Indonesian children demand protection of their rights

Indonesian children demand protection of their rights

JAKARTA (JP): Many Indonesian children nowadays are no longer
familiar with toys and playing as many of them have been touched
by war, violence, manual labor, drugs and the sex industry.

During the 2001 National Congress for Children being held here
from June 26 to Aug. 1, some 240 children from 25 provinces are
gathering to put forward their demands for the government and
legislature to give special attention to the protection of
children's rights.

In one of their demands, the children are asking for the
establishment of a special ministry of child protection, as there
are four of their rights that have yet to be fully protected,
namely the rights to life, to grow, to receive legal protection
and to participate in every decision concerning their futures.

"Parents and adults have to listen more to the children,
because we are also human," the children asserted in their list
of demands, claiming that their voices are often ignored.

Take for instance the children of the Maluku islands. They
have to be listened to because they are not just the victims of
the ongoing conflicts there -- the causes of which they don't
understand -- but also because they have been actively involved
in the civil war.

Sixteen-year-old Ferhan Papilaya said the children had no
other choice but to carry guns to protect their villages and
themselves from ambushes which could take place at any time.

"We don't want to shoot other people, but we have to. Now,
even younger kids know how to assemble homemade guns," he told
journalists on Monday on the sidelines of the Congress.

Umar Waliulu, 14, added that they could not refuse when adults
told them to be in the forefront when attacking other villages, a
position which leaves them exposed to security-force fire.

Children there are also being forced to work since their
parents lost their jobs due to the conflict or because they now
have to survive on their own.

All the representatives of the Maluku children at the Congress
said that they had suffered the trauma of seeing their homes
burned down in the clashes or family members slain before their
eyes.

They believe that the Maluku people do not have any reason for
fighting against each other and that the conflicts are actually
provoked by outsiders.

They want the government to send the outsiders back home and
to let the Maluku people settle their own problems.

"We don't want this war to continue. We have no desire for
vengeance, we just want to the old days to come back," 13-year-
old Esti Ipaemim, who is a Muslim, said.

Marissa, 15, a Christian, added that their parents forbade
them to meet their Muslim friends due to the sensitive situation
and that they had to go to separate schools in areas controlled
by their respective sides.

"If we want to see our old friends from school, we have to
make an appointment to meet in the neutral Wayame village where
there is no religious hatred," she said.

Ferhan suggested that the government build a school in the
neutral village so they could play together without any
discrimination.

Prostitution

In many other places, children have become valuable
commodities in trafficking, the sex industry and drug abuse.

Just call this 17-year-old boy Sara. He said he had to dress
like a girl when he got into prostitution in Surabaya at the
tender age of 13. He refuses to talk any more about his
experiences.

Andre Wijaya, from the non-governmental organization Yayasan
Alit, who accompanied Sara during his struggle to get out of the
business along with other prostituted children, said it's hard to
break the network of pimps, who are often backed up by the
police.

He argued that not all of the hundreds of children got
involved in prostitution in the city due to their families'
economic difficulties.

"They mostly ran away from home because of the traumatic abuse
they received. One of the children we take care of decided to
live on the street because she was raped by her brother," he
said.

On the other hand, given the current economic situation it has
become unavoidable that many children have to help or replace
their parents in earning a living. Unfortunately, their employers
fail to provide them with education or give them time off to go
to school.

Susi, a 15-year-old from Banten, had to drop out of school to
take up full-time work packing table salt from 7:30 a.m. to 4
p.m. six days a week. She earns some Rp 40,000 per week, with no
menstruation leave as required by law.

Her's is not the worst case as many other children under 18
years of age have to work in hazardous conditions, such as in
mines, offshore fishing platforms, factories using dangerous
chemicals, or even as crew members on ships. (bby)