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AKARTA: The National Commission for Child Protection says people are now more aware of the need to report cases of child abuse, and that it received 2,800 such reports in 2010.

A child advocate from the commission, Seto Mulyadi, said an increased awareness about measures to report and tackle child abuse had led to an increase in the numbers of reports filed each year.

“People now have the courage to file reports, since [child abuse] is not strictly a matter to be addressed by the family, but also [can be addressed] by other members of society,” he said, adding that neighbors, neighborhood chiefs and police officers were also able to file the reports.

Seto added that with assistance from neighborhood chiefs, the commission would issue stern warnings to abusive parents.

“However, if they continue to commit [abuse] after the warnings, we will report them to police,” he said, as reported by tribunnews.com. — JP