As signatories of the Justice for Children Joint Call, representing 160 civil society organizations, we have released a public statement regarding the Law Amending the Child Protection Law and Related Legislation, submitted to the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye (TBMM) on 14 July 2026 and currently under parliamentary consideration.
In the statement, we express our concerns that the proposed legislation undermines children’s rights and shifts the juvenile justice system toward a more punitive approach. Specifically, the bill would:
- raise the sentence ranges applicable to children aged 12 to 18 for aggravated murder and aggravated injury;
- open the door to life imprisonment for children aged 15 to 18 by allowing courts to disapply existing age-based sentence reductions;
- extend this harsher treatment to children as young as 12 at judicial discretion;
- lower the age threshold for recidivism provisions from 18 to 15;
- lengthen the period that children must serve before becoming eligible for parole for certain serious offences; and
- reverse the current approach under which convicted children begin serving sentences in open, education-oriented facilities, instead making closed juvenile detention institutions the default starting point.
We are concerned that these measures risk leading to further violations of children’s rights and are inconsistent with a child-rights-based approach to justice. We call for policies that prioritize protection, prevention, rehabilitation, and support rather than punishment and detention.
