Reflections on the CRC
Reflections by Laksmi Pamuntjak
- English
- Bahasa Indonesia
Reflections on the CRC
In 1989, governments across the world promised all children the same rights by adopting the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). The Convention says what countries must do so that all children grow as healthy as possible, can learn at school, are protected, have their views listened to, and are treated fairly.
As part of Indonesia’s celebrations in November 2019, to mark the 30th anniversary of the CRC, UNICEF asked Indonesian author Laksmi Pamuntjak to help us envision some of these CRC articles. Inspired by photos and images from our database, and working with our programme specialists, Laksmi created 15 fictional texts on some of the most relevant articles for the Indonesian context.
Though these reflections were inspired by the accompanying photographs, the texts do not describe the life or story of any person depicted within them.
Reflections on the CRC by Laksmi Pamuntjak
About the Author
Laksmi Pamuntjak is a bilingual novelist, poet, essayist, journalist and food critic whose works have been translated into several languages. She has written on politics and culture for national and international publications including op-eds for the Guardian.
In 2012, Laksmi represented Indonesia in Poetry Parnassus, the largest poetry festival in the UK, in conjunction with the London Olympics. In 2016, her debut novel, Amba (The Question of Red), won Germany’s LiBeraturpreis. The movie adaptation of her second novel, Aruna dan Lidahnya (The Birdwoman’s Palate), was released nationwide in 2018 and won two awards at the 2018 Film Festival Indonesia (FFI).
Laksmi’s third novel, Fall Baby (Srikandi)—her first in English—was published by Penguin Random House SEA in October 2019. It was first published in German, in 2018, by Ullstein Verlag under the title Herbstkind.