ABSTRACT
Child labour is a serious problem area. Due to their specific conditions children who work in the agriculture sector have a special importance in child labour issue. These children are one the most disadvantaged groups for their working and life conditions, relations with society, education and health problems. Families, who have either no field and/or earn small amount of money, look for work to earn their own living and to get a job. They move to regions, where more agricultural jobs are available, for a certain period in other words to be employed as seasonal workers. These families take also their children with them because of economic and social difficulties consequently children start to work in agricultural fields, which are not suitable to their age, to contribute to the family income. Children in agriculture sector constitute approximately 40-50 % of the child labour and their numbers are about 350.000-400.000 in total. Their working conditions are one of the worst in the child labour sector. These children work mainly in hoe and harvest parts especailly regarding cotton, hazelnut, citrus, rice, sugar beet, tobacco etc in different regions of Turkey. Most of these children are under 15 and the ones whose employment in the abovementioned jobs are not suitable to themk in accordance with the ILO conventions and are not favoured. These children, who are deprived of education opportunities and cannot continue it or have difficulty in this issue or cannot access to it, live mainly in the Southeast and South of Anatolia and stay in tents without having basic needs for 4-7 months in other parts of the country. In accordance with the principle of Social Law State, “special social policy” tools must be practised for these children that are one of the most hopeless groups for future. This paper will give general information about the child labour in the agriculture and work life in Turkey and also about the international conventions. Then, suggestions for reducing child labour, increasing social and public sensitivity will be made. The main material of the work is based on literature review and outcomes of the relevant research project conducted in Karatas District, Adana city
