A true story of sex child abuse

Debbie A. Lubis, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Fourteen-year-old Santi plainly retold her life story at Monday's seminar organized by the International Labor Organization-International Program for the Elimination of Child Labor (ILO-IPEC).

"I was asked by my village head in Indramayu (West Java) to help my neighbor sell drinks. But actually, if the customers wanted to kiss me or touch other parts of my body, I had to let them. Usually they would give me a tip after that," she said on a prerecorded video tape played at the seminar.

Santi is just one of thousands of children across the country who are victims of child trafficking and prostitution. Data from the State Ministry of Women's Empowerment in 2001 shows that there were 165,000 female sex workers in the country, with 30 percent below the age of 18.

Teguh Budiono, a researcher at the survey agency, DKT Indonesia, said that to tackle these problems, the government should focus on the factors involved in child trafficking, such as families.

"They (families) sell children to middlemen because they are financially incapable of raising them," he said, adding that the middlemen would then arrange for the children's recruitment and placement.

Citing his study conducted in Indramayu regency, Teguh said culture was another factor that influenced child prostitution.

"For the people of Indramayu, prostitution is a part of life. They are proud if they can send their girls to brothels in big cities because they will bring home some luxurious things," he said.

Teguh said the government should launch a public awareness campaign and enforce the law. "We have to remind them that prostitution is something that should not happen. We also should dispense information on sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and other reproductive health issues to the public," he said.

He said law enforcement was needed since there were government agents involved in producing identity cards or forging passports for the girls.

Teguh said the government should find the syndicates that recruit commercial sex workers. "They often take on children from poor families. They give false promises of better jobs in other regions. They pretend to be labor recruiters, preying on people trapped in debt so that they give up their children," he said.

Meanwhile, Irwanto, a researcher at Atmajaya University, said that in tackling the programs, the government should focus not only on rehabilitation, but more on prevention.

"As a result of this trade, victims suffer from major physical and mental torture, and in some cases this has lead to lifelong trauma," he said, adding that some child prostitutes tend to hurt themselves intentionally.

Prostitution is one of the five issues that the government has planned to address in its National Action Plan. President Megawati Soekarnoputri is scheduled to sign the presidential decree on the National Action Plan on National Children's Day this Tuesday.