Supreme Court: 95 Percent Of Divorces Involve Children Under 18 Years Old

JAKARTA - Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (MA) Muhammad Syarifuddin said based on research by the Australia Indonesia Partnership for Justice in 2018 it showed that 95 percent of divorces in Indonesia involved children under 18 years of age.

"Using the assumption that in Indonesia, every family has an average of two children," said Chief Justice Muhammad Syarifuddin at a webinar entitled Protection of the Rights of Women and Children in Divorce Cases, reported by ANTARA, Wednesday, July 27.

From that figure, he said, it is estimated that more than 900.000 to one million children each year are affected by divorces filed in court.

You can imagine the long-term impact experienced by Indonesian children. This, said Prof. Muhammad Syarifuddin, then influenced the social order in society.

Therefore, to reduce the negative impact of parental divorce on children, according to him, it is important to ensure that every child continues to have access to their rights.

The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court then mentioned a number of these rights, namely health insurance, education and proper care, among others, contained in court decisions related to the livelihood of children and ex-wife.

Although the number of children affected by parental divorce each year is quite large, divorce decisions, especially those related to the payment of child and ex-wife support, have not been effective.

"Divorce decisions do not necessarily make it easier to deduct the ex-husband's share of income for the ex-wife's maintenance and child care benefits," he said.

As a result, these children and ex-wives are vulnerable to being trapped in the poverty line, even becoming victims of crime.

Lastly, court decisions, including divorce cases, are one of the Supreme Court's priorities whose implementation requires government support.