Child abuse claims at Bogor safari park

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)