Indonesia

Nearly 42 percent of Indonesia's population is under the age of 24. Since becoming a pathfinder country in July of 2016, Indonesia has strengthened its support of its young population, and in 2016, adopted a national strategy to eliminate violence against children.

2004

Law No. 23/2002 is passed to strengthen child protection systems.

2006

Indonesia makes a public commitment to the ASEAN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women and Children.

2007

Milestones for child welfare and protection are included in the National Mid-Term Development Plan (RPJMN) 2015-2019

2017

The National Strategy to Eliminate Violence against Children 2016-2020 is launched

2018

During the Universal Periodic Review, Indonesia accepts recommendations to prohibit corporal punishment.

2018

Indonesia accepts recommendations to take all necessary measures to end child marriage

2022

National Strategy on Elimination of Violence against Children is signed by the President & adopted as a Presidential Regulation

The development of both the RPJMN and the national strategy involved consultations with both government and civil society, including all relevant national ministries, local government agencies, various national and sub-national non-governmental organizations, the private sector, the media, and religious and community groups. It also engaged children by conducting a combination of face-to-face and online consultations with children.

The Ministry of Women Empowerment and Child Protection supports the Civil Society Organization Alliance on Ending Violence Against Children, Aliansi PKTA, in bringing together all major non-governmental organizations working to end violence. The Alliance facilitates child participation, works at a national level, supports development of the sub-national Provincial Action Plan on Sustainable Development Goals Target 16.2, and disseminates community information on violence against children.

To strengthen community participation and multi-stakeholder collaboration, the government has implemented the Community-Based Integrated Child Protection Strategy (PATBM), which focuses on prevention and early detection of violence against children. Currently, PATBM has been established in 34 provinces, 107 cities, and 359 villages. The Ministry of Women Empowerment and Child Protection has also initiated the Forum for Public Participation for Women and Children to strengthen collaboration.

Child Forum 2P (Pioneer and Reporter) was established to allow children to be involved in development planning at village, district, city, and provincial levels. Children were consulted during the development of both the national strategy on ending violence against children and the forthcoming RPJMN 2020-2025.

Local governments across Indonesia track data collection related to violence against children and service provision through an online system called Simfoni. This system allows the government to map the status of child-friendly districts and cities nationwide. The government has committed resources to conduct a national survey on violence against children, and to continue annual evaluations of the child-friendly district and city program.

In 2017, Sustainable Development Goal baselines for children at the national level were launched at the High-level Political Forum, including data and information on child abuse. In 2018, the Baseline Sustainable Development Goals for children were launched in 2018.

The Ministry of Women Empowerment and Child Protection conducted a National Survey of Child Life Experiences in 2018 in collaboration with the Central Statistics Agency. Funding for these activities was sourced from the National Budget.

As part of its mid-term development plan, Indonesia launched a holistic strategy to prevent child rights violations by creating child-friendly districts and cities, including family learning centers, child-friendly schools and community-based child protection initiatives. Government approaches focus on:

  • The provision of services, including integrated service units for children, community health centers, supporting an integrative child welfare center, strengthening coordination between services, and telephone consultations for children)

  • Strengthening prevention mechanisms, including the Child Friendly City program

  • Boosting human resource capacity, including training programs for law enforcement and service providers in the juvenile justice system).

Aliansi PKTA works to change social norms and practices, support positive parenting, improve the quality of data and evidence and provide support services. The alliance published a book on civil society’s good practices to end violence against children, distributes information through social media on online sexual violence, parental/ caregivers’ guidance, child marriage, child trafficking, digital literacy and other issues. The alliance is holding an INSPIRE workshop on law reform to achieve a prohibition of corporal punishment in April 2019.

PUSKAPA is an interdisciplinary team of researchers, policy thinkers, and program implementers that work with scientists, practitioners, and civil society actors to help the government improve children’s access to health, education, justice and social care. They do this through a) research to generate the scientific evidence behind the solutions; b) advocacy to promote the solutions through public dialogues, technical assistance, program design, management and evaluation; and c) capacity building to train, mentor, and provide field experiences for the next generation of researchers and practitioners.

Indonesia expressed its commitment to prohibiting all corporal punishment of children, including in the home, by clearly accepting the recommendation to do so made during the Universal Periodic Review of Indonesia in 2017.

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