Global Progress Towards Ending the Sexual Exploitation of Children
A global problem requires truly global solutions to address the sexual exploitation of children.
Indicators
Age of Consent
Partial
The age of majority is 18, which is understood as the age of sexual consent as well. However, the Penal Code defines “sexual molestation” of children as any sexual behaviour towards a child under the age of 15 and any sexual behaviour towards a child above 15 through threat, coercion, force or any other factor affecting their decision-making capacity. The national legislation does not provide for a close-in-age exemption.
ECO Turkey, 2020
Extraterritoriality & Extradition
Partial
Active extraterritoriality is provided for offences punishable by at least one year of imprisonment as long as the offender is in Turkish territory. For crimes punished with less than a year of imprisonment a complain must have been filed by the victim of a foreign government within 6 months for active extraterritoriality to apply. Passive extraterritoriality requires a complaint to be lodged by the victim first. Universal jurisdiction is provided for child trafficking and exploitation of children in prostitution but not for all SEC-related offences.
Extradition requires double criminality and Turkish nationals cannot be extradited. There is no specific provision on extradition for SEC-related offences.
ECO Turkey, 2020
CSAM Definition
No
The national legislation does not provide a specific definition of CSAM.
ECO Turkey, Jul-20
Background Check Required
Not Yet Assessed
National Commitments
Partial
Turkey has ratified the CRC, the OPSC, the Trafficking Protocol and the ILO Convention No. 182.
Turkey has also ratified the Council of Europe's Lanzarote and Budapest Conventions.
Turkey has not ratified the OPIC and the UNTWO Framework Convention on Tourism Ethics.
ECO Turkey, 2020
Child Advocacy Centers
Not Yet Assessed
SEC Police Unit
Not Yet Assessed
Protection Standards Travel and Tourism
Not Yet Assessed
Public SEC Case Data
No
There is publicly available case data for some SEC-related offences, namely trafficking offences, sexual abuse of children and sexual intercourse with a minor and some statistics on child, early and forced marriage. However, no information was found on whether this data is clearly disaggregated, made available periodically and whether it contains data on offenders and on compensation sought by child victims.
ECO Turkey, 2020
Age of Consent Law is Appropriate
The age of sexual consent for both males and females is 18 and a close in age exemption (up to 3 years) is provided for consensual sexual relationships between adolescents.
The age of sexual consent is the legally defined age at which a person is considered mature enough to agree to sexual activity. The age of sexual consent varies across jurisdictions around the world and there is no international legal instrument establishing it, however various forms of advocacy have encouraged States to establish a minimum age under which engaging in sexual contact is considered a criminal offence. This is intended to prevent sexual contact with children and to prevent argument that the child consented as a defence.
Often national provisions related to the age of sexual consent include an exception, known as a close-in-age exemption, making consensual sexual activities between young people lawful if the partners are of similar ages and the age difference is not higher than a certain number of years.
To ensure that cases of child sexual exploitation do not go unpunished, ECPAT advocates for the age of sexual consent to be set at 18 for both males and females with a close-in-age exemption of 2-3 years provided in order to ensure young people are not penalised for consensual sexual acts with peers. The age from which the exemption applies should be established by States but may begin for young people somewhere between 12 and 16 years of age.
Yes The national legislation explicitly indicates that the age of sexual consent unequivocally is 18 for both males and females, with a close-in-age exemption for sexual acts between peers (of up to 3 years) is provided by law.