSTCPL KSI KPRP KREC KFPC KUNH KCSA KMRS KNDP KR KICCPUR KPPAO KCSY KTBT KCIS KNEP KFRDCVISCMGTCASCKOCIASECPHUMSMIGEG KNNB KGCC KINR KPOP KMFO KENV KNAR KVIR KDRG KDMR KFCE KNAO KDEN KGCN KICA KIMMITT KMCC KLFU KMSG KSEC KUM KCUL KMNP KSMT KCOM KOMCSG KSPR KPMI KRAD KIND KCRP KAUST KWAWC KTER KCHG KRDP KPAS KITA KTSC KPAOPREL KWGB KIRP KJUST KMIG KLAB KTFR KSEI KSTT KAPO KSTS KLSO KWNN KPOA KHSA KNPP KPAONZ KBTS KWWW KY KJRE KPAOKMDRKE KCRCM KSCS KWMNCI KESO KWUN KPLS KIIP KEDEM KPAOY KRIF KGICKS KREF KTRD KFRDSOCIRO KTAO KJU KWMNPHUMPRELKPAOZW KEN KO KNEI KEMR KKIV KEAI KWAC KRCIM KWCI KFIU KWIC KCORR KOMS KNNO KPAI KBWG KTTB KTBD KTIALG KILS KFEM KTDM KESS KNUC KPA KOMCCO KCEM KRCS KWBGSY KNPPIS KNNPMNUC KWN KERG KLTN KALM KCCP KSUMPHUM KREL KGH KLIP KTLA KAWK KWMM KVRP KVRC KAID KSLG KDEMK KX KIF KNPR KCFC KFTFN KTFM KPDD KCERS KMOC KDEMAF KMEPI KEMS KDRM KEPREL KBTR KEDU KNP KIRL KNNR KMPT KISLPINR KTPN KA KJUSTH KPIN KDEV KTDD KAKA KFRP KWNM KTSD KINL KJUSKUNR KWWMN KECF KWBC KPRO KVBL KOM KFRDKIRFCVISCMGTKOCIASECPHUMSMIGEG KEDM KFLD KLPM KRGY KNNF KICR KIFR KM KWMNCS KAWS KLAP KPAK KDDG KCGC KID KNSD KMPF KPFO KDP KCMR KRMS KNPT KNNNP KTIAPARM KDTB KNUP KPGOV KNAP KNNC KUK KSRE KREISLER KIVP KQ KTIAEUN KPALAOIS KRM KISLAO KWM KFLOA
PHUM PINR PTER PGOV PREL PREF PL PM PHSA PE PARM PINS PK PUNE PO PALESTINIAN PU PBTS PROP PTBS POL POLI PA PGOVZI POLMIL POLITICAL PARTIES POLM PD POLITICS POLICY PAS PMIL PINT PNAT PV PKO PPOL PERSONS PING PBIO PH PETR PARMS PRES PCON PETERS PRELBR PT PLAB PP PAK PDEM PKPA PSOCI PF PLO PTERM PJUS PSOE PELOSI PROPERTY PGOVPREL PARP PRL PNIR PHUMKPAL PG PREZ PGIC PBOV PAO PKK PROV PHSAK PHUMPREL PROTECTION PGOVBL PSI PRELPK PGOVENRG PUM PRELKPKO PATTY PSOC PRIVATIZATION PRELSP PGOVEAIDUKNOSWGMHUCANLLHFRSPITNZ PMIG PREC PAIGH PROG PSHA PARK PETER POG PHUS PPREL PS PTERPREL PRELPGOV POV PKPO PGOVECON POUS PGOVPRELPHUMPREFSMIGELABEAIDKCRMKWMN PWBG PMAR PREM PAR PNR PRELPGOVEAIDECONEINVBEXPSCULOIIPBTIO PARMIR PGOVGM PHUH PARTM PN PRE PTE PY POLUN PPEL PDOV PGOVSOCI PIRF PGOVPM PBST PRELEVU PGOR PBTSRU PRM PRELKPAOIZ PGVO PERL PGOC PAGR PMIN PHUMR PVIP PPD PGV PRAM PINL PKPAL PTERE PGOF PINO PHAS PODC PRHUM PHUMA PREO PPA PEPFAR PGO PRGOV PAC PRESL PORG PKFK PEPR PRELP PREFA PNG PGOVPHUMKPAO PRELECON PINOCHET PFOR PGOVLO PHUMBA PRELC PREK PHUME PHJM POLINT PGOVPZ PGOVKCRM PGOVE PHALANAGE PARTY PECON PEACE PROCESS PLN PRELSW PAHO PEDRO PRELA PASS PPAO PGPV PNUM PCUL PGGV PSA PGOVSMIGKCRMKWMNPHUMCVISKFRDCA PGIV PRFE POGOV PEL PBT PAMQ PINF PSEPC POSTS PHUMPGOV PVOV PHSAPREL PROLIFERATION PENA PRELTBIOBA PIN PRELL PGOVPTER PHAM PHYTRP PTEL PTERPGOV PHARM PROTESTS PRELAF PKBL PRELKPAO PKNP PARMP PHUML PFOV PERM PUOS PRELGOV PHUMPTER PARAGRAPH PERURENA PBTSEWWT PCI PETROL PINSO PINSCE PQL PEREZ PBS

Browse by classification

Community resources

courage is contagious

Viewing cable 08ANKARA1060, TURKEY: INFORMATION ON FORCED LABOR AND CHILD

If you are new to these pages, please read an introduction on the structure of a cable as well as how to discuss them with others. See also the FAQs

Understanding cables
Every cable message consists of three parts:
  • The top box shows each cables unique reference number, when and by whom it originally was sent, and what its initial classification was.
  • The middle box contains the header information that is associated with the cable. It includes information about the receiver(s) as well as a general subject.
  • The bottom box presents the body of the cable. The opening can contain a more specific subject, references to other cables (browse by origin to find them) or additional comment. This is followed by the main contents of the cable: a summary, a collection of specific topics and a comment section.
To understand the justification used for the classification of each cable, please use this WikiSource article as reference.

Discussing cables
If you find meaningful or important information in a cable, please link directly to its unique reference number. Linking to a specific paragraph in the body of a cable is also possible by copying the appropriate link (to be found at theparagraph symbol). Please mark messages for social networking services like Twitter with the hash tags #cablegate and a hash containing the reference ID e.g. #08ANKARA1060.
Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
08ANKARA1060 2008-06-09 11:57 2011-08-24 01:00 UNCLASSIFIED Embassy Ankara
VZCZCXYZ0001
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHAK #1060/01 1611157
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 091157Z JUN 08
FM AMEMBASSY ANKARA
TO RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC
RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6507
UNCLAS ANKARA 001060 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR DRL/ILCSR: MARK MITTELHAUSER AND G/TIP: STEVE 
STEINER; LABOR FOR DOL/ILAB RACHEL RIGBY AND MIHAIL SEROKA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ELAB EIND ETRD PHUM SOCI
SUBJECT: TURKEY: INFORMATION ON FORCED LABOR AND CHILD 
LABOR IN THE PRODUCTION OF GOODS 
 
REF: A. STATE 43120 
     B. 07 ANKARA 2965 
 
1. (U) Post consulted with GOT officials, representatives of 
organized labor, employers' organizations, and ILO 
representatives in Turkey in an effort to determine the level 
and nature of the use of child and forced labor in the 
production of goods, per request in ref A.  Post is aware of 
one report of several individuals from Turkmenistan who were 
involved in forced labor in the construction industry in 
Turkey, but post was unable to uncover any evidence of the 
use of forced labor in the production of goods here.  The use 
of child labor undoubtedly continues in some sectors of 
Turkey's economy, but the GOT continues to make strides 
toward its goal of reducing the overall incidence of child 
labor, as well as eliminating the worst forms of child labor 
in Turkey by 2014, as reported in ref b. 
 
2. (U) Reliable data that accurately portray the true level 
of the use of child labor in Turkey are difficult to find. 
According to a 2006 study conducted by Turkey's State 
Statistics Institute, the number of children aged 6-17 
thought to be engaged in some form of economic activity was 
958,000.  Of these, the study estimates that just over half 
of those children (about 500,000) engage in work in rural 
areas.  Officials of the Turk-Is labor confederation and the 
Turkish Confederation of Employer Associations (TISK), which 
have conducted their own studies on the use of child labor in 
Turkey, conducted a joint 2002 study on the incidence of 
child labor in the agricultural sector in the Adana area. 
According to estimates from that study, well over half of 
Turkey's working children are employed in the agricultural 
sector.  Most are unpaid workers in a family farming 
business, while upwards of 200,000 children are reportedly 
engaged in agricultural work as a result of being born into 
migrant worker families.  These children are employed in 
seasonal work in crop harvesting, forestry activities, and 
animal husbandry. 
 
3. (U) According to data provided by the Ministry of Labor 
and Social Security's Labor Inspection Board, in calendar 
year 2007, a total of 27,500 work places were inspected for 
workplace health and safety.  In those inspections, a total 
of 2279 children were found to be working in various 
enterprises.  2182 of these were engaged in employment as 
part of approved apprenticeship programs tied to vocational 
schools, while 97 were employed outside the realm of an 
associated educational program (no further information was 
available on the places of employment of those 97.)  More 
complete data provided by the Board for 2006 indicates that a 
total of 61,113 workplaces were inspected.  26,617 workplaces 
were inspected for workplace health and safety, while another 
34,496 workplaces were inspected with a view toward overall 
working conditions (work hours, salaries, leave, etc.).  In 
all of these inspections, a total of 2697 children were found 
to be working in 2006.  Of these, 1074 were working in 
commercial offices, 659 in the production of wood products 
and furniture, 68 in electrical repair services, 61 in shoe 
production, 47 in educational and health services (museums, 
libraries, health institutions), 40 in auto repair services, 
34 in metal goods production, 31 in the construction 
industry, 21 in the weaving industry, 21 in the production of 
roofing tiles/bricks, 14 in the production of machinery, 12 
in foodstuff processing, and 11 in the chemical industry. 
Nearly all of these children are employed in small businesses 
which employ between one and ten workers, which generally are 
not registered. 
 
4. (U) The employment of children in these enterprises, 
specifically in shoe production, furniture production, metal 
goods production, and roof tile and brick production, as well 
as in auto and electrical repair services, is illegal under 
Turkish law unless it occurs as part of an approved 
vocational program.  When children were discovered to be 
working in such enterprises through Labor Board inspections, 
employers were told to enroll the children in approved 
apprenticeship programs so that the children could continue 
their education.  Labor inspectors then informed National 
Education Ministry officials about the children so that they 
could be tracked.  Employers also received fines for 
employing children outside an approved apprenticeship 
program. 
 
5. (U) While the data cited above points to some incidence of 
the use of child labor in the production of some goods in 
Turkey, the nature of children's involvement in that 
production is impossible for post to discern.  Equally 
difficult for post to determine is whether that work was 
necessarily exploitative.  For example, while 61 children may 
 
have been involved in shoe production as discovered in 
inspections in 2006, post was unable to obtain information 
regarding the hours worked by those children, their ages, 
whether any were also attending school, etc. 
 
6. (U) As a result, post is unable to obtain or provide 
specific data that points to widespread use of either forced 
or exploitative child labor in the production of goods in 
Turkey. 
 
7.  (U) However, the continued use of labor provided by 
children of migrant worker families in the agricultural 
sector, particular in southern/southeastern Turkey, remains a 
concern.  Post does not have data to point to the degree of 
use of child labor in harvesting/processing specific crops, 
but anecdotal evidence points to continued involvement of 
children in harvesting cotton in southeastern Turkey, as well 
as involvement in the harvesting of tobacco, sugar beets, and 
hazelnuts.  The 2002 Turk-Is/TISK joint survey of migrant 
worker families in the Karatas District of Adana Province was 
undertaken to obtain both qualitative and quantitative data 
on the nature, conditions, and effects of employment on the 
health, education, and development of children engaged as 
seasonal laborers in cotton harvesting.  It was, however, 
conducted on a geographically small basis from which it is 
difficult to extrapolate the scope of the problem nationally 
in that sector.  Children of migrant worker families have 
been, and continue to be, the focus of efforts by the 
Ministry of Labor and Social Security, and the Ministry of 
National Education, together with ILO/IPEC and USDOL through 
sponsored programs, to reduce and eventually eliminate their 
involvement. 
 
Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at 
http://www.intelink.sgov.gov/wiki/Portal:Turk ey 
 
WILSON