The Indonesian Government have introduced a new law that will allow judges to sentence men for chemical castration after they commit sexual offenses against children.
The new law which was quickly rushed through parliament after President Joko Widodo issued an emergency decree in response to what he called a “crisis” of sexual violence against children in the country.
The move comes for the change and the introduction of harsher punishment comes after a teenage girl was brutally gang-raped and murdered by a group of 14 men and boys while walking home from school in Bengkulu province, in Sumatra, in earlier this month.
According to reports President Jokowi, signed a decree Wednesday that amended the country’s 2002 child-protection law, giving judges discretion to sentence those convicted of sexual offenses against children to chemical castration.
“This regulation is intended to overcome the crisis caused by sexual violence against children,” Jokowi told reporters, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP). “Sexual crimes against children are extraordinary crimes, because they threaten the lives of children.”