Süleyman Demirel Üniversitesi Hukuk Fakültesi Dergisi

Öz

In general terms, child labour, which refers to work that children are too young to perform and/or work that is likely to harm the health, safety, or morals of children due to its nature and conditions, is one of the most important problems of nowadays. For this reason, children need to be specially protected in working life. International and national regulations aim to create a healthy working environment for children and young people. In Turkish Law, the requirement for special protection of children is guaranteed by the Constitution. In this regard, the State is obliged to determine a minimum working age and to take protective measures for children in relation to the working conditions. The regulation stipulating that children should not be employed until a certain age, in other words, the regulation stipulating a minimum working age is one of the most important protective regulations. However, our legislation includes different regulations regarding the minimum working age, which are not consistent with each other. In this study, the issue of minimum working age in the Turkish labour law is discussed. For this purpose, firstly, the concept of child is clarified in the light of international and national regulations. Subsequently, the regulations in different codes regarding the minimum working age in Turkish labour law are evaluated comparatively.