Street Children Remain Neglected

Children living on the streets remain prone to becoming victims of physical and sexual violence.

KOMPAS/RIZA FATHONI

Two underage girls loiter on Tuesday (19/11/2019) on a sidewalk near an intersection in the Gelora area, Central Jakarta. The victims of adult exploitation, many children in the capital are forced to work late into the night, begging on the streets. A comprehensive solution is needed from all stakeholders to tackle this violation of children’s rights.

JAKARTA, KOMPAS – Indonesia has yet to take children off the streets. As of 2018, based on data from the Social Affairs Ministry, 12,000 Indonesian children are still on the streets. The ministry’s 2017 data listed five provinces with the largest number of street children, which were West Java, Jakarta, East Java, Central Java and North Sumatra.

Street children, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef), are children who leave their homes/families and live alone on the streets, children who spend most of their time working on the streets and children who along with their families live on the streets. In Indonesia, as shown by the ministry’s data, street children are mostly found in major cities.

As observed by Kompas on Saturday (23/11/20190), in Bandung, West Java, street children could be found, among others, on Jl. Soekarno-Hatta, Jl. Djunjunan, Jl. Ahmad Yani and Jl. Garuda. Among them was NH, 9, a resident of East Bandung. Returning home from school, NH helped his parents sell stuff on Jl. Djunjunan and its vicinity. The third grader had been helping his parents on the streets for two years and for more than six hours daily. NH was vending tissues and vitamins. His mother was selling tissues and chips.

“My mother tells me to help her sell goods. I’m not allowed to play,” said NH last weekend.

In Medan, North Sumatra, street children generally roam Jl. Gagak Hitam/Ring Road, the Letjen Djamin Ginting overpass and Pinang Baris Terminal.

My mother tells me to help her sell goods. I’m not allowed to play.

Dayat, 15, and his friends, for instance, clean minivans with brooms and diesel oil at Pinang Baris Terminal. As soon as minivans enter the terminal, he hurriedly cleans them. “I can earn Rp3,000 every time I clean one minivan,” he said.

Dayat admitted that working for as much as Rp 30,000 daily caused him to miss school. He spends the money on food and gives some of his earnings to his parents. He goes home at around 7 p.m.

In the Senen area, Central Jakarta, teachers offer free lessons to disadvantaged children through Sekolah Bingkai Jalanan (Roadside School). Some of the students had become victims of physical violence and repeated acts of harassment and rape.

KOMPAS/AGUIDO ADRI

Young ngamen (buskers) play to motorists on Wednesday (20/11/2019) at an intersection in Depok, West Java.

Poverty and family issues

Data from the Bandung Social Affairs and Poverty Relief Office record more than 90,000 people with social welfare problems in the city, 117 of whom were street children. The actual number is estimated to be greater because there are those from Bandung regency and West Bandung.

Head of the Bandung Social Affairs and Poverty Relief Office, Tono Rusdiantono, said his office had a shelter with a capacity of 130 people to temporarily accommodate street children. However, the house is still unable to solve its problem. Some of the children have gone back to the streets.

“In Medan, [some of the] children go to the streets because of economic problems. Their parents mostly living on the streets, so their children have been exposed to street life from an early age,” said the coordinator of the Children’s Creativity Studio at the Center for Child Protection Studies in Medan, Camelia Nasution.

Disharmony between parents causes children to choose street life. This was experienced by WW, 15, who has for the last three months been busking on Jl. Soekarno-Hatta, Bandung. WW hasn’t returned home in a month. He has been staying with a friend in Batununggal.

Their parents mostly living on the streets, so their children have been exposed to street life from an early age.

“My parents are always quarreling. I don’t feel comfortable at home. I happen to have a guitar. So I use it to sing on the streets,” he said.

Head of the Children’s Rights Division at the Medan Office of Women’s Empowerment, Child Protection and Public Empowerment, Syaiful Chalid, said his office had formed a children’s forum at the subdistrict level to monitor issues faced by children in Medan.

In Jakarta, the Social Affairs Office has so far recorded less than 18 children in two social institutions owned by the office and shelters. The two are Putra Utama Foster Children Social Institution (PSAA-PU) 2 in Plumpang, North Jakarta, and PSAA-PU 4 in Cengkareng, West Jakarta.

The two social institutions and shelters in 2016 handled 1,212 children. In 2017, the total number of cared for rose to 2,022. Later the number increased to 2,453 in 2018 and further to 2,688 in 2019.

KOMPAS/TOTOK WIJAYANTO

A street teen in silver body makeup earns money as a living statue on Friday (22/11/2019) at Tebet railway station in East Jakarta.

Head of the Jakarta Social Affairs Office’s Social Rehabilitation Division, Yayat Duhayat, said the rising number of children was due to the growing number of shelters and the intensified combing of areas with street children. The total number of street children recorded doesn’t yet include those hiding from social affairs officers.

In an effort to search for street children, the Jakarta Social Affairs Office has formed a team of public security officers. Members of the team are dispersed over 279 vulnerable spots in Jakarta. Each spot has three to four officers who take turns in performing their duty between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m.

Apart from family issues, Yayat added, the flow of migration and the phenomenon of urbanization centered in Jakarta had also caused the number of street children to soar. Not all the residents moving in have sufficient capital, especially skills. They eventually become jobless and their children are neglected. Yayat indicated that almost 60 percent of street children in Jakarta came from other regions such as Central Java and West Java.

Regional spearheads

Since 2017, the Social Affairs Ministry has launched the Indonesian Social Movement for Freedom from Street Children. The ministry keeps encouraging all regencies/cities to undertake massive social movements by issuing regulations and allocating budgets for handling street children. To date, 13 regencies/cities have announced their regulations on street children.

“Now the approach to social rehabilitation is based on rights. We appeal that regencies/cities refrain from capturing street children, except those who really cause disturbance and are criminals. If they’re on the streets, the persuasive approach should be applied,” said Director-General of Social Rehabilitation, Social Affairs Ministry, Edi Suharto.

According to Edi, regional governments are the key to the realization of Indonesia’s freedom from street children. Based on Law No.23/2014 on Regional Administrations, the handling of neglected children and street children constitutes the fundamental service to be provided by regional administrations. The central government, besides embarking on the social movement, also carries out social rehabilitation of an advanced level for street children.

(TAM/NSA/SYA/JOG/GIO/BOW/SON