Relieving the living condition of street children can begin by giving them their basic rights, which are the right to family life, to personal growth and development, to protection and to participation.
Relieving the living condition of street children can begin by giving them their basic rights, which are the right to family life, to personal growth and development, to protection and to participation. Synergy between government and private institutions is needed.
JAKARTA, KOMPAS – The existence of street children is a result of dysfunctional families and their inability to fulfill their children’s basic rights. At the same time, the government has not yet thoroughly assumed its responsibilities as stipulated in the Constitution.
The basic rights of the child, which is an international standard and which Indonesia has adopted, are the right to family life, to growth and development, to protection and to participation. The right to family life includes the right to parental care, a name (birth certificate) and a residence. The right to growth and development covers access to education, safety in rest, nourishment, learning and play.
The right to protection primarily safeguards them against domestic violence, sexual and other physical exploitation, crime and working as an adult. The right to participation allows freedom of expression in families as well as determining their education based on their interests and talents.
The number of children living on the streets continues to decline, according to data at the Social Affairs Ministry: 12,000 children lived on the streets in 2018, while 33,400 children lived on the streets in 2015.
However, as Kompas observed through Monday (25/11/2019), street children are almost deprived of their basic rights. GP, 14, for instance, who busks on the streets of Sabang, Central Jakarta, and occasionally in Depok, West Java, dropped out of school when he was 7 and has been surviving on the streets ever since.
There’s no synergy yet between government institutions and private businesses to realize this.
The second of three siblings, GP was born and raised in Jakarta. His father, who hailed from Purwakarta, West Java, worked as a parking officer in Sabang. His mother, a launderer in the Slipi area, Jakarta, came from Brebes, Central Java.
Ria, 20, has been a busker since she was a child in Depok, West Java. Every time she was caught in a raid by the municipal police, she was advised to quit the streets and find a job. “How can I find a job when I have no diplomas because I have no schooling?” she said.
Ria and her peers claim that they have received no aid from the regional administration. They have only received support from their community through Sekolah Masjid Terminal (Terminal Mosque School), or “Sekolah Master” for short.
Nurrohim, commonly called Rohim, the founder of Sekolah Master in Depok, said that each regional administration should pay attention to fulfiling the rights of street children. The children should receive training so they have some certainty about their futures and no longer roam the streets. “There’s no synergy yet between government institutions and private businesses to realize this,” said Rohim, who has been managing Sekolah Master for 19 years.
At Sekolah Master, Rohim is assisted by the Legal Aid Institute (LBH), and also provides counsel to help street children with legal matters, such as identity documents. The school has four divisions that manage health, education, legal advocacy and economic empowerment.
Government support
Depok Mayor Mohammad Idris said that the street children issue could not be managed properly if regional administrations and the Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection Ministry had poor synergy. This synergistic cooperation should be agreed under a legal umbrella that regulated the management, foster care, education, employment and rehabilitation of street children.
Idris continued that Depok was fortunate in the establishment of the Sekolah Master community. This was not enough, however. “It needs to synergize with companies,” he said.
Surabaya Mayor Tri Rismaharini said any street children who were detained in raids were returned to their parents. If they had poor communication with their families, the children will be fostered at the Lingkungan Pondok Sosial Kampung Anak Negeri (Social Kampung for the Nation’s Children), which was run by the social affairs office. This children’s home, which had been operating for the last nine years, was a form of government intervention when families were incapable of caring for their children. Here, the children are cared and provided with guidance until they become independent.
The program should be integrated.
Susanto, the chairman of the National Commission for Child Protection (Komnas PA), suggested that the issue of street children should be managed through an integrated program run jointly by the central government, regional administrations and private companies. This should be based on factual issues and should not be a generalized program.
“The program should be integrated. For example, if a child ends up on the streets because of their family’s finances, their family should be economically empowered alongside with care for the child,” he said.
The strategy for managing street children was critical, because the children living on the streets came from varying backgrounds. Some left home because of neglect, while others were lured by peer pressure or are victims of exploitation, and various other factors.