Lütfiye Karaduman, Senior Officer of Ministry of Labour and Social Security, Govert Visser, Political Affairs Counsellor of the Embassy of Kingdom of the Netherlands in Ankara, Deniz Bezirgan, Senior Officer Matra & HR Projects, Sabine Nafziger, Secretary General, Association of Chocolate, Biscuit and Confectionery Industries of Europe (CAOBISCO), Nejat Kocabay, Senior Programme Officer, ILO Office for Turkey, CAOBISCO members Andrea Moritz representing the August Storck, Nuray Polat representing The Barry Callebaut arrived to West Black Sea Region to observe the on going work to eliminate child labour in hazelnut harvesting in Turkey. Delegation visited Emin Şimşek, Disrict Governor of Çilimli to express gratitude for his support on implementation of the project in Çilimli. Delegation visited Çilimli Social Support Centre to meet with the students and teachers to get information.

Govert Visser, Political Affairs Counsellor of the Embassy of Kingdom of the Netherlands in Ankara visited Çilimli Support Centre to meet with students and teachers.

Delegation met with the District Governor of Çilimli, Emin Şimşek.

Delegation also met with hazelnut producers and then travelled to Hendek to meet with the District Governor, İdris Akbıyık. The Delegation paid a visit to Hendek Social Support Centre as the last step of the tour.

İdris Akbıyık, District Governor of Hendek, underlined the importance of local ownership and collaborations to eliminate child labour in hazelnut harvesting.

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The overall objective of this project is to contribute elimination of worst forms of child labour (WFCL) in seasonal agriculture in line with the Turkish Government’s strategy drawn by the National Employment Strategy 2014-2023. A model has been developed through the Dutch Government and CAOBISCO* funded “Elimination of Worst Forms of Child Labour in Seasonal Commercial Agriculture in Hazelnut Harvesting in Ordu” project 2013 and 2014. The project aims contributing to the withdrawal of children from work and prevention of at-risk children to be engaged in seasonal hazelnut agriculture. It will bring added value through the replication of the strategic intervention model in the different regions and contribute to a sustainable child labour monitoring mechanism in seasonal agriculture. The project will step up efforts to attain the goal of contributing to the policy making and efficient implementation on the elimination of WFCL in seasonal agriculture.

*Contributing members of CAOBISCO to the ILO PPP Project: Ferrero, Nestlé, August Storck KG, Barry Callebaut, Alfred Ritter GmbH & Co. KG, Mars incorporated, Chocosuisse, NATRA S.A., Griesson - de Beukelaer GmbH & Co., Cémoi chocolatier, Gebr. Jancke GmbH, Neuhaus NV, Stollwerck GmbH, Koenig Backmittel GmbH