Our sons and daughters

To be a "real street singer" is the simple dream of Jaman; while Anti wants to be a pretty, sweet-smelling bride; she told this newspaper that water for bathing is a luxury. Both youngsters are among 75,000 children working the streets of 12 cities in Indonesia, according to one study.

But the stories of Jaman and Anti conceal more ugly facts: In 2000 an estimated 300,000 girls under 18 were sex workers; traumatized orphans are among the 1.2 million people displaced by conflicts. Child labor, and even contemporary slavery, is still found in domestic work, factories, plantations and fishing structures. Many minors are forced into early marriage and are victims of domestic violence although figures are unknown. In March the Indonesian Society of Pediatricians reported that last year some 6.8 million babies out of 85 million babies and children in the country were classified as malnourished.

The National Action Plan for children which is expected to be signed soon by by President Megawati Soekarnoputri will not likely benefit today's children in distress. The first five years of the 20-year action plan will be used for "mapping" out the problems and coordinating policies among institutions, as well as campaigns. The plan was hurriedly launched after Indonesia ratified the Convention Against Child Labor two years ago.

Something else should have been signed on National Children's Day on July 23: The law on children protection. But the House of Representatives failed to endorse it on time; now with the annual session of the People's Consultative Assembly coming up, the bill's passage, after four years of work, had been delayed once again.

This legislation would bring Indonesia in compliance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child which the nation ratified 12 years ago. It states, among other things, that commercial sexual exploitation of children are crimes which must be stopped and prevented by the state.

But it is one thing to enact the law, and completely another to enforce it. Protecting children against trafficking would put the state against powerful syndicates, many of which are known to be involved in drugs. They have escaped from the law in the past because of weak enforcement and an inept or corrupt judiciary.

A law that recognizes the universal rights of children -- the right to lead a normal, humane life, to have access to health care and social security, education, rest and recreation -- would compel the state to act if parents fail to fulfill these rights.

Wisdom is also necessary in enforcing the legislation. One mother told this newspaper that her children's future was "not at school"; the children must beg for the family's survival.

Recognizing children's rights would perhaps remind our leaders, that while nearly 60 percent of families live under the internationally recognized poverty line (earning less than US$2 a day), there will continue to be parents who beat their children for failing to sing for their supper, and who have no qualms about sending their girls to the big city brothels.