"Naibonat" Children's Center Response to Cases of Child Exploitation Victims

KUPANG (January 11, 2021) - “Naibonat” Children's Center as a Technical Implementation Unit belonging to the Ministry of Social Affairs took quick steps in responding to cases of victims of child exploitation that occurred in the city of Kupang. This is in line with the implementation of the Social Rehabilitation Assistance Program (ATENSI) so that the center can handle and be responsive to social problems in the work area.

The Head of the "Naibonat" Children's Center in Kupang, Supriyono said that this was a form of the agency's quick response to the problems of children in the community, especially in the provinces of NTT, Maluku, and North Maluku as the work area of ​​the center.

In this case there are 5 (five) child victims of exploitation, each ER (17 years), TR (17 years), HD (15 years), RN (17 years), and NS (16 years). They come from the province of West Java with different cities, namely 1 child in Bandung, 1 child in Sumedang, and 5 children in Garut. They were handed over by the East Nusa Tenggara Regional Police from the Directorate of General Criminal Investigation to the "Naibonat" Children's Center on Friday, January 8, 2021.

Social Worker of "Naibonat" Children Center, Marthinus Selan conveyed the chronology of the case starting with the victims who received job vacancies from Facebook by promising them a high enough salary so they were interested and decided to register online. They are promised to get a salary of around Rp23 million per month without deductions from transportation costs / shipping by the owner of the facebook account who posted the vacancy. However, it turned out that when they arrived in Kupang, they were employed in bars and karaoke. The owner of the bar whom they usually call "Mami" said that the cost of transporting the victim from Bandung to Kupang was counted as a debt of Rp5-6 million.

According to the narrative of one of the victims, "ER", she and her friends applied for jobs because of economic factors. "ER" and her friends quit school and did not continue their education from junior high school to high school. Based on the assessment results of social workers, ER and her four friends were hired to accompany guests to serve alcoholic drinks and sometimes they get tips from guests between Rp100 to 800 thousand. However, there were also times when alcoholic beverages were also given to these five victims until they drunk.

Based on the confession of the victim ER, while they were working they had not experienced any cases of sexual intercourse because the owner of the bar, which they usually called "Mami" forbade the practice of prostitution in her place.

When the victims woke up at 9 am, the police carried out raids at the bar because they received reports from the public.

After being at the "Naibonat" Children's Center, the child is given assistance, guidance and therapy by social workers in the "Naibonat" Children's Center while waiting for the legal process from the NTT Police.

In the context of handling this case of child exploitation, the Center synergizes with law enforcement (Regional Police), social workers at the Provincial Social Service and social workers in Kupang City.

When the children feel safe, comfortable, and mentally ready, as well as the family is ready to accept the child, in the future the children will be returned to their respective families.