THE RIGHT OF RESTITUTION FOR CHILD VICTIMS OF SEXUAL VIOLENCE IN INDONESIA

Abstract

Article 4 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) mentions the obligations of state parties to implement the CRC. Furthermore, article 19 of the CRC requires State Parties to protect children from any form of violation including sexual violation through legislative, administrative, social and education measures. This article describes the results of research related to the implementation of CRC for child victims of sexual violence (CVSV) through court decisions. The analysis was conducted on seven Districts and three High Court decisions in 2018 in Medan and Deli Serdang Districts, North Sumatera Province in Indonesia concerning sexual violence which involve children as victims. The researcher conducted focus group discussions which involved two groups of respondents; (1) Law Enforcement Officers and (2) OPD (Organisasi Pemerintahan Daerah/Local Governments) and CSOs (Civil Society Organizations) which concerns CVSV issues. The finding shows that none of the court decisions mentioned about rights of the victims, as they focused only to punish the perpetrator(s). It is ironic since the right is regulated under several regulations in Indonesia concerning child protection. Therefore, the researcher recommends that police officers and Public Prosecutors should be more active in providing information concerning restitution for the victims. This will assist the victim(s) and his/her families to obtain justice not only by punishing the perpetrator but also by obtaining his/her right of restitution.