Posted by AsiaViews | Mar 24, 2020 |
MalayMail-Mar 23 The ECM Libra Foundation and hotelier Ormond Group will jointly provide free accommodation for Kuala Lumpur Hospital (HKL) healthcare staff at the frontlines of the battle against the Covid-19 pandemic. ECM...
Read MorePosted by AsiaViews | Mar 24, 2020 |
BangkokPost-Mar 24 Thailand now faces ending up like Italy with a soaring number of Covid-19 patients or becoming like Japan which has been able to contain the spread of the virus, an expert has warned. As Thailand recorded 122...
Read MorePosted by AsiaViews | Mar 24, 2020 |
Irrawaddy/Reuters-Mar 24 Myanmar reported its first confirmed cases of coronavirus in two men who had recently travelled to the United States and the United Kingdom. The Southeast Asian nation had been the most populous country...
Read MorePosted by AsiaViews | Mar 24, 2020 |
VietnamExpress-Mar 24 An unused duty-free shop in Tay Ninh Province on the Cambodian border has been turned into a quarantine for Vietnamese nationals returning from that country. Closed for five years, the Moc Bai duty-free...
Read MorePosted by AsiaViews | Mar 23, 2020 |
JakartaGlobe-March 20, 2020 As the coronavirus outbreak gains pace in Indonesia, so far affecting 17 out of 34 provinces, the number of infected persons could grow to between 600,000 and 700,000, a government spokesman said on...
Read More
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.”
