Amed - The Colorful Hopes Association (Rengarenk Umutlar Derneği) has announced its report titled, “Monitoring Report on Children's Right to Play in Suriçi”. The association conducted a study in Diyarbakır’s Sur district to investigate the suitability of existing playgrounds with children's rights. The study includes interviews of 115 children, 25 parents, and five heads of neighborhoods.

“Children were ignored by the state-appointed mayor”

“When we examined the strategic plans of Sur Municipality, it was revealed that children’s participation in the plans was ignored and that children’s social, cultural, and artistic activities, playgrounds weren’t included in the plans, especially by the state-appointed mayor. Even if the Suriçi region has a big area, there are only six playgrounds for children and only three of these playgrounds are in service,” the report said.

“Children's right to life was violated”

The report recalled the clashes that took place in Kurdish regions between 2015 and 2016, “One of these regions is Diyarbakır’s Sur district. All Sur residents were negatively affected by the clashes. However, children were the most affected social group because they had difficulty in understanding what happened due to their age. Due to clashes, children were subjected to many rights violations, including their right to life. During and after the clashes, their living spaces, schools, and their already limited playgrounds were destroyed.”

“Safe playgrounds are expected to be built”

The report stated that the improvement of the living conditions of the children living in Suriçi and their playgrounds should be provided by the authorities and adults for children’s rights, “The authorities should build safe playgrounds and increase cultural and artistic activities for children, who were subjected to the conflict period and continue to live in that area. Children don’t spend too much time in playgrounds because the number of the playgrounds is limited and they are not safe spaces for them. The children spending their time in the playgrounds have faced many risks. We conducted a monitoring study in seven neighborhoods of the Suriçi region, we observed that the qualities of children's playgrounds should be urgently developed and improved. The number of abandoned and ruined buildings increased after the clashes took place in 2015 and 2016. Children play in these buildings because they don’t have enough playgrounds and these buildings are not safe for children. These buildings should be immediately controlled to provide security for children.”

“Governorship should work with NGOs”

“Due to the role of local governments in urban planning, their duties, and responsibilities in children's rights are quite important. Children’s right to play is one of the most ignored rights by adults and authorities. The governorship should work with NGOs about this issue. The NGOs, trade unions, trade associations and independent researchers in Diyarbakır should put children’s right to play on their agenda and push the local authorities to remember their responsibilities, ” the report said.