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View all search resultsJakarta’s ‘invisible’ lives: Undocumented coastal children denied basic rights
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A boy jumped into the sea of Cilincing, Jakarta, on June 6, 2020. A number of children living around the area played in the embankment area even though the action could endanger safety. (ANTARA FOTO//Muhammad Adimaja)
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melting pot of mostly low-income households from diverse cultural backgrounds, the fishing village of Cilincing in North Jakarta is also home to dozens of undocumented children who lack access to basic rights.
Without birth certificates, the gateway for every Indonesian citizen to education, healthcare and other state services, these children are trapped in legal limbo. In many cases, the absence of such documents is linked to unregistered marriages, unclear family ties or bureaucratic hurdles.
But being undocumented children in the fishing village, which sits on the estuary of the polluted Cakung River, comes with added stigma as the area has long been associated with prostitution.
“There have been many abandoned children here, some of them are children of prostitutes,” food vendor Dede Ayuhanas told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.
Dede’s food stall sits beneath a bridge underpass, where children spend their days attending informal lessons organized by the nonprofit Rumah Belajar Merah Putih (Red and White Learning Center).
Jakarta’s coastal neighborhoods struggle as clean water access dwindles.
Read also: Jakarta’s coastal neighborhoods struggle as clean water access dwindles
