Child rape bill withdrawn after street protests

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Members of Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party hold a banner reading ‘We will not let you pardon rapists’ as they march to the parliament in Ankara, Turkey, during a demonstration against a bill that could overturn men’s convictions for child-sex assault in front of the Turkish Parliament in Ankara, Turkey yesterday. 

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim has withdrawn a bill that pardons men convicted of sex with underage girls if they have married them. The bill, part of a package of amendments to the legal system, was sent back for further work just hours before a final vote in parliament.

It had sparked protests across Turkish society and was condemned abroad. Critics said it would legitimise statutory rape and encourage the practice of taking child brides.

UN agencies had called on the government not to approve the bill, arguing that it would damage the country’s ability to combat sexual abuse and child marriage. But the government says the main aim is to exonerate men imprisoned for marrying an underage girl apparently with her or her family’s consent.

The draft law will now be returned to a commission which will take into account the views of the opposition and civil society, Mr Yildirim said.

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