Children appeal to elite to reconcile
Children appeal to elite to reconcile
JAKARTA (JP): Children have increased the pressure on the
political elite to make peace, saying the ongoing high-profile
disputes have discouraged efforts to promote children's rights
and welfare.
"They should cool down because political conflict between them
has inflicted so much loss to children," 15-year-old Kaleb
Laamay, the elected President of Indonesian Children in the first
Congress of Indonesian Children, remarked on Sunday.
Marking National Children's Day which falls on July 23,
hundreds of children from 16 provinces attended the three-day
congress that concluded on Sunday to air their concerns, which
cover social, economic, and political matters.
In their statement, the children believe that political
tension would only worsen social and economic conditions and
could result in many children having to quit school and seek
work. Underage employment is a violation of children's rights
according to the international convention on the prohibition of
child labor and on the minimum age for employment.
The international convention sets the minimum age for
employment at 18 years old.
Kaleb, a student of a state-run junior high school in Alor
district, East Nusa Tenggara, also insisted that the government
should pay attention to the rights and welfare of street,
disabled and displaced children.
"The government should place the street children under its
care, educate them for free and provide more scholarships for
those who are of school age," he said, citing one of the 69
recommendation and 33 statements drawn up by around 257 attendees
at the Congress who were aged between eight and 18 years old.
Among the congress attendees were disabled children, child
laborers, underaged prostitutes, displaced children, children
living with the Human Immuno-deficiency Virus (HIV)/Acquired
Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), and drug addicts.
During a brief dialog with Coordinating Minister for People's
Welfare and Poverty Eradication Basri Hasanuddin, who presided
over the Children's Day ceremony, Kaleb also suggested that the
national "Nine-Year Compulsory Education" campaign be changed to
an "18-Year Right to Education" campaign.
Basri rejected the view that the government has neglected the
education of displaced children.
"Hundreds of millions of rupiah from the social safety net
funds have been provided for the education of displaced children
in 14 provinces," he said. (bby)