Posted by AsiaViews | Dec 21, 2017 |
Cambodia stands to lose nearly US$700 million per year if the European Union suspends its preferential trade treatment in response to the government’s crackdown on the country’s main opposition party, according to a document...
Read MorePosted by AsiaViews | Dec 21, 2017 |
A Singapore civil servant was Wednesday fined but escaped jail for leaking confidential information to a journalist, a prosecution that a rights group described as an attempt to spread a “culture of fear”. Previously on Monday,...
Read MorePosted by AsiaViews | Dec 21, 2017 |
Bitcoin prices plunged about 15 percent in Asian trade Wednesday before recouping some of the losses as investors apparently took fright at news that South Korean exchange Youbit had been hacked. According to multiple South...
Read MorePosted by AsiaViews | Dec 21, 2017 |
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has declared a 10-day unilateral ceasefire with communist rebels to allow Filipinos to celebrate a “stress-free” Christmas season, two weeks after peace talks with the insurgents...
Read MorePosted by AsiaViews | Dec 20, 2017 |
By Prashant Waikar and Rashaad Ali Synopsis The recent controversy surrounding a hotel policy banning the tudung (headscarf) for Malaysia’s frontline hotel staff has elicited responses across the political divide. The statements...
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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.”
