Indonesia

Indonesia needs to improve its implementation of children's rights. Girls are subjected to female genital mutilation, there have been forced evictions of families who now have no adequate housing or access to sanitation. International standards regarding child labour are not respected and children with disabilities are discriminated against.

The Committee notes that female genital mutilation (FGM), including the practice of so-called female circumcision, is not explicitly prohibited. It is gravely concerned about the large number of girls who have been victims to female genital mutilation (FGM). Therefore, the Committee urges the State party to adopt legislation to fully prohibit FGM in all its forms and to provide physical and psychological recovery programmes for victims of FGM, as well as establish reporting and complaints mechanisms accessible to girls who have been victims, or fear becoming victims, of the practice.

The Committee urges the State party to amend its legislation to ensure that discrimination on the grounds of disability is expressly prohibited and ensure that all provisions resulting in de facto discrimination of persons with disabilities are repealed. Also, the Committee urges to conduct awareness-raising and educational campaigns aimed at eliminating all kinds of de facto discrimination, in particular attitudinal and environmental barriers, against children with disabilities, inform and sensitize the public about the rights and special needs of children with disabilities and ensure that children with disabilities are provided with adequate financial support and have full access to social and health services. Indonesia should further ensure that children with disabilities can fully exercise their right to education and take all necessary measures to provide for their inclusion in the mainstream school system as well as collect specific and disaggregated data on children with disabilities, so as to adapt policies and programmes to their needs.

To guarantee every child the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health, the Committee urges the State party to increase its health budget and expand access to primary health-care services across all provinces. It should ensure that those services are accessible and affordable for populations in both urban and rural areas, independent of their economic background. Indonesia should in particular ensure the provision of primary health-care services for all pregnant women, including access to antenatal care, safe delivery care, emergency obstetric care as well as postnatal care, as well as for children, focusing on interventions to reduce preventable and other diseases, particularly diarrhoea, acute respiratory infections and undernutrition, and promote good feeding practices for infants and young children. The Committee also urges the State party to strengthen and expand access to preventive health care and therapeutic services for all pregnant women and children, particularly infants and children under the age of 5, including universal immunization services, oral rehydration therapy and treatment for acute respiratory infections.

The Committee urges the State party to make every effort to ensure that children who work do so in accordance with international standards. In particular, it urges the State party to ensure that no child is exposed to any hazardous conditions or the worst forms of child labour, and that the involvement of children in labour is based on genuine free choice, in accordance with international regulations, subject to reasonable time limits and does not in any way hamper their education.
The Committee also urges Indonesia to amend legislation to criminalize forced labour and regulate the work of children between 16 and 18 years of age, vigorously pursue the enforcement of all minimum-age standards, appoint sufficient labour inspectors and provide them with all the necessary resources, including child labour expertise, to monitor the implementation of labour standards at all levels, in all parts of the country and in every kind of informal work. Indonesia should also amend legislation to ensure that domestic workers can benefit from all existing labour rights and receive special protection, including free legal aid, with regard to the particular conditions and dangers that they are subject to, such as sexual harassment, as well as ensure that thorough investigations and robust prosecutions of persons violating labour laws and that sufficiently effective and dissuasive sanctions are imposed in practice.

The Committee is concerned at the large number of children sentenced to jail even for petty crimes, and that they are often detained with adults in poor conditions. The Committee is also concerned at the lack of social reintegration measures for children in conflict with the law.
To improve the situation, the Committee recommends that the State party ensure that all professionals responsible for the implementation of the juvenile justice law receive the necessary training thereon and ensure allocation of all the appropriate human, technical and financial resources to allow effective implementation of the law.
Indonesia should also ensure that deprivation of liberty is used only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest amount of time, children are not detained with adults and detention conditions are compliant with international standards, including with regard to access to nutrition, clean water and sanitation, education and health services.

The Committee is concerned about incidences of forced evictions of families, including children, without offering adequate reparation or alternative housing. Furthermore, the Committee deeply regrets that under the State party’s legislation, forced evictions may be carried out even if they lead to homelessness.
The Committee urges the State party to take all necessary legal measures to ensure that forced evictions are carried out only as a measure of last resort, always subject to adequate alternatives and that under no circumstance may evictions lead to homelessness.