REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- The chairman of the National Commission for Child Protection, Arist Merdeka Sirait, said child sexual abusers should be castrated using chemical injections.

"Sexual violence to children is a humanitarian crime and so its perpetrators must be given equal punishment, or a maximum sentence of minimally 20 years in jail, in addition to castration," he said here on Saturday.

He added that South Korea has already implemented punishment by castration by chemical injection, while Malaysia and Turkey are considering implementing it.

"Castration is an additional punishment that the judge gives, besides a physical sentence, and Indonesia could implement it to reduce its sexual crime rate, which has been increasing from year to year," he said.

Sirait also expressed his disappointment that the proposal for implementing castration of sexual abusers has only received a minimum response from House Commission VIII.

"Response from the House of Representatives towards the amendment of Law Number 23 of 2002 on Child Protection has only increased the minimum sentence by three to five years in jail, while the maximum penalty remains at 15 years in jail," he said.

He noted that the punishment for child sexual abusers must provide justice to its victims when requirements have been met to punish adult perpetrators.

"We think the present law on child sexual abusers has not yet provided justice, as it is still very lenient, such as when no witness is presented, perpetrators could be released," he said.

According to data received during the past four years, from 2010 to 2014, some 21,689,797 cases involving violence against children were reported in 34 provinces and 179 districts and cities.

Sixty two percent of these reports were sexual cases, while the rest included physical violence, neglect, abduction, economic exploitation, trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation and custody disputes.

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