“Violence against children is a global phenomenon. It happens in all countries and in all groups of society, including in Indonesia. It’s often hidden in plain sight, and in many cases socially condoned,” Santos Pais said on Friday.

She added, "But let’s be clear. Violence against children is never justified and all violence against children can be effectively prevented. With strong political will, wide mobilization and steady action, it can be brought to an end.”

Welcoming Indonesia’s National Medium Term Development Plan which is scheduled to run until 2019, Santos Pais urged the Government to put in place strong mechanisms to ensure effective implementation of goals and clear accountability and monitoring methods, and to allocate an adequate budget across all sectors to prevent violence against children.

She also expressed her hopes that Indonesia would be a champion for elimination of violence against children to be at the heart of the new sustainable development goals (SDGs). The draft SDGs include a number of targets aimed at eliminating violence against girls and boys including harmful practices such as child marriage and female genital mutilation.

“I would like to invite Indonesia to take on a leading role and be a ‘lighthouse’ in the region when it comes to shaping policies and the overall agenda to end violence against children,” she said.

In order to achieve this,Santos Pais recommended the finalization of a national strategy and action plan on violence against children, highlighting that 90 countries across the globe already have such dedicated strategies and national action plans in place. Key to its success would be to involve young people in the development and implementation.

She further welcomed that Indonesia already outlawed various forms of violence against children including violence in institutions, in the community and in schools. However, legislation currently does not explicitly prohibit all forms of violence, including corporal punishment within the home, she said, urging the Government to join the group of 45 countries whose legislation includes a complete prohibition of violence against children in all forms.

Santos Pais stressed the need to initiate a broad public debate about the negative impact of violence against children.

“In Sweden, for instance, which was the first country to outlaw violence against children in 1979, the new legislation was accompanied by intensive discussion across the country to raise awareness and facilitate the understanding of families and communities how violent behaviour towards children can be prevented. Further to this, families need support to learn how to adopt positive parenting practices that don’t use violence to discipline children,” she said.

During her mission to Indonesia, which started on Monday, Santos Pais exchanged views with Parliamentarian Ledia Hanifa, had meetings with Minister of Social Affairs Khofifah Indar Parawansa, Minister of Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection Johana Susana Yembise and Minister of National Development Planning Andrinof Chaniago.

No nationwide data on the extent of violence against children is available in Indonesia. Existing evidence however indicates that violence is a hidden reality in the lives of many of the more than 80 million children in Indonesia.

Photo: UN Photo/Amanda Voisard