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)