More children smoking in Indonesia

The Indonesian government has been accused of failing to protect young people from cigarettes, according to an en.tempo.co story.

The CEO of the children’s organization, Lentera Anak Indonesia, Hery Chariansyah, was quoted as saying that the number of young people smoking cigarettes was increasing.

The number of smokers in the 10-14 age group had increased from 9.5 percent in 2001 to 17.5 percent in 2010, he said, while the number of smokers in the 14-19 age group had gone up from 12.7 percent to 20.3 percent during the same period.

Hery said the tobacco industry targeted children and he urged President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to ratify immediately the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC).

The FCTC would not doom the cigarette industry and tobacco farmers, but it would protect the younger generation, he added.