Secreatariat for ASEAN, Japan NGOs

JAKARTA: Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Japanese NGOs have agreed to set up a joint secretariat in order to coordinate, monitor and evaluate programs for deprived children in the region.

Research by the Japan Non-Governmental Organization Network (JANIC) from January 2001 through January 2002 showed that deprived children in ASEAN have been living in extreme poverty since the economic crisis struck the region in 1997 and their condition has been aggravated by poor education and health, child abuse, child labor, child trafficking and sexual exploitation.

JANIC said Indonesia's street children tripled to 150,000 in 2002. The number of child laborers rose to 11.7 million, 425 children were reported to have contracted HIV/AIDS and child drug addicts reached 3 million throughout the country. This compared with 1.5 million street children in the Philippines, 620,000 child laborers in Cambodia and 220,000 child laborers in Malaysia.

The NGOs, which concluded their three-day international conference in Jakarta on Saturday, also agreed to exchange information, organize joint seminars, training and publications on deprived children in the region.-- JP