Ensuring the future of 'tsunami children'

Ensuring the future of 'tsunami children'

Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

We are the world, we are the children

We are the ones to make a better day

so let's start giving

Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie wrote the 1985 charity theme
song We Are The World to raise money for Ethiopian famine
victims, including thousands of children.

The inclusion of children in the lyrics is not by chance: The
composers were inviting all people of the world to pay special
attention to the fate of children, who were most affected by the
disaster in the African country.

Today, the song is played at many charity events to raise
funds for earthquake and tsunami victims in the provinces of Aceh
and North Sumatra, including around 40,000 children who were
orphaned.

Indonesia is not alone in carrying out long-term efforts to
protect the interests of tsunami children, and the world is also
focusing on how to ease their suffering and grief.

According to chairman Seto Mulyadi of the National Commission
for Child Protection (Komnas Anak), particular attention to
children is greatly needed because the impacts of such a horrific
disaster can leave permanent psychological scars.

"What happens in childhood will shape their social outlook,
and affect what roles they will play in future. For example, a
child who grows up in times of war will tend to solve problems
with violence," Seto told The Jakarta Post in a recent interview.

Therefore, he urged that the government work with utmost haste
on how to help the children, including orphans, because the state
is legally and morally responsible for their upbringing and
development until they become independent citizens.

In its proposal on the protection of Acehnese and North
Sumatra children, Komnas Anak recommends four target actions that
require immediate attention: establishing emergency policies,
prioritizing protection, facilitating education and ensuring
health care.

Emergency policies should comprise a comprehensive effort to
coordinate all domestic and international humanitarian assistance
to ensure that the children's basic needs -- like food, clothing
and shelter -- are fulfilled.

This should also entail the establishment of an information
center about those children who need immediate help. The center
is also needed to maintain accountability of all programs.

The second target covers short- and long-term efforts in child
protection. Its activities include effort to procure humanitarian
assistance, provide therapy and counseling, arrange reunification
and possibly locate foster parents.

According to Seto, counseling is an important component of
child protection, because its success would make a positive
contribution to the children's psychological and emotional
development.

Therefore, he added, Komnas Anak was paying serious attention
to providing therapy and counseling. Apart from providing
therapeutic services at many temporary shelters, the organization
also carries out training programs for therapy specialists to
guarantee the continuity of this program.

"Therapy helps children to forget their traumatic experiences
temporarily, so that they are not haunted by nightmares of when
they were separated from their parents and relatives," Seto said.

The reunification program is a concerted effort to help
children find their surviving relatives, as there is a good
possibility that their parents or relatives survived the
disaster, but are living at different shelters.

Locating foster parents for possible adoption is another
crucial component in helping children reclaim some normalcy in
their lives.

Seto, however, stressed that adoption was a sensitive issue
for Acehnese, because the concept does not exist in Aceh and
under Islam, the dominant religion there, also does not permit
it.

According to Law No. 23/2002 on child protection, foster
parents should be adherents of the same religion as the potential
adoptees.

"For the time being, Komnas Anak does not recommend adoption
for Acehnese children, because it touches upon a very sensitive
issue. Acehnese public figures are also prohibiting outsiders
from adopting Acehnese children," he added.

But adoption is not impossible in the future, if it is carried
out selectively and individually. Caution and care in this
process is also crucial in preventing child trafficking, which
occurred as isolated incidents in Aceh days after the disaster,
he added.

Seto identifies the government as the single party most
responsible for the fate of all orphans in the two provinces. As
such, it must also take responsibility over the provision of
permanent shelters like orphanages, continuous education and
guaranteed health care.

Citing the law on child protection, Seto said the government
was responsible for the education of orphans up to senior high
school or until they reach their 18th birthday.

Meanwhile, in children's health care, the government must
guarantee nutritious food and drinking water, clothing as well as
and sanitation at shelters.

Seto, however, stressed that the initial steps in implementing
child protection, particularly therapy and counseling, were vital
to the success of subsequent programs.

"In the initial stage, we must convince Acehnese orphans that
they are not alone, that everyone cares about their fate and that
they can go on with their lives like other children," Seto said,
adding that the children needed to forget their bitter
experiences in order to move on and have a chance at becoming
productive members of society.