A report by a non-governmental organisation (NGO) involved in the fight against the illegal wildlife trade has found that online sellers of live birds in 44 Singapore-based Facebook groups from December 2018 to April 2019 were mostly unlicensed and therefore acting illegally. Traffic, the NGO that published a report titled Trading Faces: Live Bird Trade on Facebook in Singapore, found that although there is a thriving online bird trade here, it is unclear if the sources of the birds sold online are legal.
Besides highlighting unlicensed sellers, the report released on Thursday (Dec 2) also found evidence online that showed that the birds on sale were being smuggled or illegally poached locally. Ms Serene Chng and Mr Chiok Wen Xuan, the report’s authors, said that the legal sale of birds is now monitored at the trader level. This means that only registered pet shops, breeders and importers are checked closely for legal sales. They recommended that the Singapore authorities set up a compulsory wildlife pet registration system to make buyers more accountable and deter unlicensed sellers from operating online. Read more at: https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/birds-sold-mostly-illegal-online-trade-singapore-may-be-smuggled-poached-report
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.”
