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)