"Based on the results of Statistics Indonesia's (BPS') National Socioeconomic Survey (Susenas) in March 2022, Indonesia's population in the youth category stood at 68.82 million," she noted in a webinar titled "The Launch of Logo and Slogan of 25 Years of Komnas Perempuan" here on Tuesday.
The figure is equal to 24 percent of Indonesia's total population.
Yentriyani assessed that the high number of youngsters reflected the importance of meaningful involvement of youngsters, especially girls, in various development issues and programs that also take into account nature conservation and sustainable economy, as well as safeguard the sustainability of the earth and humans in the long term.
This is in line with Law Number 40 of 2009 on Youth, in which one of its articles regulates that one of the active roles of youth, as the agents of change, is realized by developing care for the work environment.
"This emphasized that youngsters, as agents of change, have a strategic role in determining direction towards a sustainable world, including in overcoming social problems," she remarked.
She further deemed it important to ensure that the younger generation, as agents of change, are free from violence.
This is because based on the commission's record in 2022, some 2,212 cases of violence, including sexual violence, were experienced by people in the age bracket of 18-40 years, or 64 percent of the total 3,442 cases.
Moreover, in 1,160 cases, or 38 percent of the total number of cases reported to Komnas Perempuan, the perpetrators were aged 18-40 years.
"This shows the urgency of targeting youngsters to actively participate in creating a situation that is safe from violence as a condition for youth to be able to think critically and implement the knowledge they gained to advocate for citizens' rights in encouraging social change for the better," she affirmed.
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Translator: Anita Permata, Raka Adji
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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