Children and Kumkapi
Both Turkish law and International Law through UNHCR make specific provisions for the handling of children in Detention. In Turkey, Detention Centers are termed Removal Centers, an upgrade from the term “Guesthouse”. The Turkish Law #6458. Article 59 http://www.goc.gov.tr/files/files/eng_minikanun_5_son.pdf states in paragraph (c) the best interest of the child shall be considered, and families and unaccompanied minors shall be accommodated in separate areas. Sounds like a good plan and would be if it were what was actually happening.
In Kumkapi Removal Center this is not what is happening. Families are separated; fathers on one floor, mothers and children on another. On the surface even this arrangement seems to be workable given the scope of the current refugee crisis. Look a bit deeper and you find that mothers and infants and toddlers are on the same floor with all other women in Kumkapi, regardless of why they are in the Removal center. This means mothers and infants are housed with drug addicts, criminals as well as other detainees being held in administrative detention for irregular entry or exit at a border.
The same holds true for adolescents. Article 66 says children under the age of 16 can be placed in reception and accommodation centers yet children obviously much younger are observed at Kumkapi in a separate ward.
Reports from released detainees and verified by the UN Special Rapporteur François Crépeau http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=12307&LangID=E tell of a facility that at best is marginal. Sickness is rampant, Tuberculosis has occurred, sewage leaks, insect infestations, the lights are always on, detainees are never allowed any time outside. Meal times are capricious and best to have funding of your own if you want to eat. Mr. Crépeau submitted his report in 2012, the new law to address these issues went into effect in 2013, and surprise!!!! NOTHING has changed, and children remain.