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The government has made a ministerial decree on a national plan of action aimed at stepping up protection in the wake of a rise in reported cases of abuses against children, a minister said on Friday.

“Violence against children in the country has reached a perilous phase and the figure of the cases keeps increasing every year with more varied motives,” said Linda Amalia Sari, minister for women’s empowerment and child protection.

Data from the National Commission on Child Protection (Komnas Anak) and the Child Protection Institution (LPA) showed that reported cases of violence against children jumped to 1,736 in 2008 from 1,520 a year earlier, Linda said.

“The number keeps increasing and was 1,998 last year, and this only the tip of the iceberg,” she said, noting that if a 2006 estimate by the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) was still valid, the true number could be much higher. “We need everyone in the country to be responsible for protecting children, as they are vulnerable.”

In 2006, the BPS estimated that 3.02 percent of children endured some form of abuse, including physical, sexual and psychological. Linda said that if such a percentage were assumed today “it would mean that in 2009, 2.57 million of our children experienced various kinds of violence.” Indonesia has an estimated 85.1 million children, she added.

She said the plan of action, which includes campaigns and talk shows held across the archipelago, would be conducted through 2014.

“Strong and continuing communication and collaboration with all local communities, nongovernmental women’s organizations and our local agencies is the key to making all people aware in preventing violence against children,” she said.

Her ministry, she said, was collaborating with those for justice and human rights and home affairs, the National Police and the United Nations Children’s Fund, the last especially in the drafting of the decree. The Home Affairs Ministry is distributing circulars to districts and towns to enable authorities there to adopt the guidelines contained in the decree, she said.

Linda blamed the rise in cases of violence against children on the complicated situation faced by people, including poverty.

“Poor families with many children are one of the problems, as parents tend to be impatient with their children. The children also do not get love from their parents,” she said. Heightened awareness among the public, she said, had also resulted in more cases being reported.

Marco Luigi Corsi, a Unicef representative in Indonesia, said violence against children was not just an issue here.

“There are 40 million children in the world suffering from violence,” Corsi said. “Thus we have to strengthen the protection of our children, and this national plan of action is a good tool to ensure the protection of Indonesian children in the future.”

Corsi also said the action plans contained clear guidelines to ensure children’s protection.

“We have to share the duty and responsibility of protecting children,” he said.

Arist Merdeka Sirait, secretary general of Komnas Anak, told the Jakarta Globe that the ministerial decree was a good step, but was not enough to ensure the prevention of violence against children. “The key is building awareness of protecting our children in all people, especially adults.”

Debri Pristinella, a psychologist at the Pelita Harapan private university, said that unless the decree was well promoted, “society will not be aware of the violence, thus the perpetrators remain out there who can harm the children.”