The Voice of Indonesian Children

KOMPAS/LUCKY PRANSISKA

Roslinda

At only 14, Roslinda “Oslin” is actively involved in the protection of children\'s rights in East Sumba. Last week, she appeared as a keynote speaker at the United Nations High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) in New York, the United States. In front of the officials of several countries, she asked all parties to listen to the voices of children from around the world.

Aside from Oslin, three other children from Mongolia, Lesotho and Ghana also spoke at the annual UN forum. The Lesotho speaker talked about child marriage and the Mongolia speaker talked about the effects of climate change on children.

"I focused on speaking about eliminating violence against children, because that is the problem we faced in East Sumba," Oslin said on Monday (22/7/2019) in Jakarta, two days after she returned from New York. She looked cheerful, without any signs of exhaustion from her long-haul flight from New York.

Oslin also spoke in English at five other meetings that were part of the HLPF. She was the keynote speaker of the “Leave No Child Behind: Achieving the SDGs Through Investing in the Rights of the Child” session, along with ministers and delegates from several countries, including Indonesia’s National Development Planning Minister /National Development Planning Agency Head Bambang P.S. Brodjonegoro. She spoke at the “Putting Children at The Heart of 2030 Agenda” session several Indonesian and foreign officials, including Women\'s Empowerment and Child Protection Minister Yohana Susana Yembise.

She also met with Morocco’s Najat Maala M\'Jid, the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children, presenting her recommendations for eliminating child marriage. "When I gave her [the recommendations], Mrs. Najat nodded," Oslin said.

Oslin said she gained a lot of additional knowledge from the meeting in New York. She now knows that many kinds of problems affect children in several countries. In Chile, for example, many children are affected by migration. In other countries, many children are victims of conflict.

Violence in the village

Oslin is the fourth of five siblings. Her father is an elementary school teacher, while her mother is a homemaker. Oslin was lucky because her parents never abused their children. Instead, her parents always followed the word of God on love for others.

"My father never pressured us. He always asked for his children\'s opinions before making a decision. He also never prohibited us from doing activities outside the home," she said.

In 2017, when she was in seventh grade, Oslin became interested in joining the Kombapari Village Children\'s Forum in Katala Hamu Lingu district. "I saw that the forum members were doing well at school and were good at talking. I wanted to be like them," she said.

After joining the forum, Oslin became aware of the problems that children faced in East Sumba. "In the past in one village in East Sumba, a six-year-old girl was promised in marriage to an older man. The girl was abused and suffered trauma," Oslin said with a furious expression.

Oslin said many children had experienced violence and abuse and that this was considered “normal”. "Children are scolded with harsh words, slapped, even beaten with pieces of wood by parents or teachers."

Another problem, continued Oslin, was that children became neglected when their parents went abroad. Some were entrusted to their grandparents and other relatives. However, they didn’t receive their parents’ attention and love.

Along with Wahana Visi Indonesia, Oslin and other members of the village children\'s forum began approaching parents, teachers and community leaders at village meetings to talk about the problems children faced. "When they first attended the meetings, they regarded us as trivial because we were still young," she recalled.

In the past, continued Oslin, children were prohibited from being active in the village children\'s forum and were instead told to help out at home. Oslin and her peers did not give up when faced with this challenge. She continued to approach parents and community leaders. "After many children started participating in the children\'s forum, the parents finally accepted [us] and [we] were invited to speak. Now, if there is a problem that affects children, we discuss it in the village meeting."

The village children\'s forum then organized a parenting program for parents, teachers and religious leaders. "Once the program was running, the number of cases of violence against children declined. There was no more violence in our village," Oslin said.

Oslin and the village children\'s forum also fought for the issuance of birth certificates for each child in her village. "In our village, many children do not have birth certificates, which means they cannot enroll at school. Parents do not have enough money or lack awareness," she said.

Their efforts were successful. Today, all 200 children in Kombapari village have birth certificates. "It\'s 100 percent," Oslin said proudly.

Even more encouraging is that the Kombapari administration supported the activities of the village children\'s forum. They allocated Rp 60 million of the village fund to a campaign on eradicating violence against children. The village administration also issued regulations on child protection to prevent child marriage and required all parents to obtain birth certificates for their children.

"It can be said that [Kombapari] has the strongest commitment to become a child-friendly village," said Priscilla Christin, the communication director at Wahana Visi Indonesia who has been working with Oslin and the Kombapari Village Children\'s Forum.

Child-friendly

Because of the persistent efforts of Oslin and the Kombapari Village Children\'s Forum in tackling child protection issues, Oslin was chosen to represent Indonesian children at the HLPF 2019 in New York.

"We selected children from a number of regions in Indonesia to participate in focus group discussions on children. From there, we – the jury and the children – chose Oslin because she had experience in advocating for child protection in her area," said Priscilla.

Oslin\'s eyes were opened further in New York. Apparently, many children in the world face violence and conflict that involve adults. This reality has strengthened Oslin\'s determination to continue with her efforts in protecting children’s rights.

"I want to see this world free of violence against children," Oslin said in her closing statement at New York. She received a long round of applause from the audience. However, Oslin wants real support, not just applause.

KOMPAS/LUCKY PRANSISKA

Roslinda

Roslinda

Father: Melkianus

Mother: Maria

Activity: Chairperson, East Sumba Children’s Forum (2018-present)

Achievements: Keynote speaker, UN High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development 2019, New York; 2019 Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection Ministry Award, for her contributions to advocating for civil rights and birth certificate issuance as a member of the village children’s forum