Activity Report of the Executive Committee (2008)

1. This year we published Senay Gokbayrak’s work with the title, ” Period in Zonguldak-Eregli Coal Basin Labour Union (1921-1946) as a part of our Memorial Institutions Series of the Republic”. In a period where the destiny of the National Liberty War was uncertain, during the first days of the War, Social Policy seeds planted by the Turkish National Assembly was very meaningful. We can see the way the founders of the Republic look at the struggle of the public and the problems of the labour. We do thank Senay Gokbayrak for her effort.

2. The 100th issue of our 2 monthly periodical magazine Working Environment is published within the year. This success is a very good indicator of how well our sustainability principle which we always support is reflected in real life. Earlier periods are evaluated in many different ways in the 100 th issue which is published as a special edition. Memories are freshened. Suggestions for the new issues and future plans are put forward.

3. Oral and written presentations of Think-Tank Against Violence (Symposium) which is prepared with the joint efforts of Ankara Cankaya Municipality and Turkish Youth Association is published as a book. The book which is also published with the contributions of Cankaya Municipality is providing a wide conception of violence differring from its competititors as it also gives a broad insight to its readers about the social dimensions of violence.

“Friends of Child Labour” Campaign :

We started a campaign for the ones who would like to have our publications and / or donate to our efforts. A yearly donation of 40 YTL will make you “Friends of Child Labour” who can easily follow our publications. We thank each and every one who inspired and helped us to increase the life standard of the working children by their donations.

Photography Contest on Child Labour:

The jury for the 6th photography contest met at the head quarters of our foundation on Saturday the 22nd of March, 2008. With the participation of Ozan Sagdiç, Mehmet Aslan Guven, Erol Karaca, Adnan Polat and Oya Fisek as members of jury, the meeting proceeded as the works of photographers that are equal in quality competed with each other. We congratulate both the winners and the ones whose photographs were exhibited.

This year the 3rd Album of the Photography Contest on Child Labour is released. We would like to give our special thanks to the Cankaya Municipality both for their contrubution to the release of the album and for their kind hospitality in exhibiting the photographs in Contemporary Art Center of the municipality.

Meetings and Artistic Activities:

PAINTING EXHIBITIONS

• 7-31 January – Personal Paintings Exhibition Ayla Ozkan
• 4-16 February – Personal Paintings ExhibitionsZeynep Erdem

• 18-29 February – Mixed Paintings Exhibition Ayse Akkan ve Asuman Uvez
• 3-28 March – Personal Paintings Exhibition Yusuf Muratoglu
• 7-25 April – Personal Paintings Exhibition Nurbanu Eralp
• 19-26 April – 6th Child Labour Photography Exhibition ( at Cankaya Municipality Contemporary Art Centre)
• 13-23 October – Tacettin Teymur Workshop Group Photography Exhibition
• 24 October- 6 November – Tacettin Teymur Workshop Portrait Exhibition
• 3-9 November – 10th Health Workers’ Painters Exhibition (at Cankaya Municipality Contemporary Art Centre)
• 1-17 December – Personal Paintings Exhibition Ugur Sezlev

  THINK-TANK

  • 19-20 April – Think-Tank Against Violence (Symposium held at Cankaya Municipality Contemporary Art Center; with the coopaeration of Cankaya Municipality and Turkish Youth Association)

  INTERVIEW

  • 17 December – Child Workers in Zonguldak Mines in the Ottoman Era- Erol Catma

  Participations and Contributions:

  • 29 February : As invited participants Oya Fisek and Prof. Dr. A Gurhan Fisek attended to Prof. Dr. Atalay Yorukoglu National Child and Adolescent Mental Health Policies 3rd Workshop which is organised by Hacettepe University Child Mental Health and Illnesses Department and Child and Youth Mental Health Association.
  • February : We prepared and presented our suggestions on ‘Occupational Safety and Health Draft Bill’ within the context of our partnership of Ministry of Labour and Social Security Occuptional Safety and Health Council. We also shared our vision with the public on our website.
  • Umur Askin attended to the ‘ Non-Violent Response Against Violence’ meeting held by Turkish Youth Association on our behalf.
  • 14 March : In a panel held by Judiciary Members Solidarity Association at Supreme Court of Appeals’ Full Assembly Saloon, Prof.Dr.A.Gurhan Fisek gave a speech on ‘Back Forward Struggle in Turkish Social Policy’.
  • 18 March : Prof.Dr. A.Gurhan Fisek gave a conference at the ‘Role of Media in Fighting Against Child Labour’ meeting held by Turkish Confederation of Workers Union (Turk-Is) and The Confederation of Turkish Real Trade Unions (Hak-Is).
  • 5-6 April : Our ‘Child Labour World Atlas’ and ‘Photography Contest on Child Labour’s prize winning photographs are exhibited in “Good Practices in Education Conference” held by Sabanci University / Istanbul.
  • 7-8 April : Onur Sunal attended the 22nd National Occupational Safety and Health Conference held by Ministry of Labour and Social Security.
  • 8-9 April : Onur Sunal represented our Foundation at the ‘Independent Child Ombudsperson’ conference held by UNICEF.
  • 15 April : Onur Sunal Attended ”Human Development Seminar” prepared by Middle East Technical University (METU) Social Sciences Institute Social Policy Program and UN and World Bank’s Turkey Offices.
  • 22 April : At the meeting held by METU European Studies Center, within the UNDAF (United Nations Development Assistancy Framework) framework, strategies to eliminate poverty between 2006-2010, practices to improve child and woman rights are discussed. Also better governance issues are portraited. Onur Sunal represented our Foundation.
  • 24 April : Gazi University Vocational Training Faculty and Association for Preventing Child Abuse And Neglegence held a Conference within the ”Fight Against Child Labour with Education: Approach from Child to Child project”. Prof.Dr.A.Gurhan Fisek invited as a guest speaker to the panel with the title ”The State of Child Rights in Turkey”
  • 26 April : Prof.Dr.A.Gurhan Fisek gave an oral presentation on “The Importance of Corporate Cooperation in Occupational Safety and Health” at II.Congress on Working Life organised by Labour Inspectors Association.
  • 12 May : Onur Sunal gave an oral presentation on ‘Struggle Against Child Labour in Turkey and the World and Fisek Institute’s Response’ at a conference jointly held by Mugla University Social Policy Student’s Society and Fisek Institute. And also ”Child Labour Atlases of the World” and ‘Prize Winning Pieces of Photography Contest on Child Labour’ are exhibited.
  • 27 May : This time Onur Sunal attended Risk Assessment Group meeting held by Ministry of Labour and Social Security Occupational Safety and Health Council.
  • 26-27 June : As the representatives of our Foundation Onur Sunal and Emirali Karadogan attended the Conference held by Turkish Confederation of Employers Associations (TISK) and Turkish Industrialists and Businessmen’s Association (TUSIAD) on ”Occupational Safety and Health and Environment”.
  • 22 September : Within the context of project implemented with the supervision of European Association of Crafts, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises(UEAPME), Confederation of Turkish Craftsmen and Tradesmen (TESK) held a seminar about ” Informing on Occupational Safety and Health”. Prof.Dr.A.Gurhan Fisek gave a conference with the title ”Occupational Safety and Health Regulation and Practices in Turkey”.
  • 15-16 October : Onur Sunal attended ”European Youth Information Conference” held within the context of ”Explore Europe with Your Knowledge” project financed by Turkish Delegation of EU, which is implemented by Youth Services Center, Eurodesk (Italy), Lunaria (Italy) and EU News Association.
  • 9 November : Prof.Dr.Gurhan Fisek attended ”7th Children Working and Living on the Streets Symposium” organised by Harran University, Sanliurfa Governorship and Municipality and gave a conference on ”Young Girls’ House Model within Urban Houses Conceptualisation”. And also ”Child Labour Atlases of the World” and ‘Prize Winning Pieces of Photography Contest on Child Labour’ are exhibited.
  • 21-22 November : Gulbiye Yenimahalleli Yasar gave an oral Presentation with the title ”Boztepe’s Girls are Becoming Acquinted with The City” at ”National Meeting on Child, City, Environment and Architecture” organised by Ankara Branch of Architects Association. Also she presented the Public Survey results gathered by our volunteers. The survey reveals how these young girls perceive urban values who try to hold on to their education in an area surrounded with poverty.
  • 20 December : Prof Dr.A.Gurhan Fisek gave an oral presentation on ”Child Labour and Art” at a panel organised by Confederation of Revolutionary Workers Union/Union of Public Services and Municipalities (DISK/Genel-Is) held within the Abdullah Basturk Prizes framework.
  • Child labour photographs from our archive are exhibited at ‘Matchstick Girl’ play’s foyer. The play is performed at Istanbul City Theaters Umraniye Stage. Photographs are digitally printed on A4 size paper are going to be exhibited on each stage the play is going to be performed.

  Visits:

  • As each year, the senior year students of Ankara University, Faculty of Political Science, Labor Economy and Industrial Relations Department, visited our foundation to get information about our activities on the subject of “Working Children”.
  • 17 April- 3 June : The students of Ankara University, Faculty of Medicine, second term, as a part of their public health education, visit the NGOs working on similar subjects. For the last 5 years, the Faculty included our Foundations activities such as occupational health-safety services provided at Ankara-Ostim Ivedik Organised Industrial Area ”Small Enterprises Shared Health-Safety (OHS) Unit” in the curriculum by regular visits to our sites. We would like to thank Prof.Dr. Recep Akdur and Yrd.Doç.Dr. Deniz Caliskan for their positive approach to the problem.This study was realised through 8 seperate visits of approximately 80 students and it was very fruitful. We were truly encouraged by their positive and constructive comments.

  Bazaars and Fairs We Participated :

  The NGOs that we have invited at Bazaars which we organize, usually invite us back as a sign of solidarity. Also other organisations who are interested in our Foundation and our activities invite us and they show their support and contribution. We thank all these organisations and our volunteers who work with devotion for the promotion of our Foundation.

  • Association for the Support of Contemporary Living, Bazaar

  • Turkish-Amerikan Cultural Association, New Years, Bazaar

  Our Foundation received a free stand offer in ‘Handicrafts and Handmade Presents Exhibition’ organised by Forum Fuarcilik(Exhibition) that took place at Ataturk Culture Center. Products made by both our foundation volunteers and especially the mothers of our ‘Youth House for Girls’ took serious attention at the fair which also contributed to the promotion of our foundation. We would like to give our special thanks to Forum Fuarcilik which is also a foundation enterprise, for their sharing attitutude.

  Contributions:

  • Cooperation with Turkish Confederation of Employers Associations (TISK), concerning actions for working children: In Istanbul, the “Project for Shared (common) Health Unit for Workplaces” and “Bureau for Working Children” covering all child workers in Pendik Industry Site, is passed on to the team of TISK and our foundation supported the health services during January-December 2007 by donating useful examination instruments.
  • Ankara Cankaya Municipality and Mayor Prof.Dr.Muzaffer Eryilmaz, highly contributed to our activities in 2008.

  *Exhibition of 5th and 6th Photography Contest on Child Labour and funding the publishing of albums.

  * Preparation of ”Think-Tank Against Violence (Symposium)” at Contemporary Art Center and financing the printing costs of the book published.

  *Also ”10th Health Workers’ Paintings Exhibition” took place in Contemporary Art Center. We would like to give our special thanks to the Municipality and the Mayor for their contribution and for their sensitivity.

  On-Going Projects:

  • Ostim-Ivedik and Sincan (Ankara) Organised Industrial Areas are the centers where Fisek Institute supplies its workplace common health unit services as a pioneer model…. In 2008 we opened a new workplace shared health-safety unit at Saray Keresteciler Industrial Site (Ankara). Our ‘Mobile Clinics’ formed to serve small enterprises are the first mobile healthcare facilities visiting workplaces and reaching children working in these places and are equipped with ”Mobile Odiometry” and ”Mobile X-Ray” devices. Mobile Clinics also gives healthcare services to working children, which are important for fullfilling our short term aims on ending child labour. The important part of these activities are OHS training courses and safety analysis.
  • Within the framework of Fisek Institute’s ”Urban-House” approach, ”Young Girls House” which is a part of the Institute’s initiative about supporting ”elementary school girls” living in the poor outskirts of the city continues its activities in its 5th year. This initiative is an important part of the Institute’s child labour elimination activities in the long-run.
  • One of the works that is going to be finalised soon is ”Child Labour in Turkish Press”. Safak Tartanoglu is trying to reveal the the sensitivity of the national press that is very powerful in forming public awareness to child labour in a cross-comparisonal context. The research starts from year 1979 which is celebrated as the World Child Year and Cumhuriyet, Milliyet, Hurriyet and Turkiye newspapers which are published daily without any interruption for the last 30 years are manually scanned.
  • NHF “Library Site” continues to serve as a part of Prof. Dr. Nusret Fisek Hall of Science and Art. The total number of books provided is nearly 6000. The fact that the library can be accessed through the internet increases its reachibility. All through the year, we also could see how useful and functional the “Bookworm” Program was, developed by our information technology group.

  LIBRARIES	NUMBER of BOOKS
  Child Labour	509
  Health, Safety and Environment	1234
  NGOs	95
  Social Security	183
  Demography	725
  Women Studies	230
  Social Medicine	1114
  Labour Unions	460
  Social Policy	1028
  EU	103
  Turkish Migration	53
  General Culture	117
  TOTAL	5851

  Cooperations with Other Organisaitions:

  • Cooperation with Turkish Confederation of Employers Associations (TISK), concerning actions for working children: In Istanbul we still support TISK’s activities on “Project for Shared (joint) Health Unit for Workplaces” and “Bureau for Working Children” which covers all child workers in Pendik Industry Site.
  • ”From the Working Children’s Window” project is consulted by our foundation which is carried out by EU and Vocational Training and Health Association(MESEV) and also supported them on the sypmosium made.

  Research and Development Activities on Occupational Safety and Health

  There is a huge lack of information and shortcomings in practice in the field of occupational safety and health (OHS) in our country because of deficieny in sharing experineces and emination of knowledge. Fisek Institute since its foundation years played an important role in the field by its pioneering activities and practices. With accordance to our activities we opened a new SMEs ”shared health-safety unit” located at the newly growing ‘Keresteciler Industrial Site’ at Saray- Ankara which is going to serve as our third shared (joint) health-safety unit.

  Mustafa Tasyurek’s ”Puzzle- Getting to Know the Danger” series and articles are getting published frequently in our Working Environment magazine. Onur Sunal prepared files about occupational safety and health in more than 30 different sectors which are displayed on our website. Also news about OHS gives our followers an opportunity to keep-up with the latest developments. We would like to thank to Onur Sunal and Mustafa Tasyurek for their creative works and thank to H.Doruk Fisek and Didem Kamoy for putting up these works on our website.

  Social Policy Group Activities:

  The group formed by our volunteers that are also continuing their post-graduate education are meeting frequently and work as a ”production furnace”. The group debates on certain topics and also writes articles on special issues. The group was also the main pillar of the ”Think-Tank Against Violence (Symposium)”. The Group also played an important role in the preperation of the 100th issue of Working Environment and continued as the editorial board. The members of the Group are as follows: Akasya Kansu, Can Umut Ciner, Emirali Karadogan, Gulbiye Yenimahalleli Yasar, Onur Sunal, Senay Gokbayrak, Taner Akpinar, Umur Askin.

  Relations with the Media :

  We would like to thank to the members of media who wrote about us and contribute to our foundation’s mission by publishing them.

  • TRT/Diyarbakir Radio : Prof.Dr.A.Gurhan Fisek gave 52, 10 minute speeches on ”World of Work and Workers” as a part of “Day Light” Radio Program produced by Celalettin Duruoglu.
  • On ”Under The Same Roof” radio program, Prof.Dr.A.Gurhan Fisek discussed ”effect of new social security draft bill on women” at TRT-1. On the same program, the arcitect of the population planning law, Prof.Dr.Nusret H.Fisek was reminded. It was an important sign of fidelty. After the new social seurity law went into effect the same subject was recaptured in the program again.
  • Gulbiye Y.Yasar, talked about the Young Girl’s House activities on ‘Under The Same Roof” program produced by Birsat Akyazili at TRT-1.
  • Arzu Demir from Izmir Democrat Radio made an interview with Prof.Dr.A.Gurhan Fisek on her radio program ”Magnifying Glass” about fatal occupational injuries at workplaces on the 27th of February 2008.
  • TRT-1 : Senay Gokbayrak, talked about Young Girl’s House.
  • TRT-1 : Onur Sunal was the guest speaker at Fethiye Ozturk’s radio program on ”Social Security”. He talked about ”the worst forms of child labour and scenes from Turkey and World”
  • Child Protection Institution’s (CEK) corporate journey since its foundation was discussed on Ataturk’s Inheritance program at Kanal-B on 13th of March 2008. As contributers to the related activities in our Foundation, Dr. Hakan Acar and Prof.Dr.A.Gurhan Fisek joined the program.
  • “New Employment Package” has decreased the level of punishment for using child labour. Prof.Dr.A.Gurhan Fisek presented his views on this issue at CNN-Turk on 12th of March.
  • “New Employment Package” has decreased the level of punishment for using child labour. Prof.Dr.A.Gurhan Fisek presented his views on this issue at NTV Radio’s Voice of The Public program on 12th of March.
  • TRT-1 : Prof.Dr.A.Gurhan Fisek gave important knowledge about occupational accidents on the ”Occupational Life” radio program produced by Fethiye Ozturk.
  • Erol Catma, reviewed the book ‘” Period in Zonguldak-Eregli Coal Basin Labour Union (1921-1946)” published by Fisek Institute at ”Public’s Voice” which is a local newspaper in Zonguldak.
  • Oya Fisek’s press adress on ”Setting Down The Marriage to 14” and ”Huseyin Uzmez’s Sexual Exploitation of an underage Girl” was given a coverage in a lot of newspapers.

  Our Data-Processing Activities :

  Our websites are updated frequently. Also our websites are periodically renewed and new designs of our pages can be seen by our visitiors. As an example www.fisek.com.tr was renewed.

  Also posters and other presentation matterials are prepared for the meetings, exhibitions and conferences which we took part in. These matterials are used at ”Conference on Good Practices in Education” (Sabanci University) and ”Fight Against Child Labour: Activities of Fisek Institute” (Mugla University) and ”7th Children Working and Living on the Streets Symposium” (Harran University, Sanliurfa Municipality” and attendants gave a very positive feedback about the matterial they viewed.

  Thought Ambainces, interviews are recorded. Therefore we have a large archive. Our visitors have the opportunity to reach this archive where they can share the thoughts of our country’s important science pioneers.

  The volume of knowledge in our websites are enlarginig both in terms of quantity and quality. As a response to the parts visited most, we organised them as seperate sites. The same practice made for ”NHF Library Site” is repeated for ”Social Policy” and ”Child Labour Bibliography” parts.

  Working Environment’s all (101) issues until the end of year 2008, can be reached electronically by visiting our website now. You can reach all issues published since 1992 in pdf format from both fisek.org.tr and www.isguvenligi.net pages. (November 2008)

  We also would like to enhance the accession quality to our websites. We increased our band range on April 2008. We would like to give our special thanks to our volunteers H.Doruk Fisek and L.Didem Kamoy for their contribution on data-processing.

  Acces to Internet :

  So many people and NGOs in our country involve in voluntary work for the benefit of the society. But making their voice heard is as important as these activities. Generally ”relation web with the community” is not given a priority which is simply ‘Explaining Yourself and Your Activity”. However, these announcements make a ”multiplier effect”.

  Fisek Institute is among the NGOs which benefits from the opportunities most with its strong information technologies team. The way to measure the effectiveness of these websites in public eye is to look at web statistics.

  Web page	Yearly number of visitors	KBytes (GB) Visits Yearly	Access From Turkey As a percent (%)
  fisek.org	252,087	36.96	73.83
  isguvenligi.net	208,225	90.64	81.14
  Library	169,076	11.50	75.89
  Child Labour Bibliography	53,231	2.77	65.95
  Social Policy	39,305	1.16	73.72
  Brain drain (chamois)	39,076	2.04	74.50
  fisek.com	33,659	3.20	87.76
  Uzak Ulke	1,605,452	206.73	46.41
  TOTAL	2,400,111	355.00	–

  As can be seen from above, our web pages have more than 2.5 million visitors yearly. A third of our visitors are outside of Turkey. When comparing it with the statistics from year 2004 there are some differences. Pages apart from ”Child Labour Bibliography” and ”Brain Migration” had 5-13% decrease in terms of number of visitors(The number of visitors for ”Child Labour Bibliography” increased 4.92% and ”Brain Migration (mountain goat)” increased 92.15%). Also the local visitor numbers declined between 1-9%. After all, the number of visitors outside of Turkey for ”Child Labour Bibliography” increased 10.70% and ”Brain Drain (Chamois)” increased 8.72 %. When we evaluate this trend, we think that the uncertainty about the future, decline of the societies future expectations about their future and lost of hopes was determinative. We are and will be still doing our best to serve our visitors with better page set-up and better quality of knowledge and we will make it easier for everyone to access our websites where they can share our experience.