Govt continues to fail to protect children's rights

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)