Hence, government must be present and take sides with children, while parents must become role models, and society must offer support to children, Soesatyo noted in his remarks during a function to observe HAN at Parliament complex in Jakarta on July 23.
“It is our shared responsibility to guard and protect our children, so that their rights and nature can be guaranteed and guarded,” MPR chairman affirmed.
Families and surrounding community must ensure that children feel safe, physically and psychologically, he emphasized.
Child protection was in accordance with 1945 Constitution of Republic of Indonesia in its Article 28B, paragraph (2), which stipulates that “Every child has right to survival, growth, and development and is entitled to protection from violence and discrimination.”
Furthermore, Article 34, paragraph (1), emphasizes that state is tasked with caring for abandoned children. Child protection has also been regulated in Law No. 23 of 2002 on Child Protection and Law No. 35 of 2014.
However, Soesatyo expressed concern while citing results of a national survey on Indonesian children in 2018 that showed two out of three children and teenagers aged between 13 and 17 years, or 67 percent of them, had experienced emotional, physical, or sexual violence in their lifetime.
“Amid ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we must be concerned about increasing number of incidents of violence against children,” he stated.
The senior politician of Golkar Party called for serious response to prevent violence against children and teenagers.
“Providing sufficient knowledge about protection for our children must be instilled in families, schools, and society around us,” he affirmed.
Furthermore, Commission for Protection of Indonesian Children (KPAI) stated that number of child abuse cases had reached 2,178 in 2011 and continued to increase to 4,885 cases in 2018.
Furthermore, data of Online Information System for Protection of Women and Children (SIMFONI PPA) showed a total of 3,928 cases of violence against children from January 1 to June 17, 2020, which included 852 cases of physical violence, 768 cases of psychological abuse, and 1,848 cases of sexual violence.
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