Bill on child protection submitted for deliberation
Bill on child protection submitted for deliberation
JAKARTA (JP): A team of legislators proposed a child
protection bill on Thursday for deliberation by the House of
Representatives, which will regulate children's rights and
punishment for persons or organizations who neglect them.
The draft, consisting of 12 chapters and 68 articles, will
detail the obligations of parents, families, community and
government toward children and complement Law No.39/1999 on human
rights that mentions children's rights.
"Child protection should begin from the time before a child is
born until they turn 18 years old ...," legislators' spokesman
Junus Lamuda from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle
(PDI Perjuangan) faction said in the plenary session.
He further said that the 20 of the 68 articles would define
children's rights.
"And 11 articles of the proposed draft will stipulate
sanctions for any person or organization that violates those
rights," Junus further underlined.
However, the form of punishment was not specified.
Early last year the government-sanctioned National Commission
for Child Protection (Komnas PA) finished drafting the child
protection bill that would allow the commission to take over
child custody from parents who allegedly neglected or abused
them.
The draft, which was later discussed with the House,
determined punishment for those committing crimes against
children, such as physical abuse, rape and trafficking. The
minimum penalty cited is nine years imprisonment and a fine of Rp
200 million.
The current proposed draft regulates protection of children's
rights in education, health, and social affairs.
"In one of the chapters, we also assigned the National
Commission for Child Protection as the body responsible for
protecting childrens' rights as mentioned in the preceding
chapters," Junus said.
Two articles of the proposed draft discuss children's identity
and parentage and the position of children from an inter-
religious marriage.
"The draft underlines parents', families', community's and the
government's responsibilities to ensure the continuous protection
of children," Junus remarked.
In the plenary session, legislators also proposed another bill
on the law-making process that would integrate all regulations
made both by the government and the House, particularly in terms
of the process and substance of law making.
The draft bill, consisting of 11 chapters and 56 articles,
aims to integrate all regulations made by the two state bodies.
"The proposed draft on the law-making process would integrate
the House's internal regulations and presidential instructions on
law-making into a single regulation that would be adhered to by
the two state bodies," House spokesman Rustam Tamburaka from the
Golkar Party faction said in the session.(dja)