Child abuse claims at Bogor safari park
JAKARTA (JP): Supervisors at the famous safari park near the West Java town of Bogor have abused child laborers, two underaged workers who escaped claimed yesterday.
Vivi and her unnamed coworker fled to Semarang and notified National Commission on Human Rights member Muladi of their plight at the park.
Muladi said that both were underaged and could no longer withstand the harsh treatment by supervisors the two children refused to name.
He said the two children told him there were about 50 children working in the park and that their place of origin was not known. They work with the park's lions, tigers and elephants.
They were not allowed to go to school or contact their parents while working at the park, Muladi was quoted by Antara as saying.
"Many of them experienced forced labor under extreme conditions during which their employer disregarded their condition and their futures," he said, adding that they were locked up and chained for one week as punishment if they were caught trying to escape the park.
Muladi, also rector of Diponegoro University in Semarang, told reporters that if Vivi's claim was true, the park's managers had violated the children's right to development.
Asep, one of the park's promotions officers, denied there were any children employed at the park. He said its employees were graduates of high schools and universities.
"For example, of our five veterinarians, two are American- educated and the remaining three are graduates from Indonesian universities," Asep told The Jakarta Post.
The National Commission on Human Rights could not immediately comment on the report but a member, Albert Hasibuan, said the organization would issue a formal statement on Monday.
Fellow rights committee member Charles Himawan said he would try to check on the claim. He said that if the report was true, the park management had violated the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Children.
Indonesia is among the 188 countries which ratified the convention in 1990. (01)