Commission of child protection needs wider coordination

Commission of child protection needs wider coordination

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Supporters of children's rights and welfare have formed a
national commission in a desperate bid for strong coordination
with authorities to uphold the law.

In a brainstorming session held on Friday by the Directorate
General on Human Rights Protection and the Indonesian Children's
Welfare Foundation (YKAI), participants underlined the need to
create an effective body unlike other toothless national
commissions.

YKAI chairwoman Lily I. Rilantono said the absence of strong
coordination and integrated policies had hindered many
commissions from carrying out their main mission.

"The commission on children's protection must have the power
to lobby the government or make national policies that address
children's needs and put them on its list of priorities. This
power would ensure that integrated policies handle issues on
children," she said.

Many commissions, in upholding human rights and anticorruption
and pro-life campaigns, have been established, but they become
ineffective because of the absence of a strong commitment and
coordination among related sides to enforce the law.

Lily argued that the problems faced by children could no
longer be handled by limited institutions since they are much
more diverse than in past years. Problems range from child abuse,
exploitation, neglect, mental and physical disabilities, to
conflicts, criminals, drug abuse and exposure to HIV/AIDS.

"For example, to handle child prostitution, there needs to be
strong coordination between the immigration office, the tourism
office, the police and even the judiciary," Lily added.

The director general of Human Rights Protection at the
Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, Hafidz Abbas, agreed,
saying that policies on child protection should be based on the
principle of putting forward "the best interests of the child".

Using Bangladesh and Pakistan's experiences as an example,
Hafidz said that the policies used to shut down factories
employing children had created other problems for street
children, such as child prostitution and trafficking.

A bill on children's protection will be passed into law on
July 18 in observance of National Children's Day, which falls on
July 23.

The bill regulates the independent Commission for Indonesian
Children Protection (KPAI), which was established under a
presidential decree. The commission will be based in Jakarta with
no more than nine members from the government, religious
organizations, NGOs and entrepreneurs.

Article 76 in the bill stipulates that the commission
functions to promote the regulations and laws on children's
protection, to gather data and information, to monitor the
public's feedback, to analyze and supervise the implementation of
protection for children, as well as to make reports and give
suggestions to the President.

Surya Chandra, a legislator of the United Development Party,
said that it would be a long time before the nation could form an
independent commission to provide true protection for children.

"But for now, it's better to focus on the commission's
priorities to intercept any complaints and input from the public
on what should be done to protect children's rights. In that way,
the commission will ensure the implementation of the United
Nations' Convention on Child Protection that we signed in 1990,"
he said.