Indonesia’s parliament has passed a law authorising chemical castration and execution for convicted paedophiles.
The punishment follows a number of high profile cases of child sexual abuse in the country. President Joko Widodo proposed the changes in May following the gang rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl.
The procedure entails injecting convicts with female hormones. It is used on sex offenders in Poland, South Korea, Russia, and some US states, among others. Prisoners in UK jails can volunteer for the treatment.
The new law also allows judges to sentence paedophiles to death or tag them electronically, and applies a 10-year minimum sentence for child sex crimes.
Dr Yohana Susana Yembise, Indonesia’s Minister for Women Empowerment and Child Protection, said the administration was “praying” that the punishments “will have the desired effect”.
She said: “Now we have the harshest punishments: the death penalty, life in prison, chemical castration, the public naming of perpetrators and the electronic chip. These are now law, so even if you hate the idea of them everyone now has to support this.”
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