INDONESIA: Retno Discusses Aid, Support For Afghan Women’s Education

Posted by Asia Views | Jan 24, 2023 | 0 |

JakartaPost-Jan 23, 2023

Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi has discussed with various representatives in New York, the United States, support for women’s education in Afghanistan as well as Indonesia’s candidacy for membership in the United Nations Human Rights Council for the 2024-2026 period. One of the representatives met by the minister on Thursday was the United States Special Envoy for Afghan women, girls and human rights Rina Amiri. The two officials discussed the follow-ups to the International Conference on Afghan Women’s Education (ICAEW), according to the ministry’s press release. The conference was hosted by Indonesia in Bali in December, which produced political commitment and concrete support for the education and empowerment of Afghan women. Retno said that it was important to consider alternative educational methods for Afghan women, such as online education or women empowerment through informal education, while holding dialogues among religious leaders from Muslim countries and Afghanistan. The minister also met with the permanent representatives of nations at the UN that are influential in the issue of Afghanistan, such as Security Council permanent members like the US, the United Kingdom, Russia and China, Muslim countries such as Pakistan and Turkey, as well as donor countries such as Germany and Switzerland. In addition to discussion about humanitarian aids and support for women’s education in Afghanistan, Minister Retno also shared about Indonesia’s priority in its 2023 ASEAN chairmanship, including on the latest developments in Myanmar and the Asia-Pacific region. Retno also met with the deputy executive director of UNICEF to make sure that international society would still provide vital humanitarian aid for the people of Afghanistan. The Taliban in Afghanistan increasingly put restraints on women, stopping women and girls from attending school and university and most recently banning most female aid workers in the country. The UN deputy secretary-general Amina Mohammed met with Afghanistan acting foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi in Kabul on Wednesday to discuss women’s rights in Afghanistan. Read more at: https://www.thejakartapost.com/paper/2023/01/23/retno-discusses-aid-support-for-afghan-womens-education.html.

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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.”

INDONESIA: Retno Discusses Aid, Support For Afghan Women’s Education

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