TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Director General of Social Rehabilitation from the Ministry of Social Affairs, Edi Suharto, stated that developing countries, such as Indonesia and the Philippines, had become targets for child sexual exploitation.

"Developing countries have become targets; besides Indonesia, the Philippines is also rather vulnerable to it. The number of cases is quite high and concerning," he stated, during the Intercultural Dialogue on Integrated National Response to End Child Exploitation and Child Abuse Online in the ASEAN region in Jakarta, on Wednesday.

He further explained that there were quite a lot of cases that had happened in Indonesia, from exploitation to those that leaned from child trafficking to pedophiles.

"This has become a regional problem. I received a report from the Director of Children Issues that these cases not only happen inside the country but also at an inter-regional level," he added.

Based on the reports received by the Children Social Services Hotline, the number of cases of sexual violence against children continued to rise from 15 cases in 2015 to a significantly higher number of 254 cases in 2016 and 398 cases in 2017.

The study carried out by the Ministry also found that 41 percent of sexual violence cases against children happened due to exposure to pornography.

For that reason, strategic measures must be taken, including the ban on sites that contain pornographic contents.

"I believe that one of the important things is also social immunization, in which the children are educated on how to use the internet wisely, in accordance with their age," he stated.

All these must start from their community, including their family, school, peers, and the environment, in general, he explained.

At the same time, ASEAN member countries must also cooperate in counteracting cyber crimes.

ANTARA