REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Child abuse cases continue to increase in Indonesia as it does not yet have an effective child protection management system to handle crimes on juveniles, noted the National Commission for Child Protection (Komnas PA).
"The country only has a child protection management system but has no national scale reference for reducing and handling cases of children who become crime victims," Komnas PA chairman Arist Merdeka Sirait stated here on Friday (24/10).
He pointed out that over the years, violence against children has reached epic proportions in line with the rising number of complaints related to child abuse.
Based on data and reports during the period between 2010 and 2014, a total of 21,689,797 cases had been reported in 34 provinces and 179 districts or cities.
About 42 to 58 percent of the incidents were sexual abuse cases and the remaining ones were related to physical violence, neglect, abduction, economic exploitation, and child trafficking for commercial sex exploitation.
"We hope the new government under President Joko Widodo and Vice President Jusuf Kalla would build a national protection system regulated through a law by passing a government regulation in lieu of the law and other regulations," Arist Merdeka Sirait noted.
He revealed that his side had encountered numerous difficulties in tracing references for the recovery of child crime victims' health and psychological disturbances due to the lack of data in government agencies.
"So far, the victims are handled based on the guidelines of each agency or societal institution due to the absence of a clear reference or legal basis," Arist affirmed.
He explained that for this purpose, the government is expected to issue a clear regulation, so that cases of child crime victims could be handled effectively and heavy punishment can be doled out to the perpetrators of these crimes. Thus, it would serve as a deterrent.
"If we want to build a great Indonesia in the future, it should be free of violence against children by offering adequate protection and attention to the children," he proposed.
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