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Civil society groups demand focus on child prostitution
NGOs have called on the government and wider society alike to pay serious attention to child prostitution in Yogyakarta, home to many underage sex workers, including a number who offer their services via social media
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GOs have called on the government and wider society alike to pay serious attention to child prostitution in Yogyakarta, home to many underage sex workers, including a number who offer their services via social media.
The Yogyakarta Women's Sex Worker Association (P3SY) and the Indonesian Planned Parenthood Association's (PKBI) Yogyakarta provincial branch said they had found 10 underage girls working as commercial sex workers at a location used by prostitutes in Yogyakarta city in 2015.
'We will provide counseling to the girls who work as commercial sex workers and ask them why they are doing so,' P3SY chairperson Sarmi told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.
The discovery was, Sarmi said, an important point for both P3SY and the PKBI Yogyakarta in commemorating International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers, which the groups marked on Thursday at Giwangan subdistrict hall in the city.
Giwangan, which is located close to the city's bus terminal, is home to a known enclave of prostitution.
'We are committed to rescuing children from prostitution. We will cooperate with the local administration to seek solutions,' Sarmi said.
According to Sarmi, one child prostitute found operating in Yogyakarta's Bong Suwung red light district said that her own parents had forced her into sex slavery in order to pay off her father's debts.
Meanwhile, First Brig. Dian Ratna of the Yogyakarta Police's detective and crime unit said that her office had found six girls operating as commercial sex workers in the city this year.
'We returned one of them to her home village in Wonosobo regency [in Central Java],' Dian Ratna said.
Dian Ismarini of the PKBI Yogyakarta's Youth Community Organization said that there was concurrently a constituency of teenagers who indirectly worked as commercial sex workers in order to fund a consumerist lifestyle replete with desirable handbags and mobile phones.
Others, Dian Ismarini said, engaged in indirect commercial sex work for the sake of a glamorous lifestyle, associating with wealthy men and frequenting fashionable restaurants and entertainment spots.
'The root of the problem is poverty and peer lifestyle pressure,' said Dian Ismarini, who also works as a counselor for teenagers.
In May this year, the police arrested a suspect identified as Suryo Fitriawan, 23, for running an underage prostitution ring on the popular social media site Facebook.
During the investigation, the police discovered that the Facebook page was advertising prostitutes most of whom were minors.
The suspect was charged under Article 82 of Law No. 23/2002 on child protection. If he is found guilty, he faces a maximum prison sentence of 15 years.
The National Police have recorded 98 child sexual abuse cases in 18 provinces up to May this year. In 2013, the police investigated 1,635 child sexual abuse cases.
