Child-Led Research Results from East Halmahera

Village Children's Forum and East Halmahera District Children's Forum researched to determine the impact of sexual violence on children's mental health in one of the villages. Child Led Research (CLR) is one of the actions of the children of East Halmahera to present factual data and appropriate recommendations. The results of this research also become advocacy material. Village and district governments can use the results of this research as a basis for decision-making or program development that can improve the protection of children and women.

This research is based on the following data: 

• An increase in the number of cases of sexual violence against children based on PPA data from East Halmahera Police. In 2021 there were 15 cases, while in 2022, it increased to 18. 
• Monitoring data from Wahana Visi Indonesia through the Safeguarding Incident Report mechanism. Data from November 2021 to May 2022 shows 29 children experienced violence (19 were victims of violence, and ten others were perpetrators). The types of sexual violence that occurred consisted of sodomy, rape, fornication, pornography, and physical violence.

The children in the research team decided to use two research methods, quantitative (survey) and qualitative (in-depth interviews). The survey was conducted on 20 student representatives at a school in the village. The students who became respondents were aged 12-18 years old. The results obtained from this survey can be seen in the following figure:

"From this research, I learned that there are still many victims of sexual violence who are still afraid to tell the truth or report to the authorities. I hope that the authorities will be closer to the victims so that they will not be afraid to report and tell the truth," said Putri (17), one of the research team who is also a member of the East Halmahera District Children's Forum.

In-depth interviews with the sub-district government, school principals, religious leaders, and the PPA of the East Halmahera District Police revealed that children who have experienced sexual violence tend to become quiet, withdraw from social circles, stressed, more withdrawn, and do not want to continue their education in high school. Therefore, there needs to be counseling services for children who experience violence both in schools, houses of worship, and community environments. Counseling aims to assist children to get through the difficult period of the impact of the violence experienced. In addition to case handling, prevention of sexual violence is also important. Prevention can begin with everyone's awareness regarding child protection. Preventing child sexual abuse is everyone's responsibility.

"After conducting this research, there are victims who we meet who have sexual intercourse because they like each other. They should have thought more about the causes of these actions that damage the future. Hopefully parents will educate their children about the impact of having sex before marriage," said Nisani (17), a member of the research team and the East Halmahera District Children's Forum.

The results of this research were presented during the National Children's Day celebration in 2022, East Halmahera District. From this research, several recommendations were formulated to improve child protection and services for child sexual abuse cases. These recommendations are aimed at schools, village governments, law enforcement or authorities, and parents. The following recommendations are given: 

• Schools need to provide Counseling Guidance (BK) teachers so that if there are students who are victims, they can feel safe to tell their stories. 
• Schools need to conduct socialization about child sexual abuse, and affirm parents during committee meetings. 
• Village regulations are needed to prevent and overcome the problem of sexual violence in the village environment.  
• The government, in this case the relevant agencies, provide socialization on the prevention and handling of sexual violence cases in collaboration with religious and traditional leaders. 
• The authorities should establish coordination with other parties in conducting reporting mechanisms and handling cases of violence against children. 
• The government needs to provide special assistance for victims and the continuity of the child's future. 
• Provide socialization about sexual violence to parents and socialization of sexual violence prevention to children. 
• There is a special consultation service for victims of sexual violence. 
• Places of worship are expected to have regulations on the prevention of sexual violence. 
• Religious leaders need to provide information about sexual violence regularly to children and parents.

This research was led by 13 children aged between 15-17 years old. When given the space and opportunity to lead this research, the children felt very happy. They learned many new things, not only about child protection but also about the process of conducting the research itself. Starting from data collection skills that hone the ability to communicate with different people, the ability to think critically when processing data, and the courage of public speaking when presenting research results in front of many participants of the National Children's Day celebration. But most importantly, they can contribute to providing a safe place to live from violence for themselves and other children.

Writer : Mariana Kurniawati (Communication Executive)