Children's problems need comprehensive solution

Children's problems need comprehensive solution

Debbie A. Lubis, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

With the fresh spirit of the new year, the government needs to
enhance cooperation with related institutions and people from all
walks of life to address unsettled problems of children in 2002,
a child activist has said.

Seto Mulyadi, chairman of the National Commission for Child
Protection (Komnas PA), said on Tuesday that Indonesian children
still had to deal with complicated problems in 2002 although the
country has ratified several international conventions on
children.

"The problems related to children cannot be addressed if the
government, non-governmental organizations, the media, and the
public continue to look for scapegoats. It is high time to
unify our commitment, statements and attitude to help our
children," he told The Jakarta Post.

In its year-end statement, the commission revealed that many
children in the country had become the victims of violence,
negligence, exploitation, mistreatment and discrimination.

Seto said the country's homework for 2003 was to settle the
problems of child labor, child trafficking, child prostitution,
street children, children in conflict areas, and undernourished
children.

The International Labor Organization (ILO) for Indonesia
revealed that currently there are some eight million out of 70.4
million children under 18 years of age doing the work of adults.

"The actual figure could be higher as there are some 11.7
million children who have dropped out of school due to financial
difficulties and may have entered the labor market," Seto said.

The commission's record shows that currently there are around
40,000 children who have been forced to become sex workers.

ILO also reported in June 2002 that at least 1,500 girls from
Indramayu regency in West Java had been trafficked in the past
two years to Japan through fictitious cultural missions. They
were forced to become sex workers, it said.

Seto said that in many child trafficking cases, many children
become sex workers, beggars, domestic helpers, and even drugs
sellers.

He added that some 40 percent of 1.2 million internally
displaced persons (IDPs) are children. "They are prone to
malnutrition, illiteracy, and communicable diseases," he said.

The commission also recorded that currently there were some
50,000 children living and working on the streets, while some
82.51 percent of 3,600 delinquent children had been sent to jail
in 2002.

"All of the problems have their roots in poverty,
backwardness, social conflict, and unemployment, but it does not
mean that we cannot really implement the rulings and policies
that the government has issued, including the establishment of
Committee for Indonesian Children," Seto said.

The government issued a law on child protection last October
and has recently established three national action plans to
protect children from trafficking, the worst forms of labor, and
sexual exploitation.

Seto added that it was also important for the government to
disseminate national policies on children to regencies and towns
since regional autonomy has made regional administrations
discount children in their decision-making process.