Refugee children, child abuse prevail in RI
Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Despite the Child Protection Law, the problems of displaced children and child abuse have not been resolved by the government, which sparked criticism from the Committee on the Rights of Children (CRC).
According to data at the National Disaster Management and Refugees Coordination Board (Bakornas PBP), 40 percent of internally displaced persons were children and until March 2001, 1,081,000 refugees were spread across 20 provinces. The figure is expected to have risen following the increase in refugees from war-torn Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam.
As of July 2003, the Ministry of Social Affairs recorded more than 30,800 refugees in Aceh, 30 percent of whom were children.
The child refugees are facing emotional, psychological and educational problems from the prolonged conflict. Some children have continued school in makeshift tents, mosques or other temporary buildings, while others have had their education cut short because of the lack of schools, teachers and other factors.
The government has also yet to completely address the great number of East Timorese children separated from their parents following East Timor's secession from Indonesia in 1999.
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, East Timorese children separated from their parents or families numbered 4,527 by July 2003. Of these, 2,284 have been repatriated and reunited with their families, while 1,500 are still in Indonesia.
Some of the East Timorese children in West Timor, South Sulawesi, West Nusa Tenggara and Central Java have been returned to their families. Others, however, have reportedly rejected going back to East Timor and have decided to stay with their Indonesian foster parents to continue their studies.
Many refugee children are unable to go to school, as their parents have no source of income at the refugee camps.
Besides the issue of displaced children, child abuse is rife and the government has yet to take any necessary measures to reduce the number of cases across the country.
Media reports in 2003 provide a figure of 2,184 child abuse cases, in which most victims were female. Most cases have been settled at court, but no measures have been taken to prevent future cases.
The CRC regretted that Indonesia did not heed its 1994 recommendations for addressing the two children's issues, and presented an evaluation during a January meeting with Indonesia's delegation in Geneva. During the meeting, the CRC urged the government to end violence and conflicts affecting children, while stressing that children could not be recruited and trained for combat.
The committee also called on the government to provide equal educational opportunity to children, regardless their status or background.
Mohamad Farid of the Child Rights Convention Watch Coalition said around 90 percent of rape or sexual abuse victims covered on TV were children.
"There are children working as prostitutes, and the worst thing is that they are supposed to be the victims. People who use them as sexual objects should be prosecuted instead of the child prostitutes," said Farid.
The CRC also expressed concern over the existing law, that it did not provide effective protection for children against sex abuse. The law sets 12 years as the minimum age limit for consensual sex, which is too young.
The Indonesian government, said the CRC, must draw up a legislation that protects child victims of sexual exploitation, trafficking, pornography and prostitution, while also raising the age limit for consensual sex.