Civil groups say the government should renew the moratorium on oil palm plantations following the recent Constitutional Court ruling against the controversial Job Creation Law, which the government had sought to use in resolving issues arising from the expired moratorium. Palm oil reform was left in limbo after the moratorium lapsed on Sept. 19, exactly three years after its inception through Presidential Instruction (Inpres) No. 8/2018. The moratorium was aimed at improving palm oil governance and responding to concerns about deforestation caused by oil palm plantations near or inside forest areas, and labor exploitation. The moratorium required government agencies to stop granting new licenses for palm oil concessions and to review existing ones every three years. The government had yet to extend it despite calls for such an extension from environmentalists. Officials said in September that the moratorium was no longer relevant as the jobs law, enacted in late 2020, and its implementing regulations set new mechanisms more or less similar to the moratorium. Read more at: https://www.thejakartapost.com/paper/2021/12/08/jobs-law-ruling-sparks-calls-for-new-oil-palm-moratorium.html.
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.”