Fighting Child Pornography

Crimes involving child pornography are becoming increasingly prevalent. Facts and incidents continue to pop up with a variety of patterns and methods.

The last case: The Jakarta Police arrested four suspected perpetrators of child pornography via Facebook\'s international network. Aside from displaying pornographic content, two of the suspects -- MBU, 25, alias Wawan alias Snorlax and DF, 17, alias T-day -- carried out sexual violence against a number of victims. Among the victims, several are family members of the two suspects.

In the current era of openness, pornography is a big issue. The opportunity to access information after 1998 appears to have not been wasted by the network of alleged pornography offenders. Their motives are quite diverse: business, sex crimes, economic exploitation, to the trade of children.

Even though Law No. 44/2008 on Pornography has long been issued, in reality pornography is growing rapidly. Pornographic content can easily be found in the form of pictures, sketches, illustrations, photos, texts, voices, sound, moving pictures, animation, cartoons, conversation and gestures. Also, messages through various communication media and/or shows that contain obscenities or exploitation of sex violate moral norms.

The rising number of child pornography cases is confirmed by data of the Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI) in 2016. Based on complaints and surveillance , the pornography and cyber cases were ranked third (464 cases) after the cases of children against the law (1,198) and the cases of violation of children\'s rights in the family and alternative care (809). In 2015 the pornography cases were ranked fourth after cases of violation by children within the environment of the education unit.

Pornography capitalism

At present, millions of people use internet every day. This opens opportunities for the users, including children, to access pornography. An estimated 60 percent of the world\'s 1 billion internet users open porn sites when connected to a network.

What is worrying is that the increasing interest in child pornography is related to the illicit business commodity, which is promising with turnover of billions of US dollars. This is confirmed by the observation of The Wall Street Journal, which revealed that websites containing pornographic content generated huge profits. A source said that the profit contribution from porn sites had reached US$18 billion per year.

The war on pornography is still facing severe challenges. The impact of the rapid flow of pornography is not  only on children as victims, but also adults. According to research by the University of Oklahoma, divorces due to the use of pornographic material by husbands nearly doubled, from 6 percent to 11 percent. This confirms how pornography constitutes a serious problem and has complicated impacts.

According to a study published by Journal of Sexual Medicine online, there are three types of pornography users.

First, users for recreational purposes. The users in this category are the largest, reaching 75 percent. The majority of them are women (married or dating) who watch porn films about 24 minutes in a week.

Second, compulsive users. They on average view porn materials  at home, in the office, or other convenient places at a duration of about 17 minutes per week. Third, depressed users. This group is estimated to reach 11.8 percent. Even though it is small than the two other groups, their habit of watching is much bigger. The group on average watches pornography materials 110 minutes per week.

Optimal prevention

It seems to be no exaggeration if pornography industry has become "free riders" on the reform agenda. The production of pornography continues to grow, both domestically and abroad. Of course this situation  should not be disregarded if we want a better future for the nation.

Policy responses

There are a number of efforts that can be carried out.

First, the assurance of a protection system.  Efforts to protect the country from the dangers of pornography on the internet are quite diverse. The government policy being enacted correlates with the choice of adoption of the government system of each country. Saudi Arabia and China, for example, create a server or restrict the content of information and pornographic contents through the internet service suppliers. In countries adhering to the democracy system, censorship on the internet has also been applied, not by the government but by those who want the internet to be managed as a healthy media.

Due to the rapid flow of pornography in Indonesia, efforts to ensure  protection, that pornography is not consumed by children and that children do not fall victims, are a necessity. Regulations have been in place, policies have been issued, even task forces have been formed as a form of the state\'s commitment.

The Communications and Information Ministry has carried out many efforts through various programs and strategies. However, current efforts are apparently not enough considering  the complexity of the pornography business, which is becoming increasingly worrying. Moreover, children have been targeted by pornography business networks.

Second, the criminalization of perpetrators and business networks. There should be no tolerance for pornography businesspeople, let alone those who use children as objects. Very dangerous.

Measures by the police to arrest a number of perpetrators constitutes as a positive signal for law enforcement. If the great business octopus, which continues to promote through internet sites, can be dismantled to its roots, this will serve as good news for the criminalization of the perpetrators of the pornography business (because the door to enter pornography frequently triggers sex crimes against children). The efforts to crack down up to its roots constitutes a big commitment from President Joko Widodo to combat the sexual crimes against children.

Third,  healthy internet literacy. Research supported by Unicef (2014) as a part of the Digital Citizenship Safety program reported that children aged 10 to 19 years were the largest population group of internet users. However, not all children of that age had adequate internet literacy. Children need to be taught to become critical of information found on the internet. Internet literacy is urgently needed.

A number of reported cases have shown that weak literacy has not only caused children to fall victim to porn but also contributed to perpetrators spreading pornographic content.

Fourth, familiarization of zero pornography. Children who access pornography are affected by many things, such peers, seniors, neighbors and even sometimes by parents. A few cases have shown that some children learn about pornography from their parents’ internet usage habits. This is the initial introduction of pornography to children. Therefore, as a true wise man once said, "Change your behavior before wanting your children be good people." Of course, nothing can be resolved instantly. It is just a matter of when to start and how long the consistency is upheld. Hopefully.

SUSANTO

Deputy Chairman of the Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI), Graduate of Doctoral Program of Jakarta State University