At least 30 children were reportedly raped in a refugee camp in south of Turkey by one of its employees, raising doubts over European and Turkish claims that refugee camps in the country are safe for refugees.
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According to the Turkish BirGun news website, the abuse took place in the Nizip refugee camp near the southern city of Gaziantep. The camp was the one that German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited last month as part of finalizing the refugee deportation scheme between Turkey and the European Union.
According to the report, families of eight children filed a lawsuit against a janitor who worked at the camp. Other families did not file any lawsuits over fear of repercussions by authorities.
The man has been prosecuted and has confessed to the crimes. The rapes began last September and lasted until the beginning of 2016, according to court files. The children aged between eight and 12 and were paid up to US$2.50 for having sex with the man, BirGun reported.
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The refugee camp is operated by the Prime Ministry Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD). A high ranking military officer from the camp blamed the government for the incident. “AFAD is responsible of the camp and for this disaster,” he told BirGun.
Turkey hosts more than 2.5 million refugees and have complained about the lack of support from its allies. However, in recent months and in an attempt to stop the flow of refugees through its borders, the EU has been seeking Turkey’s help to crackdown on smuggling.
In order to do so a Turkey-EU deal was approved in March that would see refugees deported from Greece back to Turkey in exchange for Brussels paying more than US$4 billion to Ankara.
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The deal has been condemned by many rights and aid organizations including the United Nations which called it a violation of international refugee laws.
Many aid groups said that Turkey was not a “safe country” for refugees amid reports of forced deportations back to Syria, the shooting of refugees by Turkish forces at the border and bad conditions in refugee camps.