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Sexual abuse of children on the rise
Jakarta Post - March 19, 2015
The co-founder of Rifka Annisa Women's Crisis Center (WCC), Sri Kusyuniati, revealed in a recent discussion that cases of sexual violence against children kept increasing.
According to the National Commission for Child Protection (Komnas PA), the number of reported abuse cases nationwide had increased 15 percent from 2,636 in 2012 to 3,039 in 2014.
About 70 percent of the cases were reported in Greater Jakarta. "Fifty percent of the cases involved sexual violence," she said.
Sri said the increasing number of cases of sexual violence against children showed that the country lacked an effective way to fight it.
She also said that the most worrying phenomenon was that both victims and perpetrators were getting younger. "Variation in the violence is also increasing," she said.
Before, abuse rarely went as far as sexual penetration, but it is now more frequent, she explained. Sri criticized law enforcers for not showing commitment to creating a deterrent effect for perpetrators.
She said that it was therefore important to give sex education to children from an early age. "Our government thinks that sex education will prompt children do inappropriate things. That's why it is so difficult to urge it to include sex education in the national curriculum," she said.
Forensic psychologist Kasandra Putranto said sexual abuse cases, especially against boys, had begun to be reported in the 1990s. "Psychologists screamed and tried to make everyone pay attention to the issue. However, no significant effort has been made," she said.
Kasandra said the number of cases increased significantly in 2011, with the number becoming more worrying over the years.
She said victims of sexual abuse were likely to become perpetrators themselves when they grew up. "However, it can be avoided if the victims are properly treated," she said.
Kasandra said that both female and male children were prone to sexual violence. "Ninety percent of perpetrators are known by the victims," she said.
She elaborated that 30 percent were family members, 60 percent were family acquaintances like neighbors, teachers, spiritual leaders and sport trainers, and the remaining 10 percent were strangers.
Kasandra said victims of sexual violence who were left psychologically untreated would have many mental problems.
"They are usually diagnosed with post-traumatic disorder, anxiety, eating disorders and low self-esteem and can have self-cutting or suicidal tendencies.
She said many children were neglected by adults these days. "They are not fed with good psychological nutrients," she said.
Kasandra gave an example of the dearth of new children's songs in Indonesia. "Children now sing adult songs, the lyrics of which are inappropriate for their age, such as 'Cinta Satu Malam' [One Night Stand]," she said.
The psychologist said that parents in urban areas did not make enough time for their children.
Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/03/19/sexual-abuse-children-rise.html.
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