Better protection of child workers urged

Better protection of child workers urged

JAKARTA (JP): Leading activist Mrs. Kardinah Soepardjo Rustam
called for better protection of the growing number of Indonesian
child workers on Wednesday.

The former head of the internationally-recognized Family
Welfare Movement said the government should translate its
commitment to protect the rights of children into wide-ranging
actions.

Indonesia ratified the international convention on the rights
of the child in 1990.

Speaking during a break in a workshop on women on Wednesday,
Kardinah called on employers to provide employment for children
from poor families while ensuring they get proper schooling.

"Employers should be responsible for the children's studies,"
said Kardinah, the widow of Soepardjo Rustam, a former home
affairs minister. She now heads the Participatory Development
Forum, a non-governmental organization.

The workshop focused on the Platform for Action, a document
issued at September's Fourth World Conference on Women in the
People's Republic of China.

The participants discussed how the document's plans regarding
the condition of female children, termed "the girl child," could
be implemented in Indonesia.

Tati Hartono of the Indonesian Women's Congress organization
Kowani pointed out that girls are often made to stay at home,
despite the government's drive for nine-years of schooling for
all children.

"Girls are still required to help their parents, especially in
villages," she said.

In 1993 the Ministry of Manpower announced it will be more
strict in enforcing child labor rules, in line with the extension
of compulsory schooling from six to nine years.

A 1987 Ministry of Manpower decree allows children between 10
and 14 to be employed for a maximum of four hours a day, given
the realities poor families face.

The decree also states that the children's wages must equal
adult wages, and that the employers must pay for the children's
schooling.

Kardinah said enforcing this rule would be a start toward
improving the fate of the Indonesian girl child.

The government admitted in 1993 that there are about 2 million
child workers. Activists, however, believe the figure is much
higher. (anr)