Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Various non-governmental organizations expressed their rejection to the Jakarta city administration`s plan to sweep street children on Thursday saying the move would not solve the problem.

"Various kinds of sweep against street children must be stopped," the head of research of the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH), Restaria Hutabarat, said.

She said the move would stigmatize the children caught and even violates the Law on Child Protection Number 23 of 2002.

She said the government should implement solutions which are not repressive in nature and long term so that the results could be enjoyed not only now but also in the future.

Moreover the 1945 Constitution also states that the government is responsible for the care of stray children meaning that the government must meet the basic needs of the children such as education and health, she said.

The "Sahabat Anak" (children`s friends) NGO spokesman, Benny Lumi, meanwhile criticized the government as not creative if it only relied on the sweep program.

He said the government should have built good relations with the children and listened to their stories.

In view of that he expressed hope that the authorities concerned would immediately create a counseling program for the children that could really be implemented effectively and continuously.

The secretary general of the National Commission on Child Protection, Arist Merdeka Sirait, said the sweep was a form of criminalization of children.

The director of social service of the directorate general of social service and rehabilitation of the ministry of social affairs, Harry Hikmat, reiterated that the ministry of social affairs would maintain the target of cleaning big cities in Indonesia from street children in 2011.

"This is not easy to achieve but will give us a focus to attract street children to places that would protect them such as schools and parents or families," he said.

In few of that registering the children would be important with regard to finding indications if they have been victims of sexual exploitation, blackmailing or physical and social abuse.(*)

Editor: B Kunto Wibisono

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