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Adolescent rights highlighted in 2013 World Population Day
The National Population and Family Planning Agency (BKKBN) chairman Fasli Jalal has said the commemoration of the 2013 World Population Day which falls on July 11 every year will be directed at adolescents
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he National Population and Family Planning Agency (BKKBN) chairman Fasli Jalal has said the commemoration of the 2013 World Population Day which falls on July 11 every year will be directed at adolescents.
'Indonesia is marking World Population Day and the theme selected is directed at adolescents, students and other parties who have concerns about the development of youth and adolescents,' said Fasli on Wednesday, as quoted by Antara news agency.
Fasli said the number of adolescents in the country was huge and they had precious potential for the nation if they were managed well. On the other hand, he said, such a huge number of adolescents could become a burden for the country if they were not developed well or left to grow up in a negative way.
The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) data on the 2010 population survey shows that the number of people aged between 10 and 24 years was around 64 million or 27.6 percent of the total Indonesian population.
With such a large number of young people in the country, Fasli said adolescents as the nation's next generation should be prepared well so they could become physically, mentally and spiritually healthy human beings.
He said that according to various items of research, it was a fact that adolescents had to cope with many problems during their transition period.
'Unhealthy sexuality, drug abuse and HIV/AIDS are the three most common problems that occur in adolescents,' said Fasli.
He said the BKKBN had developed a program called Generasi Berencana (GenRe) literally meaning 'A Generation with Plans', which was aimed at responding to adolescence-related problems. (fan/ebf)
