Celebrating the Peak of National Children's Day 2020, Social Minister Greets 8000 Indonesian Children Virtually

JAKARTA (July 23, 2020) - The COVID-19 pandemic has not dampened the commitment of the Indonesian Ministry of Social Affairs to continue to commemorate National Children's Day (HAN) in 2020 through OneDay for Childrenthough virtually. The Minister of Social Affairs, Juliari P. Batubara greeted about 8,000 children throughout Indonesia who attended via video conference.
 
HAN's national theme for 2020 is "Protected Children, Advanced Indonesia". The sub-themes promoted by the Indonesian Ministry of Social Affairs are; Stop Violence Against Children, Positive Friendships with Peers and Healthy and Happy Indonesian Children at Home.
 
When greeting the children, the Minister of Social Affairs advised Indonesian children to stay away from bad things. "Keep yourself away from cigarettes, pornography, bad associations such as motorcycle gangs," he ordered.
 
The commemoration of National Children's Day (HAN) in 2020 is one of the efforts to arouse concern and participation of all components of the Indonesian nation in ensuring the fulfillment of children's rights fairly in accordance with human dignity and protection from violence, exploitation and discrimination.
 
The Minister of Social Affairs opened the minds of children and parents that the future of the Indonesian nation is in the hands of the children. Children are the next generation of the nation that needs to be protected from now.
 
In addition, the Minister of Social Affairs advised that to achieve success, of course, children must obey their parents. "Respect and listen to your parents' advice if you want to be successful. Don't make your parents disappointed and sad. If you love your parents, it means you also love God," he said.
 
In this event, there were 5 letters sent by children from faraway and border areas to the Minister of Social Affairs. The letters were from Mimika; Meranti Islands; Kefamenanu, North Middle East, NTT; Sampang, Madura and East Aceh. The letter was immediately read by the children who sent it and contained the hopes of the children to return to school soon, the desire to achieve their goals even in remote areas, to receive support in online learning, to become successful and accomplished children and even hope that the Minister of Social Affairs visit them.
 
The Minister of Social Affairs expressed how touched he was when he heard the message. "Thank you for the letters given to me. I am touched, actually I want to meet you in person, but the COVID-19 condition has not made it possible to meet," he said.
 
The Minister of Social Affairs said that if the conditions were favorable, he would like to meet with the children to have a dialogue, have fun and play together.
 
Data from the response to the case of the Social Work Service Unit until June 2020 showed that the five most common types of cases experienced by children were 3,555 children in conflict with the law, 1,433 children who were victims of sexual crimes, 766 children who were victims of abuse and neglect, 552 children who were victims of physical and psychological violence. And 638 children affected by COVID-19.
 
These cases illustrate the need for aneffort integratedto protect children. The Ministry of Social Affairs, through the Directorate of Child Social Rehabilitation, has carried out various social rehabilitation efforts through family, community and residential approaches.
 
These efforts are intended so that children and parents as well as important parties in children's lives have social functioning. Families, communities including various Child Welfare Institutions (LKSA) as well as Social Rehabilitation Centers and various other social environments are expected to be able to provide optimal protection for children.
 
The Director General of Social Rehabilitation, Harry Hikmat said in his report that the series of HAN 2020 commemorations by the Ministry of Social Affairs had begun with a Webinar and Technical Guidance activity "Working in the Midst of the COVID-19 Pandemic for Social Workers" on 16 - 30 June 2020. These activities collaborated with Unicef Indonesia involving 900 participants consisting of Social Workers, Heads and Social Workers of Children's Social Rehabilitation Center.
 
"The Directorate of Child Social Rehabilitation has currently placed 770 Sakti Peksos in 463 regencies/cities. They are the leading figures in handling child cases in Indonesia," said Harry.
 
The HAN series was continued with Social Worker Goes to School (PGTS) activities which were attended by 63 schools involving 10,061 children. Furthermore, Social Worker Goes To Community (PGTC) involves 7000 children who are social worker activities in providing community assistance related to community-based prevention and handling of children's problems. As the highlight of the HAN event on July 23, 2020 with the title "One Day For Children (SBA)".
 
Support and appreciation also came from the Deputy Chairman of Commission VIII DPR RI, Ihsan Yunus. "I support activities like this. Let's together continue to learn, pray and try even in limited situations due to COVID-19. There are no obstacles for us to be serious," he said.
 
On this occasion, the Chairperson of the Indonesian Child Protection Agency (LPAI), Seto Mulyadi was also present to enliven this event. "Keep the spirit, whatever we face happily," he said.
 
Likewise with the Chairman of the National Commission for Child Protection (Komnas PA), Arist Merdeka Sirait who stated that children need protection. Children are expected to be able to say no to drugs, pornography, exploitation, abuse and neglect.
 
The COVID-19 pandemic has had negative impacts on children, including losing parenting, experiencing verbal and non-verbal violence, reduced opportunities for children to play, study, and be creative due to the implementation of social distancing policies and studying at home.
 
At the end of his greeting, the Minister of Social Affairs said that the children should maintain their health. "Take care of your health by following the COVID-19 health protocol. Hopefully, Indonesian children will be more victorious," concluded the Minister of Social Affairs.
 
This event was enlivened by 73 children who were beneficiaries of the Social Rehabilitation Center for Children and 8,000 children from all over Indonesia with various backgrounds. Starting from children from remote indigenous communities, street singers, children of fishermen, children of scavengers, children with disabilities to children with HIV/AIDS.
 
On the occasion, representatives from Ministries and Institutions, namely theThe Ministry of Coordinating for Human Development and Culture of the Republic of Indonesia, Ministry of National Development Planning of the Republic of Indonesia/National Development Planning Agency, Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Women's Empowerment and Child Protection of the Republic of Indonesia, Unicef, KPAI, LPAI, , Sayangi Tunas Cilik Foundation and other partners were also present.