What is the Child Protection Policy?

(Written in July 2020)

In 2020, the Indonesian public was shocked by a case of rape committed by the very person who was supposed to protect children from violence and exploitation. A P2TP2A officer, tasked with protecting child survivors of rape in Lampung^[1], had been convicted of sexual assault. A similar case also occurred in East Kalimantan in 2017, where a child forum facilitator was proven to have committed sexual violence several times against the child he assisted.^[2]

Why are children vulnerable to violence?

Quite simply, because children are widely considered to be weak and powerless. As a result, it is easy for perpetrators to threaten and force victims to obey the wishes of perpetrators. In this context, a child is someone who is not yet 18 (eighteen) years old, including children who are still in the womb.

How can children become victims of violence from people who work in child protection institutions?

In Indonesia, child protection is mostly focused on the threats of physical, psychological, and sexual violence, along with economic neglect by strangers (strangers), neighbours, girlfriends, friends, and family in the community.

However, children who are victims of violence receive rehabilitation services from child protection agencies. Every day, they interact with the staff or workers who accompany them. At this stage, we often neglect to think that people who work to protect children can also be potential perpetrators of violence against children. This vulnerability is exacerbated by the fact that many child protection agencies do not yet have a child protection system or what is commonly known as the Child Protection Policy (CPP) for their workers.

What is the Child Protection Policy?

An internal child protection policy (code of ethics for child protection), comes in the form of communication from upstream to downstream to prevent abuse, neglect, exploitation, and physical, psychological, and sexual violence against children. This is stipulated in the Convention on the Rights of the Child (KHA) and national legal instruments in Indonesia in child protection agencies or institutions that directly interact with children.

How does the Child Protection Policy work?

The Child Protection Policy can be in the form of a Decree (SK) which regulates the code of conduct for every staff who will be and are working in an institution or institution that has direct interactions with children. This aims to bind with norms that guarantee the fulfilment and protection of children in their institutions or institutions, based on the Convention on the Rights of the Child and other legal rules governing child protection.

A practical example of the arrangement is as follows:

Institutional / Institutional Obligations

Staff recruitment

– Tracing the track records of prospective staff for acts of violence against children,

– Understanding the perspective of children’s rights, responsibilities and obligations for child protection, as well as the legal consequences of committing physical, psychological and sexual violence against children through training or orientation of new staff.

– Explain the Child Protection Policy that has been established by the institution to new staff

Implementation

– Implement a monitoring and evaluation system for the implementation of the Child Protection Policy.

– Implement strict sanctions on staff for violating the Child Protection Policy.

Where is the scope of the implementation of the Child Protection Policy?

The scope includes internal institutions, all subjects or staff who work in child protection agencies, or who have direct interactions with children. For example, in educational institutions (schools), the subjects that are bound by the Child Protection Policy include; school principals and other ranks of officials, teachers, scout coaches, paskibraka coaches, office boys, security, and all parties involved in teaching and learning activities at schools.

What institutions must have a Child Protection Policy?

Institutions that must have a Child Protection Policy are institutions or institutions that in their duties and work interact directly with children, for example:

An educational institution or school	PAUD, TK, SD, SMP, SMU, orphanages, Islamic boarding schools, dormitories, and others.
Children’s play area	RPTRA, Playground
Child protection Institution	P2TP2A, Posyandu, Children-focused NGOs, and others.
Children’s organization	Children’s Forum, Youth Organization, and others.

What is the legal basis for creating the Child Protection Policy?

UUD 1945 “Every child has the right to live, grow and develop and the right to protection of children from violence and discrimination”.
Convention on the Rights of the Child, which was ratified by Presidential Decree No. 36 of 1990
Law No. 23 of 2002 which was revised into Law No. 35 of 2014 concerning Child Protection.
The National Action Plan (RAN) in the field of child protection prepared by the Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection.
Regional Regulation (PERDA), Peratura

**Written by Umi Farida, child and women protection activist

Source:

^[1] https://www.bbc.com/indonesia/indonesia-53321918

^[2] https://news.okezone.com/read/2017/11/17/337/1815980/kpai-apresiasi-kerja-cepat-polisi-ringkus-predator-anak-di-kalimantan-timur