Nations Must Protect Their Children, Not Their Reputations

See this op-ed by that title by Laurie Ahearn in the Washington Post.  It begins:

The Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson, seems to be in hot water again. A Turkish court has accused her of “acquiring footage and violating the privacy” of children in a Turkish state-run orphanage. Her trial began two weeks ago in Ankara in absentia, following Britain’s refusal to extradite the former royal. The charges, which carry a maximum sentence of up to 22 1 / 2 years in prison , are a result of her participation in an undercover documentary that aired on Britain’s ITV in 2008 , exposing abuses in the facility. 

The hypocrisy of the Turkish government in prosecuting the duchess, who courageously exposed torture and neglect of Turkish children, is appalling. Turkish officials seem concerned with the privacy of children, most of whom have intellectual and physical disabilities, even as they violate those children’s most basic human rights.