In several cases, these acts of violence were triggered by activities on social media that occurred due to the lack of understanding on digital literacy.
In several cases, the victims and perpetrators of violence turned out to be children.
The latest case involved harassment of children in Cianjur, West Java.
The perpetrators, with the initials as RES (15), DAH (17), and MRS (15), harassed two victims, namely A (17) and a victim as well as witness MF (17).
It all started with an exchange of comments on social media that led to a fight that involved sharp weapons.
The harassment occurred in Haurwangi, Cianjur, on Thursday (June 29) at 12:30 a.m. local time.
Due to this incident, A and MF suffered injuries, as they fell down and were struck by sharp weapons.
In this case, the pieces of evidence had been held by the police, including a sickle, katana sword, and grass clipper that was turned into a knife.
The other case concerns harassment of a child with mental disorder that led to death in Lebak, Banten, at the start of June 2023. The perpetrators' initials were MA (14), AD (13), MI (15), and HB (13).
Two of the four perpetrators dropped out of school, as their families could not afford it, while the two others are still sixth graders. They harassed and also burned the victim to death.
It all began when the victim, who also has speech and hearing disabilities, threw a rock at one of the perpetrators that landed on that individual's back and motorcycle. As a result of this, the perpetrator grew irate and urged friends to retaliate against the victim.
Digital parenting
Minister of Women's Empowerment and Child Protection Bintang Puspayoga stated that all children should receive the best assistance and parenting from their mothers and fathers.
This has become increasingly important, especially since we are entering the globalization age and digitalization era, which means that children require additional supervision.
The prevalence of cases of violence against children is inseparable from the influence of social media content that children can easily access.
The case of child kidnapping and murder in Maros, South Sulawesi, at the start of January 2023, is also the impact of social media content that children can see without parental supervision.
Children, inspired by social media content, conduct mutilations and organ harvesting.
Hence, the presence of parents, who are the closest guardians for these children, becomes increasingly crucial to provide the best possible assistance.
The Ministry of Women's Empowerment and Child Protection reminded that children, who became perpetrators of criminal acts, are also victims. Hence, adults should be present in providing the best assistance.
In 2021, the Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI) received 5,980 reports, while in 2022, some 4,683 reports related to child problems, including legal violation, were registered.
Deputy Head of KPAI Jara Putra drew attention to cases of violence in which children were stalked on the internet, such as through cyber-bullying, grooming, sextortion, and child pornography.
The KPAI also highlighted the importance of understanding digital parenting for the parental community in order to improve the effectiveness of child monitoring on social media.
Not only do parents have to understand digital parenting but children should also be given education on how to surf the internet in a healthy manner without threatening themselves.
Based on KPAI's experience derived from observing various assessments of children's problems, kids, with unmet developmental needs, are at the center of conflict, face legal troubles, threaten their own lives, and experience disorientation due to bad behavior.
Other factors include the lack of attention, loss of a trusted figure, becoming orphaned, dropping out of school, and unsupervised learning circumstances in school.
Parental divorce, prolonged conflict, poverty, unsupervised internet surfing, changing foster homes, and the prevalence of the violence industry that can easily approach children through various methods are other contributing factors.
In the upstream, this condition is caused by the lack of education given to children on how to participate in confronting issues around them.
Participation in this case means meaningful participation understood as per the children's age, development, and understanding.
Hence, on account of this, space for familial dialogue should always be encouraged, so that children develop a high level of emotional intelligence to confront problems.
Collective responsibility
The family, school, and community are the three environments in which children grow up.
When one environment is not functioning in developing closeness and collective monitoring, then children will become increasingly vulnerable to acting aberrantly.
Owing of this, collective parenting becomes increasingly important, as taking care of children requires the participation of a village to supervise them.
Moreover, existing limitations can be handled through the provision of public facilities that can support the development of children and the existence of children's activity centers that can record and monitor their development in a conducive manner.
Although internet access has become a necessity among many people, but this should also be followed by an adequate level of digital literacy.
Criminal acts undertaken by children or involving children as victims is the result of parents' lack of understanding of the safe method to use the internet.
All parties need to cooperate to improve digital literacy to fight violence against children and ensure that their rights are met for the creation of Children-Worthy Indonesia 2030 and Golden Indonesia 2045.
Indonesia's future is determined by children, so they must be protected from various negative influences, in accordance with the theme of 2023 National Children Day, namely "Protected Children, Developed Indonesia."
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Translator: Anita Permata D, Fadhli Ruhman
Editor: Azis Kurmala
Copyright © ANTARA 2023
