Overhaul on child abuse law urged

Overhaul on child abuse law urged

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian law on child sexual abuse is not
adequate to handle the increasing rate of the crime, experts said
yesterday.

Irwanto, a senior researcher specializing in the problem of
street children at Atmajaya Catholic University, said the
definition of child abuse in the Criminal Code is biased because
the age limit for sexual consent is 15, while the Marriage Law
stipulates that the minimum age for women to get married is 16.

"The Criminal Code covers only women and adult victims and
perpetrators, because it does not speak clearly about child
abuse. The law is too broad," Irwanto told The Jakarta Post
during breaks at a seminar on child abuse here yesterday.

The seminar was sponsored by the United Nations Children's
Fund (Unicef) and the Indonesia Planned Parenthood Association.

Irwanto also said that victims of sexual abuse usually
harassed further because investigating police officers often
disbelieve their reports.

"Worse still, when a case is made public, society has a
tendency to mock the victim," he said.

Indonesia ratified the International Convention on the Rights
of the Child in 1990. The United Nations General Assembly adopted
the convention in 1989.

Muhammad Farid, a member of a non-governmental organization
specializing in helping street children in Yogyakarta, seconded
Irwanto, saying that "the law is not clear because it does not
touch upon child pornography and sexual harassment of children."

Farid said that cases like that of Robot Gedhek, the alleged
child abuser and murderer now being tried in Jakarta, was only
the tip of a giant iceberg.

"The problem lies in the public's lack of social sensitivity,
which does not help the efforts to make an effective law on
child sexual abuse," he said.

Irwanto also said that Indonesians are reluctant to speak
freely about sex, much less express opinions on it, because most
still see it as a taboo.

"They also believe that the topic is not part of a child's
life," he said.

Steven J. Woodhouse, Unicef representative here, told the Post
that he saw the need for an immediate cure for the problem.

Woodhouse said that Unicef was helping with advocacy,
comparative studies and funding to help Indonesia overcome what
he described as "the sickening problem" of child abuse.

"But Indonesia has more hope than other countries in this
case, because basically the people here are more religious,
posses a tight family bond, and are willing to help each other,"
he said. (12)