KAYNAKLAR

At the First World Congress against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC) held in Stockholm in 1996, governments from around the world first gave recognition that commercial sexual exploitation of children is a global crime of epidemic proportions. The Stockholm Declaration and Agenda for Action - a strategic framework for actions against CSEC - was adopted by the 122 governments participating in the Congress in order to guide a systematic global response against the sexual exploitation of children. The outcome document of the First World Congress was soon followed by the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography (OPSC). Adopted in 2000 as a legally binding treaty of the United Nations, the Optional Protocol (and other relevant international treaties) reaffirms the urgent need for political will and concrete actions from governments to ensure that children in their countries can live freefrom all forms of commercial sexual exploitation.

In 2001, high-level delegates from 136 governments, local and international non-governmental organisations andchildren and young people, convened in Yokohama for the Second World Congress to review the achievements and challenges in combating CSEC as well as to identify new priorities needed to bolster and enhance action. Seven years later, the World Congress III in Rio de Janeiro provided the largest global platform to date for delegatesfrom 137 governments to renew their state’s commitment to protect children from commercial sexual exploitation.The Rio Declaration and Call for Action strongly urges all stakeholders, including the private sector, tocontinue their due diligence in taking the necessary follow-up actions to eliminate CSEC. The Rio Call for Actionemphasises the obligation to uphold the rights of the child as identified in existing international human rights and child rights instruments. It also offers a framework for the accountability of all duty-bearers of children’s rights, particularly governments, in the fight against sexual exploitation of children and re-affirms the continuing relevance of the Agenda for Action, first agreed to in Stockholm twelve years earlier. This report, as part of the Second Edition series of country monitoring reports produced by ECPAT International, provides a Turkey|6 comprehensive baseline of information on all manifestations of CSEC in the country and an assessment of achievements and challenges in implementing counteractions (including the participation of children and young people themselves) to eliminate CSEC. The report, which follows the framework of the Stockholm Agenda for Action, serves as an instrument for the sharing of information and experiences among various stakeholders and dutybearerswithin the country as well as internationally. It also suggests concrete priority actions urgently needed to proactively advance the national fight against CSEC. Furthermore, this report enables the monitoring of the implementation of international instruments on child rights, related to commercial sexual exploitation that have been ratified by the concerned state.

The production of this report is achieved through extensive collaboration within the ECPAT global network. ECPAT International would like to thank ECPAT member groups in the countries assessed, local and global experts and other organisations for their invaluable inputs to this report. ECPAT International would also like to express its profound appreciation of all the hard work of its dedicated team from within the Secretariat and for the generous support of its donors that helped make the finalisation of this report possible. The contributions of all involved have greatly strengthened the monitoring of the Agenda for Action and the heightened collaboration needed to fight the new and evolving complex manifestations of commercial sexual exploitation of children.