24. [… ] There is […] no current minimum school-leaving age, but an Education Policy Paper is being drafted and there are ongoing discussions on whether compulsory basic schooling should be six or nine years.

 

23. […] different legal minimum ages are prescribed in various domestic laws as follows: Engagement in light work: 12 years old, UNTAET Regulation No. 2002/5 on the Establishment of a Labour Code for East Timor, section 11.2; Employment: 15 years old, UNTAET Regulation No. 2002/5 on the Establishment of a Labour Code for East Timor, section 11.2; Hazardous work: 18 years old, UNTAET Regulation No. 2002/5 on the Establishment of a Labour Code for East Timor, section 11.1;

 

23. […] different legal minimum ages are prescribed in various domestic laws as follows: […] Marriage: 15 years old for woman and 18 for men, Indonesian Civil Code, article 29;

 

227. The current minimum age for criminal responsibility is 12 years (for a serious crime) and 17 (for a minor crime), due to UNTAET Regulation No. 2000/30 on the Transitional Rules of Criminal Procedure, which raised the age from the Indonesian legal minimum age of 8 years. That regulation provides that children “under 12 years of age shall be deemed incapable of committing a crime and shall not be subjected to criminal proceedings. A minor between 12 and 16 years of age may be prosecuted for criminal offences only in accordance with such rules as may be established in subsequent UNTAET regulations on juvenile justice; provided, however, that minors between 12 and 16 years of age may be prosecuted under the provisions of the present regulation for any offence which under applicable law constitutes murder, rape, or a crime of violence in which serious injury is inflicted upon a victim”.

228. This means that children at the age of 17 years old are prosecuted as adults. The draft Penal Code that has been approved by the Council of Ministers but not yet promulgated by the President provides for criminal responsibility at 16 years old. The Code also states that special regulations for young offenders between 16 and 21 years old will be provided for in a separate law.