UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk on Thursday criticized recently adopted changes to Türkiye’s juvenile justice system that could allow children to receive life sentences, urging authorities to ensure that the treatment of child offenders remains consistent with international human rights law. The UN rights chief stressed that even children accused or convicted of serious crimes must be treated in accordance with their age and entitled to the special protections afforded to minors under international law.
Turkiye’s parliament adopted the Child Protection Law and Amendments to Certain Laws, Bill No. 2/3771, on August 8 after several days of parliamentary debate. The legislation changes sentencing rules affecting children aged 15 to 18 and requires child prisoners to begin serving sentences in closed juvenile institutions, with transfer to education-based institutions dependent on a later assessment.
Türk said he was “particularly alarmed” by the possibility of life imprisonment for child offenders. The amendments allow courts, in specified serious offenses including intentional homicide and aggravated injury, to withhold ordinary age-based sentence reductions for offenders aged 15 to 18. Türk warned that the changes risk moving the system away from rehabilitation and reintegration and toward a more punitive model.
The changes raise concerns under the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), to which Türkiye is a party. Article 37 of the CRC requires detention of children to be used only as a last resort and for the shortest appropriate period, and it prohibits life imprisonment without the possibility of release for offenses committed by persons below 18. Article 40 further requires juvenile justice systems to promote rehabilitation and reintegration. The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has stated that children should not receive life sentences without a realistic possibility of release or parole.
European human rights bodies have previously scrutinized Türkiye over its treatment of children in the criminal justice system. In Gülcü v. Turkey, the European Court of Human Rights examined the conviction and detention of a minor and emphasized international standards requiring deprivation of liberty to be used only as a last resort. In Güveç v. Turkey, the court addressed the prolonged detention and treatment of a juvenile defendant, while Salduz v. Turkey became a leading case on procedural safeguards for minors during police interrogation. These judgments form part of a broader European jurisprudence emphasizing that children require heightened safeguards even when accused of serious offenses.
The reforms represent a shift from Türkiye’s previous approach, under which children serving custodial sentences could be placed directly in education-oriented institutions. Türk urged Türkiye to ensure that children remain treated primarily as children within the justice system and that their welfare, rehabilitation, and reintegration remain central to sentencing and detention decisions.
