Jakarta, Feb 4 (IANS): Indonesia will chemically castrate child sex offenders, the country's National Commission on Child Protection announced on Thursday.

President Joko Widodo is set to issue a regulation in lieu of law which stipulates a harsher sanction for anyone who commits sexual violence against children, which will involve injecting a hormone to reduce libido and sexual activity, in an attempt to minimise the chances of re-offending, Xinhua news agency reported.

"The president has agreed to include imposing chemical castration in the regulation in lieu of law which also stipulates sexual abuse against children as an extraordinary crime," said Aris Merdeka Sirait, the commission's head.

Extraordinary crimes in Indonesia include drug abuse, corruption and terrorism.

Indonesia has witnessed a string of headline-grabbing cases of child sex assault in recent years with many of them involving serial pedophiles.

Malaysia and India recently announced that they also considered similar measures against repeat sexual offenders and convicted rapists, but South Korea was the first Asian country to permit the punishment in 2011.

Russia, Poland and some states in the US have long allowed such treatment.