As the Omicron-fueled surge of infections begins to wane in Indonesia, the government has announced a plan to create an outline to help the country’s transition to endemicity and return to normal life after two years of battling the COVID-19 pandemic. Health Ministry spokesperson Siti Nadia Tarmizi said authorities were working together with independent epidemiologists and other experts to develop the so-called “road map to endemicity”. “Although COVID-19 infections in the country are not yet completely under control, sooner or later it will eventually shift to an endemic phase. We’ll create this road map so that we can be well prepared to live with the coronavirus,” Nadia told The Jakarta Post on Monday. Nadia said the road map would consist of three main stages: the deceleration phase, during which cases gradually declined for a long period of time; the pre-pandemic phase for when infections were brought under control; and finally the endemic phase. She said the government was currently setting epidemiological parameters for each phase, including the benchmark for testing positivity rates, virus reproduction rates (Rt), hospitalizations and deaths. These indicators will be important as groundwork to further ease restrictions. Read more at:
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.”
