The Jakarta city administration said on Wednesday that it would join a police initiative to round up street children and physically examine their anuses for evidence of sexual abuse, a move that the country's leading nongovernmental child-rights organization opposes as abuse.
The move follows a police announcement on Tuesday that street children would have to submit to rectal examinations in an effort to identify victims of sexual abuse.
Budi Hardjo, head of the city's Social Affairs Agency, said that during the citywide search for street children, the Jakarta Health Agency and the Jakarta Police would cooperate in an effort to find possible child abusers. He said that 500 personnel from different agencies would be involved.
The planned round-up is in response to the arrest of Bayquni, 49, who is also known as Babe, an accused serial killer who allegedly killed at least 10 male street children. He admitted to police that he sexually abused the corpses of his victims.
As a first step, Budi said, the city would begin a sweep today of all five municipalities in Jakarta. He said children identified by the city would be interviewed to find out why they were living on the street and undergo a health examination.
"When we find them, we will look for the reason they are on the street, whether they are from broken homes, runaways or victims of human trafficking," Budi said.
Budi said children caught up in the city dragnet would be examined both psychologically and physically. He said they would be given a rectal examination to determine whether they had been sexually abused.
Arist Merdeka Sirait, the secretary general of the National Commission for Child Protection (Komnas Anak), told the Jakarta Globe that his group was deeply opposed to the government's approach to street children.
Arist said that even the terms the Social Affairs Agency were using are wrong – especially the emphasis on rectal examinations.
The city plans to send the children to social shelters for protection and to receive education and skills training. Budi said the agency had budgeted Rp 50 billion ($5.4 million) to support 25 shelters in the five Jakarta municipalities.
There are 4,023 street children registered with Jakarta's Social Affairs Agency, though it is widely assumed that many more are not listed.
"If a street child is found to have been sodomized then police will begin an investigation to determine what legal action is needed. This is a step we are taking to prevent another 'Babe' case," Budi said, referring to the alleged serial killer.
In addition to street children, Budi said the operation would also target sex workers and other people at high risk of abuse and disease.
"Street children are people, and under the constitution their rights are protected by the state. They're neither criminals nor animals," Arist of Komnas Anak said, adding that taking children to shelters forcefully was a move doomed to failure.
Arist said that what the city government was doing was a violation of human rights that dehumanized the street children.
Instead, the child advocate said, the government should initiate a program based on affection and communication with victimized minors. "They are not mere objects of some government program," he said.
"They should be given alternatives and a way to find a life off the street. They need education and skills and job opportunities based on their potential," Arist said.
But forcing street children to join a program inside a shelter would not achieve its aims, Arist said, because the children would just reject the effort.
Arist said his group demanded the city administration stop the raids. If the city continues with the plan, especially the rectal examinations, Komnas Anak will enlist street children to file a class action legal suit against the city to stop the sweeps, he said.
"This is to protect the rights of the children, which are obviously being taken for granted," Arist said.