Jakarta – Indonesia is witnessing a growing number of child abuse cases but does not yet have adequate legislation to cope with the problem, according to the National Commission for Child Protection.

The most common forms of abuse were rape, prostitution and forced labour. School dropouts were also a serious problem, the commission said in its year-end report.

This meant that Indonesia risked losing at least one generation to poverty, malnutrition, poor education and a lack of nourishment and care, said commission chairman Seto Mulyadi.

The commission recorded 381 cases of violence against children in Jakarta alone in 2001, an increase from 261 last year. Sixty per cent of them were sexual abuse cases involving the victim's own relatives. Other cases involved child street singers and beggars and physical harassment ranging from pinching to beating and kicking.

The commission also said that the economic crisis had made the coming year look bleak for the nation's children. It revealed that children made up at least 30 per cent, or 390,000, of the 1.3 million commercial sex workers registered across the country. These children were often unable to avoid violence, unwanted pregnancies and deadly sexually transmitted diseases, including the deadly HIV and Aids.

The report also noted that 12.5 million children dropped out of school this year, an increase from 11 million last year. Some 6.5 million children had to work to survive, a more than 100 per cent increase on the 2.7 million in 2000.Many of them worked in dangerous places, such as plantations, farms, the streets and brothels.

Communal conflicts, which plagued several regions for the past three years, worsened the situation as thousands of children and their families were forced to live in refugee camps. A report from the Ministry of Social Affairs said some 600,000 children, out of a total of 1.3 million refugees, were now living in refugee camps in 24 provinces.

This year alone, the commission recorded at least 286 deaths among children aged between five and 24 years from malnutrition and various illnesses.

Mr Seto said abuses of children's basic rights would create an "aggressive and anarchic" generation.

Commission secretary Arist Merdeka Sirait criticised the Indonesian government and legislators for lacking the political will to protect children. The commission, along with other non-governmental groups in Indonesia, submitted a Bill on children's protection to the House several months ago, but it has not yet been debated.

Dire numbers - Children being abused:

• 381 cases of violence
• 390,000 children are sex workers
• 12.5 million children drop out of school
• 6.5 million children work to survive
• 600,000 of 1.3 million displaced people are children