Turkey's parliament passed a law early on Thursday reducing penalties for children accused of terrorism-related offences, reforming legislation which rights groups say is at odds with European standards.

A top European human rights envoy this month urged EU membership candidate Turkey to radically reform its juvenile justice system, under which hundreds of Kurdish children have been jailed.

Under the reform, children taking part in illegal protests or spreading separatist propaganda will no longer be prosecuted under anti-terror laws, state-run Anatolian news agency said.
Juvenile courts will handle cases related to such minors.

The law also reduces the minimum prison sentence for anyone taking part in illegal protests to six months from 1-1/2 years.

Hundreds of Kurdish children - some as young as 11, according to activists - have been prosecuted by Turkish authorities fighting Kurdish rebels in the country's southeast.

The government of Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has pushed through a series of reforms designed to boost the rights of Kurds and end a 26-year-old conflict with the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

However, the reform process has lost momentum amid growing public anger at an upsurge in separatist violence in recent months. More than 40,000 people have died in the conflict since the PKK took up arms in 1984.

Ankara, the European Union and the United States list the PKK as a terrorist group.

(Source: Reuters)