Indonesia’s National Children’s Day 2008

(Picture taken from © Ben Heine)

Indonesian children have called on the government to immediately set up a special ministry tasked with improving child welfare. Some 330 children from the country’s 33 provinces gathered in Bogor, West Java to attend the 7th national congress on children’s welfare ahead of National Children’s Day on July 22.

The participating children, aged between 12 and 18, ranged from street children to top-grade students. At the gathering, they exchanged ideas on what they would recommend to the government, and identified with one another’s problems.

(Picture taken from © Henri Ismail)

Voice of Indonesian Children

Here’s the declared in the seventh National Children’s Congress, that we (children):

1. Will aspire to be creative, intelligent, qualified children and be protected from all acts of violence, exploitation, abandonment and discrimination.
2. Will need protection from the dangers of tobacco in order to grow and develop as naturally as possible.
3. Will increase our understanding and be conscientious toward healthy lifestyles and our reproductive health to avoid the dangers of infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS and the use of drugs.
4. Will unite children living in underprivileged, border and isolated regions with the help of proper infrastructure.
5. 5. Will voice our aspirations through the regional children forum that will subsequently be passed to the Indonesian National Children’s Congress as a platform to share information and education on civil democracy at the earliest stage in order to build solidarity among children and the territorial integrity of the Republic of Indonesia.
6. Will call for the need for a special ministry for children’s affairs to respond to children’s needs.

In commemorating of Indonesia’s National Children’s Day, which falls on July 23, the government cannot turn a blind eye to children’s problems if we want to lay the country’s future on the younger generation’s shoulders. It should take concrete measures to stop violence against children and give them opportunities to build their future. Need to create a protective environment from children against risks of violence, abuse and exploitation.

Life has virtually become a nightmare for children. Poverty has subjected poor families to numerous problems affecting children such as a high child mortality rate, malnutrition, child labor, gender bias and school dropouts. Many parents have encouraged and even forced their children to do work they were not supposed to be able to do. This type of activity must end… The state, the government, the institution must be giving awareness to its people as to what will be an appropriate and concrete solution to address the issue.

However, children is everyone’s concern!

(some articles taken from © Jakarta Post)

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