UNICEF welcomes Governor’s commitment to end violence against children

By Kinanti Pinta Karana, UNICEF Indonesia Communication Specialist 

Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo (center, wearing black cap) says Indonesian children must grow up great because they will become the future leaders. © UNICEF Indonesia/2015/Julianingsih.

Children's laughter was heard all around the Central Java Regional Legislative Building (DPRD) in Semarang recently as hundreds of people gathered to celebrate Universal Children’s Day.

The guest of honor at the event, jointly organized by the local government, UNICEF Indonesia and other partners, was Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo.

Governor Pranowo showed enormous support for the welfare of Indonesian children by joining the Pelindung Anak campaign. “The children of Central Java must grow up great because they will become the future leaders of Indonesia,” he said after signing up online as a Pelindung Anak (Child Protector).

We Are Siblings: Young Innovators Changing Lives

By Vania Santoso – Innovation Lab Youth Engagement Officer

The We Are Siblings graduation ceremony. ©UNICEF Indonesia/2015.

“I was very close to giving up. I’m so happy I didn’t.”

This simple line recently brought me to tears. It was said by We Are Siblings member Cynthia Andriani as their pilot project ended in Bogor. She perfectly summed up the struggle and success these young innovators have experienced over the past few months.

We Are Siblings is an anti-bullying mentorship project created by students from Bogor Agricultural University (IPB). It won the Global Design for UNICEF Challenge earlier this year. The win meant We Are Siblings received a USD $2,500 grant from UNICEF to pilot their initiative.

The pilot saw a team of six mentors from the We Are Siblings team work with 29 children to find innovative ways of dealing with bullying. This was done both in-person and online. In-person sessions involved one mentor working directly with a group of children on anti-bullying modules. Online sessions complemented this, through daily contact via personal messaging apps.

Breaking the Cycle of Violence

By Nick Baker, Communication and Knowledge Management Officer 

Weapons made by 15-year-old Rama. ©UNICEF Indonesia/2015/Nick Baker

In a South Sulawesi community centre, 15-year-old Rama* lays out a collection of sharp metallic arrows. The softly-spoken teen explains how he once made and sold these arrows to fellow youth. They were used in the gang warfare which occasionally erupts in his neighbourhood. “Violence is everywhere here,” he says.

Rama has a story similar to many young people in Indonesia. He grew up surrounded with violence - violent parents, violent teachers, violent friends. By the time Rama entered his teens, violence had not only become acceptable, but almost a routine part of his daily life.

“I started to fight at school. I would fight in the streets,” he says. It proved to be a slippery slope. “One day my uncle gave me a badik knife (traditional Indonesian knife). Then I was fighting with knives and I got stabbed,” he says, lifting his shirt to reveal a number of scars.

Child Marriage Takes Centre Stage at 2015 AJI-UNICEF Media Awards

UNICEF Indonesia Representative Gunilla Olsson salutes journalists at the 2015 AJI-UNICEF Media Awards ©UNICEF Indonesia/2015/Nick Baker

By Nick Baker, Communication and Knowledge Management Officer

JAKARTA, Indonesia, 13 August 2015 – The high prevalence and negative consequences of child marriage in Indonesia came into sharp focus at the announcement of the 2015 Aliansi Jurnalis Independen (AJI) and UNICEF Media Awards in Jakarta.

The award ceremony has been held since 2006 to acknowledge and encourage excellence in reporting on child rights issues. For this year’s competition, a total of 318 journalists submitted stories, photos, TV and radio pieces.

Child marriage was selected as the focus of the 2015 event. This was particularly relevant after a recent Constitutional Court decision which upheld the current Indonesian marriage law – allowing girls to be married at 16 while boys can only marry at age 19. The case has begun to spur a national dialogue around child marriage.

UNICEF and Government of Indonesia launch Pelindung Anak anti-violence campaign

By Nick Baker, Communication and Knowledge Management Officer 

BOGOR, Indonesia, 11 August 2015 - UNICEF and the Government of Indonesia used National Children’s Day celebrations at Bogor Palace to launch an innovative new campaign aimed at ending violence against children.

The Pelindung Anak (Child Protector) campaign calls on every Indonesian – no matter their age, location or profession – to join national efforts in preventing child abuse.

The Minister of Women Empowerment and Child Protection, Yohana Yembise presented the Pelindung Anak television public service announcement to President Joko Widodo, members of his cabinet and hundreds of children from around the archipelago during the event.

A Message to Indonesia: Please Stop

By Lauren Rumble, Chief of Child Protection

Lauren Rumble (front) with representatives from Sudah Dong and UNICEF Indonesia. ©UNICEF Indonesia/2015/Nick Baker.

One of the best parts of my job at UNICEF Indonesia is working directly with the young people of this country. I am fortunate enough to regularly meet such dedicated, creative and inspirational youth – so many of whom are making a real difference in their communities.

I recently met with the team behind Sudah Dong (meaning Please Stop), a NGO run by young people for young people that focuses on different ways to address bullying. The organisation was founded by Katyana Wardhana in 2014 shortly after her own experience of bullying at school.

Sudah Dong aims to mobilise actions of non-violence and peer support which will put an end to bullying. In June, Sudah Dong released its first manual for children and adolescents entitled “End Bullying” which they hope will reach one million pupils across the country. Within two weeks of launching, 625 copies had already been downloaded (you can download your own copy here).

The release of this manual is timely: Indonesia has one of the highest rates of physical attacks against students in the world (40 percent). More than 50 percent of pupils have experienced bullying at school. School, a place of learning and safety, is for many pupils, where they are most unsafe.

Marta Santos Pais calls on Indonesia to become a champion to end violence against children

- By Devi Asmarani -

Marta Santos Pais (middle row, fifth from the right) together with representatives of several youth networks in Indonesia. 

Jakarta, 3 March 2015 - The Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General on Violence against Children, Marta Santos Pais has urged Indonesia to take on a leading role in the region in the fight to end violence against children.

During a weeklong visit to Jakarta from 23 to 28 February, Ms. Santos Pais observed that the country has already taken considerable steps to prevent and eliminate violence against children. However, a lot more needed to be done to make the efforts more effective, she said, after her meetings with Cabinet Ministers, Parliamentarians, representatives of the civil society, UNICEF and other UN agencies.

“My visit has given me a sense that Indonesia is ready for more. In my meetings with different members of a government I have felt a very strong willingness to address this issue.”

Applying Positive Discipline and Creating Connections

By Dwi Utari Tamanbali, Child Protection Officer, UNICEF Papua Field Office

Tagime Village, Papua Province, September 2014 - It was a rainy afternoon when I arrived in Tagime village, Jayawijaya District, to meet with Frater Yakub Yikwa.

As I stand outside of fences that surround his large yard, I can hear laughing and cheering despite the noise of the rain. Inside I meet more than 30  potential village facilitators from Klasis Gereja Kemah Injil Indonesia (GKII) Tagime, a Christian Church, who have come together to be trained on the Creating Connection Module which aims to build a safe and strong community.

UNICEF, Government of Indonesia call on media to help #ENDviolence against children

JAKARTA, 7 July 2014 – The Government of Indonesia and UNICEF have joined together to urge the media to help #ENDviolence against children by raising awareness of the risks to children and the impact they suffer, as well as showing children affected by violence how they can get help.

The call came as part of roundtable discussions between the Minister of Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection, Linda Gumelar, the Minister of Health, Nafsiah Mboi, UNICEF’s Representative, Angela Kearney, and the editors of several newspapers, radio and television stations in Jakarta on the coverage of violence against children.

Children in Makassar speak out on violence

by Lauren Rumble, Chief, Child Protection, UNICEF Indonesia

Michelin is 17 years old and is the President of the Child Forum in Makassar. I met her in May this year on my first visit to Makassar, along with other leaders of the Forum, and I asked them about their opinions on violence against children in the city.

She believes that violence against children, especially child trafficking and sexual violence against children living and working on the streets are major concerns for Makassar’s children.

“Not enough is being done about these issues,” she says.

Violence against children - it can happen to anyone

By Ali Aulia Ramly, UNICEF Child Protection Specialist

Last week in front of more than 100 academics, civil servants, politicians and experts from around the world, one woman - a high-level, experienced professional herself - ended her presentation by telling the story of how she was sexually abused as a child.

I, and everyone else in the hotel conference room, including a delegation from the Government of Indonesia, was shocked to find out that one of our peers had experienced this and admitted it in front of colleagues.

We were all child protection experts attending a three-day Global Meeting on Violence against Children in Ezulwini, Swaziland. But we had not thought that one among our number could have been a victim of violence during childhood.

Violence against children in Indonesia – Make the Invisible Visible

- By Marc Lucet, Deputy Representative UNICEF Indonesia -

Last week I had the privilege of representing UNICEF at a press conference given by the Minister of Social Affairs, Salim Segaf al Jufri, on the issue of violence against children in Indonesia. The press conference was also attended by the National Development Planning Ministry, the Indonesian Child Protection Commission and the National Commission of Child Protection. Given the many reports about child abuse in Indonesia in recent weeks, many journalists, both from national and international media attended.

Minister Segaf al Jufri called for a national movement to defeat violence against children. As a global organization, UNICEF is at the forefront of international efforts to prevent children from suffering violence and abuse, and so we welcome this initiative very much. It is exactly what needs to be done.

Ending Violence in School - Positive Discipline training in Papua

By Devi Asmarani

A teacher supporting a student with learning in a classroom in Jayapura, Indonesia. A year after starting the Positive Discipline programme, the atmosphere in the classroom has changed completely. Students are not afraid of their teachers anymore. ©UNICEF Indonesia/2013/Esteve.

Fifth-grade teacher Darius Naki Sogho has been a teacher for 24 years, and for most of those years, he taught with an iron fist—and a rattan rod.

“I used to hit my students when I thought they were being bad, or when they weren’t paying attention,” he says.

Over the last year, however, Mr. Naki Sogho has been learning to contain his anger in class and to teach in a way that neither hurts nor intimidates his students.

He did this by applying the Positive Discipline approach, a method that he and a select group of teachers in the Indonesia province of Papua have been trained to adopt as part of a joint programme managed by UNICEF and the local government that aims to put an end to corporal punishment and other forms of violent behaviour in the classroom.

Indonesia launches #ENDviolence against children

By Michael Klaus

Edi Suharto (left), Director of Child Social Welfare at the Ministry of Social Affairs calling the national child helpline TeSA 129 to learn about the kind of issues that are usually reported by children, with the Deputy Minister for Child Protection, Waju Hartomo, UNICEF Indonesia National Ambassador Ferry Salim and UNICEF Deputy Representative Marc Lucet listening. ©UNICEF Indonesia/2013/Dionisio.

JAKARTA, 20 November 2013 – On World Children’s Day, Indonesia joined the global initiative #ENDviolence against Children.

“Let’s be clear: The launch of the campaign today is only the beginning of a long process. We have been able to form a strong alliance to raise awareness about the impact of violence on children and to strengthen prevention and response systems. Over the coming months, we will work hard to get many more partners on board,” said UNICEF Indonesia Deputy Representative Marc Lucet during the event that was organized together with the Ministries of Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection, Social Affairs, and Communication and Information as well as the Commission on Child Protection.

So far, Indonesia – a nation of almost 240 million people with a third of them being younger than 18 years - has no national data on violence against children. The Government with support from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and UNICEF is undertaking a national survey on the prevalence of physical, emotional and sexual violence against boys and girls in 25 of the 33 provinces. Results and recommendations will be published next year.

Liam Neeson says help us make violence against children disappear

UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Liam Neeson raises his voice in support of a new UNICEF initiative to prevent violence against children. 

For more information on how you can help #ENDviolence against children, visit: http://www.unicef.org/endviolence/.