Street children not pests: Experts
YOGYAKARTA (JP): Experts are becoming critical of government policies which treat street children merely as "pests to be controlled", and are calling for a comprehensive examination of the problem.
Some 200 experts at the two-day International Conference on Street Children, which was opened here yesterday by Indonesian Minister of Social Services Inten Soeweno, agreed in their preliminary discussions that there are "gaps" between policies drafted by decision makers with how the street children are actually being handled.
An Indonesian official present at the meeting at Sanata Dharma University admitted that the country has yet to formulate strategies to handle the problem of street children effectively.
Teresita L. Silva, the Philippines regional representative for CHILDHOPE Asia, a non-governmental organization (NGO) for street children said: "Governments, including Indonesia's, must seek better treatments if they wish to solve the problem of street children once and for all.
"Street children are not pests to be controlled. They are some of the most creative people and...survivors, despite having to live with many limitations."
She called on all communities to "own" their street children, rather than leave them to the care of the non-governmental organizations and the government.
Both Silva and sociologist Loekman Soetrisno of Gadjah Mada University, who moderated yesterday's sessions, agreed that people involved in the problem of street children need to be more visionary and have better action plans.
Loekman suggested that Indonesia learns from the Philippines in its handling of street children. "The NGOs in the Philippines, for instance, have struck some kind of an agreement with the National Police Chief never to roundup street children," Loekman said. "Arresting street children does not solve the problem. It dehumanizes the children."
The Inspector General of the Ministry of Social Services, Setiyoko, conceded that Indonesia needed to undertake more research on the problem of street children. "We don't know for sure how many children are out there, roaming the streets, we don't even have a uniform definition of who street children are," he admitted.
As a result, Indonesia does not have a strategy to tackle the problem well, he acknowledged.
Donald C. Kaminsky, the executive director of the Honduras- based Foundation for Development, Friendship and Resources said street children are living in exceptionally high risk environments.
"Their personal hygiene and nutritional status are poor. They are also victims of economic and demographic dislocations, widespread poverty, family disintegration, societal violence, and physical, sexual and emotional abuse," he said.
Kaminsky, an associate professor at Tulane University's School of Public Health, called for a comprehensive response to the situation. The government and the NGOs should offer preventative treatment as well as rehabilitation measures, he said.
"Prevention and care should be integral in nature," he said.
"Street children must be looked at and cared for within a holistic framework. The problem analysis and response to it need to take into consideration the interrelated bio-psycho-social factors which define the health conditions of street children."
A number of street children participated in the conference, selling handicrafts and books on street children published by Humana Foundation. Calling themselves GIRLI (from the Indonesian words pinggir kali, meaning those living on river banks), the children mingled easily with conference participants.
Taking the theme of "empowering street children", the conference is being held by the Indonesian National Council of Social Welfare and the Yogyakarta chapter of the Coordinating Board for Social Welfare Activities. (30)