Prevention important to combat child abuse, says Nafsiah

By Wirasti Wiryono

JAKARTA (JP): Being first is an advantage for Nafsiah Walinono Mboi, who recently became a member of the United Nations Committee on the Convention of the Rights of the Child.

As the first doctor to join the committee, Nafsiah said she looked forward to sharing her experience in pediatrics and public health with the representatives of the committee's nine other member countries.

Nafsiah started her new post on March 1. She will hold the position for four years in New York, the United States. She is scheduled to leave Indonesia Saturday, April 12.

Nafsiah, 56, told The Jakarta Post she was the first doctor to enter the House of Representatives as a member of Golkar, whose members hail mostly from the law, diplomacy and non-governmental organizations. She entered the House in 1992, but is not a candidate for the next election.

Armed with a background in pediatrics from the University of Indonesia, a Masters degree in Public Health from Harvard University's School of Public Health and post-graduate qualifications in public health, her chief concerns are child abuse, teenage pregnancy, premarital sex and the spread of AIDS among babies and young Indonesians.

She said these social problems were rising rapidly because of dwindling public understanding and no team approach to collective action.

She said the committee would monitor and propose development programs on children to member and non-member countries that have ratified the convention. Indonesia ratified the Convention of the Rights of the Child in 1990.

The convention, which classifies children as being under the age of 18, calls for children's rights to life, survival, development and protection. Indonesian law classified children as being under the age of 21, she said.

Member countries must report progress two years after ratifying the convention. Another report must be filed within the next five years. The reports are submitted to the committee by governments and non-governmental organizations, including human and children's rights groups.

"Any criticisms about abuses of children or adults will have to be answered for by government officials," she said, admitting that Indonesian soldiers had sexually abused women and children in East Timor in 1975.

Child abuse, including sexual abuse, refers to physical, emotional and verbal abuse against children by parents, teachers, or other adults.

Scarred by traumatic experiences, children felt inferior and would become far more abusive to their families than their parents had been, she said.

She said that children, who were vulnerable to forces beyond their understanding, could experience any or all of these abuses and the danger of AIDS.

She said that, like in many criminal cases, abused children usually knew the perpetrators, who could be fathers, stepfathers or even grandfathers.

She cited research in the Philippines, Sri Lanka and other countries which showed that 94 percent of child sexual abuse was committed by males, leaving children with absolutely no legal or social recourse to deal with their trauma.

She admitted that Indonesians, conditioned to be polite and quiet, found it hard to believe that children could be physically, emotionally, verbally or sexually abused.

Local law enforcers often perceive reported abuses as hoaxes, and victims have little legal protection, despite Article 289 of the Criminal Code which stipulates a maximum nine-year jail sentence for people who rape girls. There are no laws against raping boys.

Nafsiah said law enforcement officials often abused children who had been arrested for loitering. Children had been forced to sit in pools of water for a long time and lick the floors of the police precinct, she said.

She said street children were exposed to many hazards including sexual advances and violence by foreign tourists, local construction workers and truck drivers. "This exposes them to the deadly AIDS virus," she said.

"Even average middle-class teenagers are involved incidentally or fully in the sex industry, increasing their chances of contracting AIDS as they may or may not use condoms with their clients," she said. She blamed this on a lack of public information and the youths' unawareness of their sexual awakening.

She said prevention was the key to combating child abuse. "This should start with parents and teachers promoting children's awareness about their own bodies," she said.

Nafsiah called for improved laws on children's rights and welfare, which had to be strictly enforced by parents and teachers.

"Parenting is a shared responsibility as it is not enough for a mother to bear sole responsibility for her child. The father must also do the same," Nafsiah said.

She called for more considerate media coverage of abused children, citing the case of a Thai reporter who wrote an article about child sex workers, unwittingly attracting the attention of paedophiles from Europe and the United States.

She said a reporter for Indonesian television station ANTeve, who covered the rape of a five-year-old girl, had no consideration for the victim in his interview. The reporter took the victim and her father back to the scene of the rape and asked them questions relentlessly. She said reporters had to be thoughtful about the consequences of their reports.