Posted by Asia Views | Sep 23, 2020 |
Irrawaddy-Sept With the general election on Nov. 8, Myanmar will take one more step in its democratic transition, the ongoing process of reducing and ultimately ending the military’s role in politics. That broader aim explains...
Read MorePosted by Asia Views | Sep 23, 2020 |
BangkokPost-Sept 23 Three Thai cities have joined the Unesco Global Network of Learning Cities (GNLC), along with 52 other cities from 27 countries that will also become lifelong learning cities. Chachoengsao, Chiang Mai and...
Read MorePosted by Asia Views | Sep 23, 2020 |
NationThailand-Sept 22 In a Facebook post on Monday (September 21), Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha instructed Thai police to collaborate with Interpol to bring Vorayuth “Boss” Yoovidhya home to face punishment. On September...
Read MorePosted by Asia Views | Sep 22, 2020 |
JakartaPost-Sept 21, 2020 Women in Indonesia earn less money on average per month than men as the gender pay gap stood at nearly 23 percent in February, official data show, as female workers face undervalued work and inflexible...
Read MorePosted by Asia Views | Sep 22, 2020 |
MalayMail-Sept 21 A recent report by WWF-Malaysia has pinpointed the “bungkus” or “tapau” (takeaway) culture as one of the major contributors to plastic waste in the country. The “Study on EPR (Extended Producer Responsibility)...
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EXTRICATING NDONESIAN CHILDREN FROM ISIS INFLUENCE ABROAD
Indonesia urgently needs to revisit the possibility of repatriating the neediest of its young citizens stranded abroad, whose families had earlier joined ISIS. Most of these children are in camps in northern Syria but there are also small numbers in the Philippines, Afghanistan and Iraq. “Extricating Indonesian Children from ISIS Influence Abroad”, the latest report from the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC) argues that the government could begin by bringing back small groups of unaccompanied children under ten years of age, who pose minimal security risk and are most vulnerable to deteriorating conditions in the camps.“The problem is that health and security conditions are worsening by the day in the Syrian camps, and the children are growing older,” says Dyah Kartika, IPAC analyst. “They need access to schools, a nurturing environment, and medical attention. If the government waits too long, the children will be further exposed to ISIS ideology.” The new report examines a 2019 list of Indonesians in camps and prisons run by the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The Indonesian government has been trying to verify their citizenship, but with pseudonyms, misspellings and bad transliterations, it is a daunting task. At the time the data was collected, between March and June 2019, there were 555 Indonesians in SDF camps and prisons, including 367 children. Among the children, approximately 277 were under the age of ten and 34 were unaccompanied. In June 2021, there are fewer than ten children who are both unaccompanied and under the age of ten that could be prioritized for return. Bringing back children of ISIS families is no easy task. The report analyses the main challenges faced by the Indonesian government. These include definitional issues, bureaucratic competition, the difficulty of verifying nationality, evaluating the toll of exposure to conflict, assessing security risk, and finding relatives or others willing to provide care once the children are returned. In addition, COVID has meant stringent restrictions on travel, placing further obstacles in the way of repatriation. There are several models for rehabilitation of children exposed to violent extremism in Indonesia that could be modified to accommodate the needs of children repatriated from abroad. The report examines these models and argues that the government does not need to have every detail of rehabilitation programs in place before it starts extricating children from ISIS influence. It can start by bringing back the most vulnerable children and then modify programs as needed.
“It’s important that the government see these children as victims” says Dyah. “They deserve a chance to be children again.”
