Appeals alone won't stop child prostitution<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The First Lady said on Wednesday that moral
\nappeals alone would not solve child prostitution.<\/p>\n
Opening a one-day workshop on the sexual exploitation of young
\ngirls, Sinta Nuriyah said that solutions focusing on morals and
\nreligion, \"without understanding gender relationships within
\nfamilies, in which girls are more often victims\" would not solve
\nthe real problem.<\/p>\n
Workshop organizers from the Center of Community Development
\nStudies at Atmajaya Catholic University said they were focusing
\non female sexual exploitation because its causes were
\n\"different\".<\/p>\n
The belief that having sex with youngsters is safer and the
\nneeds of poor families to survive the economic crisis have both
\nled to the increase in child sex workers, the First Lady said.<\/p>\n
Latest estimates from researchers show there are at least
\n40,000 girls under 18 working as sex workers.<\/p>\n
\"... the possibility of an increase in child sex workers has
\nbeen predicted by (health expert) Ibu Nafsiah Mboy\", bearing in
\nmind the shift of sex tourists to Indonesia from Thailand,
\nNuriyah said.<\/p>\n
Campaigns against the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome
\n(AIDS) have led to a \"false\" awareness about sexual behavior, she
\nsaid. People who previously did not care about a partner's age
\nare now choosing children, she added.<\/p>\n
Nongovernmental organizations in the workshop charged that
\nIndonesia had broken its promise to the world to protect its
\nchildren from prostitution.<\/p>\n
They called for a national action plan against commercial sex
\nin line with the 1996 Stockholm Convention, which Indonesia was a
\nsignatory to.<\/p>\n
Participants were obviously affected while watching a play
\ninvolving child sex workers who described their experiences.<\/p>\n
One child, who was depicted as being sold by her father, said,
\n\"As poor as my father is, he still has a goat, but he sold me
\nanyway.\"<\/p>\n
Keri Lasmi Sugiarti from Bandung's Bahtera Foundation said,
\n\"Society looks at these children not as victims but as garbage.\"
\nShe added that \"this kind of discrimination can hamper a child's
\npsychosocial development\".<\/p>\n
Rosmalinda, a child protection activist, said that staff in
\nher office in Medan, North Sumatra, were frequently intimidated
\nby people who accused her organization of supporting
\nprostitution.<\/p>\n
Nongovernmental organizations from Medan, Jakarta, Bandung,
\nYogyakarta, Surabaya, Solo and Batam have been working with the
\nproblem of child prostitutes for almost one year. (08)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/appeals-alone-wont-stop-child-prostitution-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}