Govt continues to fail to protect children's rights

JAKARTA (JP): Amid the stench of open sewers and the piercing sound of train whistles, eight-year-old Iman and dozens of other barefoot boys hawk mineral water, cigarettes, newspapers and even condoms at Jatinegara Railway Station in East Jakarta.

They work day and night, almost 18 hours a day, and barely have time to attend school, let alone do their homework.

"I've been working here since the economic crisis began, to help my parents," said the third-year elementary school student. His parents were laid off from textile factories.

Yani, a 12-year-old elementary school dropout, spends her entire day helping her uncle at Muara Karang Fish Market in North Jakarta, selling fresh and dried fish to earn Rp 5,000 to Rp 7,500 (75 U.S. cents and US$1), enough to buy a liter of rice and vegetables.

For children like Iman, Yani and millions of others, the celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Ratification of Convention of Children Rights on Nov. 20 meant nothing.

The convention, approved by 191 nations including Indonesia, laid down basic rights for children, ranging from education, health care, protection from physical and emotional abuse, labor exploitation and prostitution, to the right to avoid military conscription until the age of 15.

Despite Indonesia's ratification of the convention in 1990, the quality of life for millions of children has declined, particularly when the country was battered by the economic crisis, compounded by social and political upheaval.

Chairwoman of the Indonesian Child Welfare Foundation, Lili Rilantono, said the condition of the majority of Indonesian children and adolescents was worsen than a few decades ago.

"If you want proof, we released the latest data on the condition of Indonesian children a few months ago," said Lili.

The foundation's data makes for gruesome reading. As a result of the economic crisis, health levels dropped to that of the early 1970s. Many warned of the possibility of "a lost generation" of malnourished, intellectually stunted youngsters, and at least 610 under-fives were reported to have died of marasmus and kwashiorkor.

School dropout rates increased from 1,210,990 in 1980 to eight million in 1998. Since the crisis, the number of street children has increased 100 percent.

About 4,000 children under 16 are tried each year. Some have to wait months for their trial, with some detained or imprisoned in cells shared with adult convicts.

"The Indonesian government has done little to improve children's welfare. We have a lot of legal tools, yet they have never been implemented properly," Lili said.

Protection of children is actually included in the variety of national policies, such as the ratification of the Children's Rights Convention in 1990, compulsory education, the Guidelines of State Policy and the National Movement for Children's Protection.

"But we have failed to implement them in a consistent manner." she said.

Education and health facilities in the country are poor, the understanding of the community as a whole is limited and law enforcement is lacking, she added.

"Although elementary and junior high school attendance is compulsory, authorities do not enforce the law."

Violence against children, forced child labor and trafficking in children, especially for prostitution, still occurs in the country, Lili said.

A nationwide survey in December 1998 found that the number of children forced to work to augment their families' incomes increased to about two million from 1.64 million in 1997.

The survey by the Central Bureau of Statistics involved children between the ages of 10 and 14. The Jakarta office of the International Labor Organization (ILO), however, believes that the figure is probably too low, considering that eight million children dropped out school last year due to the economic crisis.

ILO Jakarta said child workers were present in almost all sectors, including mining, prostitution, construction, offshore fishing and jobs which exposed them to dangerous chemicals.

"We don't have a real program to fight child labor and other forms of children's exploitation, and the government is too sluggish to quickly respond and find integrated solution to these crucial problems," she said.

In the early 1980s, several non-governmental organizations (NGOs) reported thousands of cases of child labor, street children, child prostitution, but the government did its best to conceal the reality. In the late 1990s, when the problems became more serious and glaringly evident, the government could no longer refuse to face the truth, but did not know which actions to take.

Sadder still is that today many children in the country are living amid the terror of armed conflicts.

"They badly need the state's protection. You can't just sit and do nothing while watching children trapped in bloody conflicts," Lili said.

Data from the foundation showed that during the 10-year-long military operation in Aceh, up to 20,000 children were orphaned.

In the May 1998 riots in Jakarta, two children died of gunshot wound and 20 more were killed in burned buildings. In a 1989 clash in Lampung between military personnel and followers of Warsidi, who the Army branded a separatist rebel, 66 children aged between one year and 17 died, the report said. Dozens of other children have died in Maluku, East Timor, Aceh, Madura and the ethnic strife in Sambas, West Kalimantan.

Thousands of children are living in refugee camps around the country, lacking proper food, shelter, health care and, most importantly, protection from the state.

The situation calls for an integrated policy which encompasses all aspects of the increasingly complicated problem of children in Indonesia.

"A number of NGOs dealing with children and the National Forum for Indonesian Children submitted a draft of a children's rights bill to the government five years ago, but I never heard anything else about it," she said.

State Minister of Human Rights Affairs Hasballah M. Saad has promised to immediately bring the draft of the children's rights bill before the House of Representatives.

Starting from now, all elements of the nation must work hard to free children from all forms of physical and emotional exploitation, Hasballah commented.

State Minister of the Empowerment of Women Kofifah Indar Parawansa has also stated the urgency of putting into law the protection of children's rights.

"We cannot rely on the ratification of the children's convention. There should be a strong political will from the government to enforce the law," Khofifah added.

"I have told Pak Hasballah that the draft was ready since five years ago, and it probably ended up in the State Secretary's office," she said. (raw)