“They don’t chose to be born into a broken home. It is the economic hardship faced by their families that robs them of their future,” the Papua Seventh Day Advent Church’s director of child services, Heronia Humbora Loupatty, said in Jayapura on Sunday.

Heronia said her chuch had yet to carry out a survey on children from broken homes in Jayapura. However, she added that the problem could be clearly seen in certain public places, such as the former location of the Ampera Market, that the number of children from broken homes in the city was quite high.

“These children are widely known as aibon children because many of them habitually sniff aibon glue, which they say gives them a good sensation,” said Heronia.

She said the children were prone to various forms of violence, such as rape, child trafficking, domestic violence and many others.

“The Seventh Day Advent Church is calling on all parties to stop violence against children because they are the future of the church and the next generation of this nation,” said Heronia.

Meanwhile, a women and children expert in Papua, Betshie Pesiwarissa, said one of the major causes of sexual violence against women and children was the easy access to pornographic websites.

“All people now have gadgets through which they can easily access porn movies. If they don’t watch them via gadgets, they can get them via Internet cafes. Thus, porn movies, which can trigger sexual violence, are very easily accessed by adults and children,” said Betshie.

Betshie, who is also the director of the Women’s Legal Aid Foundation (LBH APIK), hopes that the government will block porn sites to minimize children’s access to the videos. (ebf)

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