Sexual violence is an issue which is not exclusively happen to adults, as children can also be the victims. Probably we can still remember the tragic incidence in Bengkulu, where Yuyun, a middle schooler, was killed by sexual offenders in 2016. Besides that, there was also an event where a toddler in Bogor died as the result of sexual violence perpetrated by her own neighbor.
According to a report by the Indonesian Commission on Child Protection (KPAI), the trend of sexual violence in Indonesia is gradually rising year by year. For instance, KPAI indicates that during 2013-2014, the rate of sexual violence against children rose as high as 100%. Another report by the Indonesian House of Representative (2016) says that from 2,898 reports of violence against children, 62 percent of them are sexual violence. However dreadful the report was, there is also a possibility that many sexual violence occurrences remain unreported.
Another thing that we have to understand, many of those violations were done by the victim’s own relatives. This indicates that it has been not enough for the parents to be protective toward their children. The kids are also expected to learn about the basic education to protect themselves against sexual violence.
For Project Child, sexual violence against children is another important issue which needs addressing as soon as possible. The proof of our commitment toward this issue is by integrating a basic sexual education for children in our program. One example is by conducting a class on human anatomy in one of our Sekolah Sungai (river school), just like in Code that has been successfully conducted on Wednesday (11/1). The class about human anatomy was aimed to give the children awareness regarding their own body functions. More importantly, by understanding their own anatomy, the children will be more able to protect their private parts against sexual harassments.
Ario B. Utomo – Media Intern at Project Child Indonesia
