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Child Abuse in South East Asia on The Rise: Report
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| Children need more care, especially in South East Asia |
By
IOL South East Asia Correspondent
KUALA
LUMPUR, Aug 23 (IslamOnline) - Children activists have triggered the
alarm that child abuse in South East Asia may be on the rise despite
efforts to curb on child porn and trade by the local governments.
Indonesia’s
islands of Bali and Batam are the most notorious places in the country
for the sexual abuse of children, often at the hands of foreigners,
according to children's activists as reported in the Jakarta Post on
Friday.
Arist
Merdeka Sirait, the executive director of the Children in Need Special
Protection Center in Indonesia, said numerous children from these
islands were smuggled abroad by a well-organized syndicate, often with
the help of local officials.
He
said most of the smuggled children were between the ages of 12 and 16,
but on their documents officials marked up their ages.
In
Thailand, the authorities have taken strict measures to punish child
slavery, trade and sexual abuse. Thailand was considered in the past
as the place where mostly foreigners physically abused children.
The
Philippines, however, comes first in Child abuse according to
researches done by children and rights groups in Manila and Mindanao.
Some
of the children in Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand as well as
Myanmar are sent abroad with the consent of their parents reports
said.
Mindanao
in the Philippines is worst hit by child labor that amount almost to
slavery, while Batam and Bali in Indonesia are now famous for sexual
abuse of children.
In
both countries, human rights and children activists said these were
the work of syndicates involving local and foreign groups. They would
not say which foreign groups are involved however, though it is
commonly known that Europeans and Americans, as well as Australians
are involved in these cases.
"The
syndicates, of course, earn millions of U.S. dollars each year from
child trafficking, and it is a crime that we have failed to
stop," Arist said.
As
was the case in Thailand, a reporter in Indonesia said he found that a
number of pedophiles attracted their young victims by doing aid work
involving children. Some of these pedophiles even unofficially adopt
their victims and have the children stay in their houses where they
are subjected to all forms of abuse, which include sexual abuse.
More
than 300,000 Indonesian children were victimized annually, mostly
sexually, the Jakarta Post reported.
"This
is a systematic crime involving various parties, ranging from parents
and neighborhood leaders, to pedophile syndicates.
"And
Indonesia does not have the legal system to protect these
children," Arist said in an interview.
Indonesia
ratified the UN Convention on Child Protection in 1990. The
Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Myanmar, Brunei and the Philippines
have all subscribed to the same convention.
However,
it was only in 2001 that legislators began deliberating a child
protection bill in Indonesia for example.
In
Malaysia the laws are strict and action is swift in case of child
abuse.
However
the headlines in local newspapers show that there is also an increase
in such abuses in Malaysia, considered a more advanced nation
economically than many of its neighbors in South East Asia.
Malaysian
Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, in an outburst of emotion said a few
months ago that child abusers, particularly involved in sexual abuse,
should be whipped in public.
Mahathir
said that would be a deterrent to those who intend to abuse young
children and babies, adding that he felt there should not be any pity
for such abusers.
To
better protect children, Arist of Indonesia and his fellow children's
activist Seto Mulyadi, from the National Commission for Child
Protection, urged the Parliament (DPR) on Thursday to approve the
already debated bill on child protection.
As
is the case in many South East Asian countries, except Singapore and
Malaysia, the Criminal Code of certain countries are not adequate to
protect children, something the child protection bill would do in
Indonesia for example.
Under
the bill, for example, those guilty of sexually exploiting children
could face a 20-year prison sentence.
In
the Philippines the authorities has turned a blind eye to the fate of
children in Mostly Muslim Mindanao where development, school and child
protection are battered by years of civil war and terrorist activities
by various groups, including the Abu Sayyaf.
Many
of the Muslim children for example are not properly fed, educated and
live without their parents in Basilan and Sulu, IslamOnline was told.
Many of their parents leave for the big cities, including Malaysia and
Singapore to find jobs.
Their
children are left in the villages with their grandparents. “They are
a pool of fresh members for groups like the Abu Sayyaf,” IslamOnline
was told Friday.
“Many
of these children are abused by the military for example and nothing
is done to prevent that. This enrages them and they are ready to join
terror groups just to hit the government for its blind eyes,” an
interviewed member of a local human rights group from Mindanao told
IslamOnline.
He
added that child abuse was rampant in the Philippines and that it
needed to be checked and fixed by the Gloria Macapagal Arroyo regime.
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