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Michelle.I.Winata

Mr. Jon

GP 9

1 April 2019

Child Abuse in Afghanistan and Indonesia

“History will judge us by the difference we make in the everyday lives of children”.

(Nelson Mandela) “A study done by Save the Children Afghanistan has found that as many as

ninety-one percent of all children in Afghanistan are subjected to abuse of some sort” (Ashrafi,

Nabeela). Not only does this happen in Afghanistan, but this also happens in many other

countries, such as Indonesia. Child abuse has been going around for quite a long time, so what

are the main factors of this and what has Child Protection in both countries try to do to prevent

and stop this?

Child abuse is a term meaning any intentional harm or mistreatment of a child below the

age of 18 years old. It can take in many forms, for example: physically, emotionally, sexually,

medically, and neglect. Around the world, neglect is the most common form of child abuse, with

taking up about 80% of all child abuse cases around the world (Gonzalez and McCall) This

started a long time ago, probably since the 16th or 17th century (www.family.findlaw.com), but

has continued to increase up until now.

Half of Afghanistan’s population, which is 35 million, is under the age of 18 and each

one of them are exposed to some sort of abuse. (UNICEF Afghanistan) Every year, hundreds of

cases of child abuse are being reported to the polices in Afghanistan. (Zulmai Ashna) Though
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very many cases are reported, very few criminal investigations are opened. One way children in

Afghanistan are most often being abuse is sexually. In Afghanistan, young boys are taken by the

rich and powerful people to dance and perform (Bacha Bazi) at private parties, in which later on,

they are being sexually abused. Bacha Bazi is the biggest cause of sexual abuse on children.

(Waseem Rahel S.Psi) “They are exposed to extreme situations of violence and abuse due to

ongoing fighting, displacement, a poor economy, and harmful social norms and practices.”

(UNICEF Afghanistan) If counted in total, about four hundred cases of sexual abuse and assault

are being reported to the police each year, but the local police units failed to pass on these

reports, and because of this, only around fifteen cases are registered each year. This is because

the local polices thought tribal meditation could help solve these issues, when truly, it could not.

Children in Afghanistan are at risk of child abuse because of the outside environment they are in.

These innocent children go outside to work, plainly just to help their family, and this is usually

where abuse steps in. Other than that, it could be just the people in their daily environment being

abusive and violent. Child abuse is hard to stop in Afghanistan due to the very light punishment

given. A bakeshop owner once sexually abused a young boy when he was on his way to meet his

relatives and he was given only 4 months of punishment in jail. In Afghanistan, anyone who

commits child abuse are given a very short punishment, which is mostly less than a year. In my

opinion, the amount of punishment is not enough. The amount of punishment is not enough

considering the psychological and emotional effects children have from child abuse. Compared

to other countries like the United States, which is at least two years up to a lifetime

(www.criminal.findlaw.com) or like Israel, which depends on the severity, has a minimum

punishment of one year (Shoham, Shlomo)

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In Afghanistan, an Afghan Connection Child Protection Policy was made to try to

prevent and stop child abuse. There are a few steps in doing this. First of all they raise

awareness, this is by ensuring people know the risks and dangers of child abuse, especially the

Afghan Connection staff. An online safeguarding course was also made by Sir Richard Stagg, an

Afghan Connection staff. The second step is prevention, which is through awareness and good

practice. They will do this by taking the Afghan Connection staff and visitors to travel around to

minimize the risks of child abuse on children. When travelling around Afghanistan, they will be

taking this policy and sharing it with anyone so that they will understand and child abuse even be

prevented. The third part is reporting, where in this step the staffs are trained more so that they

are clear on what to do when a report of abuse arise. The last one is responding and in this case,

the staffs of Afghan Connection will take all possible abuse reports seriously, work correctly

with their partners to take care of these cases correctly, and act appropriately also effectively in

co-operating with any subsequent process of investigation. Personally, I think that the Afghan

Connection Child Protection Policy is effective because it doesn’t only raise awareness and warn

parents of children, but also the staff of Afghan Connection itself. Within this policy, it is stated

that staff members of the Afghan Connection itself are also not allowed to be abusive or violent

towards children. In addition to that, they are also not allowed to create any sexual or physical

relationships with the children they are working with, and many more.

(www.afghanconnection.org).

In Indonesia, about twenty-six percent of children face some sort of child abuse at their

homes. (UNICEF) There was a case of child abuse that happened recently in Indonesia. An

eight-year old kid named Engeline had her head bashed to the ground until death by her

stepmother. The stepmother, Margriet was eventually put to jail for the rest of her life
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(www.tribunnews.com) Things like this don’t only happen to Engeline, but also to very many

other children in Indonesia. Many child abuse cases that happen in Indonesia are within the

scope their family, to be specific, their parents. “More and more Indonesian children suffer at

the hands of their own parents,” said Seto Mulyadi, Chairman of the National Commission for

Child Protection. (www.ipsnews.net) In fact, more than sixty percent of parents, especially

mothers, commits act of abuse and violence towards their children. The main and most important

cause is that parents in Indonesia are influenced by Asian culture or way of parenting. They

(children) are taught to “listen to obey” since the family system revolves around a patriarchal

(men rule) and hierarchical structure where the authority goes to the elders. The statistics of child

abuse and quotes from authorities are included, which makes this source trustable and reliable.

Not only that, this source includes a solution to prevent child abuse. Surveys are also presented,

which makes this source reliable. (www.psychologytoday.com) Parents then do everything they

can to make their children listen and obey to them, including using a style of parenting that is

disempowering, or making one less powerful. That is not the only thing that the Asian culture

influenced on these parents minds. Asian cultures also believe and think that children are

properties of their parents and so they could be treated however they want. (Arjoso, Sumarjati)

This source took his personal experience, which was seeing parents being abusive to children

and wrote on how children should be treated and disciplined. By doing this, the author doesn’t

only criticize, but also gives a solution and suggestions on how things should be.

One way the Indonesian Child Protection has tried to solve child abuse was by launching

a post office box the public can use to report child abuse. Since lots of people who lives in the

villages don’t have access to telephone lines or the internet, and it will be expensive for them to

pay a long-distance call, so a free post office box was created. “With the post office box, people
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who are adult or just children can make a comprehensive report of child abuse cases without

paying any fees” (www.ipsnew.net) A campaign was also made by child protection to invite

parents, especially mothers and educate them on how to properly and correctly teach, treat and

discipline their children. Child abuse can cause children to be more aggressive and also have

very low self-esteem, so Indonesia’s Child Protection wanted to make sure these things don’t

happen. If child abuse is not put to a stop, it will continue on to the next generation. “Violence

undermines the ability of the children to become good parents in the future. In most cases, those

who commit violence against children were also physically abused when they were young,” said

Psychologist Sartono Mukadis.

In conclusion, child abuse is not an easy case to solve, and it needs everyone to work

together to put an end to this. When abuse is performed unto a child, it can cause physical and

emotional damage which can affect their future when they also become parents themselves.

“Child abuse is one of those issues that’s very difficult to talk about because it’s surrounded by

guilt, shame and so on, but us avoiding that issue doesn’t help those kids in need out there who
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Works Cited

“Afghan Connection Child Protection Policy.” Afghanconnection.org, Afghan Connection, July

2018,afghanconnection.org/sites/default/files/public/Afghan%20Connection%20Child%20
Protection%20Policy_1.pdf.

Ashrafi, Nabeela. “Study Finds 91% Of Afghan Children Abused In Some Way.” TOLOnews, 29
Aug. 2017, www.tolonews.com/afghanistan/study-finds-91-afghan-children-abused-some-
way.

Bauer, Mary. “What Causes Parents to Abuse Their Child?” LIVESTRONG.COM, Leaf Group,
www.livestrong.com/article/142315-what-causes-parents-abuse-their-child/.

“Child Abuse Statistics.” Childhelp, Childhelp, www.childhelp.org/child-abuse-statistics/.

“Child Maltreatment.” Child Trends, Child Trends, 25 Oct. 2018,

www.childtrends.org/indicators/child-maltreatment.

Humanium. “Children of Afghanistan.” Humanium, www.humanium.org/en/afghanistan/.

Louie, Sam. “Asian Parenting.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, 5 Apr. 2015,
www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/minority-report/201504/asian-parenting.

Shoham, Shlomo. “Sentencing Policy of Criminal Courts in Israel.”

Https://Scholarlycommon.law.northwestern.edu, Northwestern University School of Law
Scholarly Commons,
scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.
com/&httpsredir=1&article=4857&context=jclc.

UNICEF. “Child Protection.” UNICEF Afghanistan, www.unicef.org/afghanistan/child-

protection.

UNICEF. “Indonesia.” UNICEF Indonesia - Child Protection - Challenges,

www.unicef.org/indonesia/protection.html.
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need support.” Chris Hemsworth