Publication date: September 2019
Source: Child Abuse & Neglect, Volume 95
Author(s): Yanuar Farida Wismayanti, Patrick O’Leary, Clare Tilbury, Yenny Tjoe
Abstract
Background
Like many middle-income countries, knowledge about child sexual abuse (CSA) is limited in Indonesia. The national government has stated a commitment to protect children from the worst forms of abuse, yet the sensitivity of CSA along with the complexity of culture and law, present substantial challenges.
Objective
This article reviews current knowledge about CSA in Indonesia, in the context of existing laws and policies that influence CSA prevention and intervention.
Method
A systematic review of this research was conducted in the following manner: a review of scholarly literature and grey literature in English (19 papers) and in Bahasa Indonesian (11 papers), and a review of CSA-related Indonesian laws (4 documents) and policies (5 documents).
Results
This review finds that knowledge about CSA in Indonesia is still limited. The taboos on discussing sexual matters were identified as factors that impede reporting of CSA. Poverty also leads to increasing children’s risk of sexual abuse. There was less attention to CSA occurring within family contexts and focus was more upon its occurrence outside of the family. The study identified that contradictory definitions of children within the law add to children’s vulnerability to CSA; this is especially the case for girls. Current child protection strategies in prevention and intervention lack specific focus on CSA.
Conclusion
Further research is needed to enable the development of evidence-based approaches to better harmonize the development of law and policy with contemporary knowledge about CSA.