Posted by AsiaViews | Feb 1, 2018 |
Google has pulled one of the world’s largest gay dating apps from the Indonesian version of its online store in response to government demands, Jakarta said on Wednesday, January 31, amid a crackdown on the LGBT community....
Read MorePosted by AsiaViews | Feb 1, 2018 |
Thailand charged eight activists of a civil rights group with violating the military government’s ban on public gatherings, after it kicked off a cross-country march on January 20, in a rare display of public discontent. The...
Read MorePosted by AsiaViews | Feb 1, 2018 |
Malaysia on Wednesday rejected a proposal by Mr Aquilino Pimentel Jr, a member of a Filipino government committee to amend the Philippine Constitution to include Sabah as the “13th federal state” of the Philippines....
Read MorePosted by AsiaViews | Feb 1, 2018 |
Overuse and misuse of antibiotics in food is rife in Southeast Asia, a Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) official said on Wednesday, warning of serious risks for people and animals as bacterial infections become more...
Read MorePosted by AsiaViews | Jan 31, 2018 |
The local government of Indonesia’s Aceh province said on Tuesday it is ordering Muslim female flight attendants landing in the region to don a hijab upon arrival – or face punishment by religious police. Islamic law only...
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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.”
