Govt accused of neglecting Mt. Merapi orphans

The Yogyakarta provincial administration lacks comprehensive data on the number of children orphaned as a result of the Mount Merapi eruptions, according to an NGO on children’s protection.

The eruptions that killed more than 300 people occurred almost a year ago but the local agency for social services said that they had no data on be reaved children.

“We don’t have detailed data on the number of children orphaned by the eruption,” Yogyakarta Social Services Office’s Child Protection division head Eko Darmanto told The Jakarta Post at his office on Friday.

According to Eko, his office lacked overall data on the number of children impacted by the volcanic eruptions. “Around 700 children should receive assistance based on social criteria,” he said.

Of that figure, 480 children each receive cash assistance of between Rp 1.8 million (about US$200) and Rp 3.5 million annually.

“We also don’t have complete data as to whom the children are living with. We have not achieved that,” Eko added.

Director of the Yogyakarta chapter Indonesian Child Freedom Secretariat (SAMIN), Odi Salahuddin, whose group is concerned with children’s rights, said having no data on the issue meant that the state failed to protect the children of disaster victims.

“If the government lacks the data, it also lacks programs to protect children,” he said, adding that it was ironic given the fact that Indonesia was a country that had endorsed the Child Rights Convention.

The government has also issued Law No. 23/2002 on child protection.

Article 59 of the Child Protection Law stipulates that the government and other relevant institutions are obliged to provide and be responsible for special protection of children in an emergency situation.

Article 60 of the law stipulates that children of disaster victims are children in an emergency situation, while Article 62 specifies that one of the protections the state must provide is security assurance.

According to Odi, one potential risk for children who have lost their parents was vulnerability to child trafficking.

“In a critical situation children who lack care are easy targets of temptation. They could be easily lured and trapped into child trafficking,” said Odi.

He added that the state should have sought institutions or foster families for the orphans. The state should also provide periodic supervision of the orphans to prevent child trafficking.

“If the government fails to do that, it has violated the child protection law, and that is the same as violating children’s rights,” he said.

Based on data at the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), the eruption which began on October 2010 killed 242 residents living on the slope of the 2,980-meter tall volcano. Most of them died of burns from pyroclastic flows.