(JP)

Women'€™s Empowerment and Child Protection Minister Yohana Yembise wants to ban the use of cellphones in elementary schools.

She said that she hoped to avoid the potential for the devices being used to spread pornography and for getting children addicted to technology, leading to a lack of serious communication with parents.

She made the comments during a UNICEF anti-child abuse campaign event at Plaza Senayan.

The lack of communication between parents and children, Yohana explained, can lead to child abuse as both the parents and the children can become isolated. Children not getting enough attention may also not be open about what happened to their parents.

"I got the chance to talk to a child abuser who said that nobody ever cared about him, not even his parents, so he dropped out junior high school and watched red movies with his friends, which in turn triggered his sexual harassment of children," Minister Yohana said during the UNICEF event in Jakarta.

Yohana'€™s team is currently doing research to determine the status of child abuse in Indonesia.

"If the situation gets called an emergency in this country, then a presidential decree could be made as soon as possible," she asserted.

In the past we did not talk much about child abuse until it was uncovered by media, she said, adding that slapping and hitting children was viewed as ordinary and permitted by some cultures in Indonesia.

Yohana also said that patterns of communication between parents and children should be renewed.

'€œDon'€™t let our children become robots; good marks are important, but start caring more, and taking more time to share,'€ she said.

Regarding child protection, UNICEF is asking participants and members of the public to support the protection of our children by signing a pledge at website pelindunganak.org. (dan)

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