Child labor issue draws WB concern
Child labor issue draws WB concern
JAKARTA (JP): The poor condition of Indonesian child and women laborers is drawing concern from the World Bank's local representative office.
Nisha Agrawal, an expert from the bank's Jakarta office, said that despite some progress, exploitative child labor and poor working conditions, especially for women, are two of the many problems that require government intervention.
Quoting the Labor Force Survey of Indonesia, she said there are about two million child workers between the ages of 10 years and 14 years in the country.
They are voluntarily employed to help the poor economic conditions of their families, she said yesterday in a seminar on economic reforms and labor market restructuring for Indonesia.
She said that no data is available on the number of child workers below the age of 10 but estimates indicate there are between 2.3 million to 2.9 million children employed in the industrial and informal sectors, including in factories and on the streets in urban areas.
"These estimates indicate that one out of every 10 children in this age group is working, even excluding those working on farms," she said.
She added that the number of child workers was declining due to the nine-year compulsory education program for school-age children and a high economic growth in the last two decades.
Nisha disclosed the results of a study conducted in 1995 by the World Bank in a textile factory in Medan, North Sumatra, which shows that dozens of children between 10 years and 14 years are employed from 7 a.m. until 11 p.m.
"The child workers earned US$7.50 a month. Twice a day, the children got a bowl of rice with some fish and they had a day off only on Sundays," she said.
She said that while the total number of child workers has declined by about 26 percent during the 1986 to 1994 period, the number of children working in urban areas has doubled due to industrialization.
"This trend is true for both boys and girls," she added.
She pointed out that despite child labor legislation, the government was lacking in its administrative capacity to enforce the law.
"The government has even issued a ministerial decree stipulating explicit acknowledgment of the fact that child labor is a problem in Indonesia. The decree, issued in 1987, is against the law."
Besides Law No. 1/1991 banning child labor, Indonesia has ratified International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention No. 138 on minimum wage employment.
She said that to eradicate child labor, the government should fully enforce the law and ILO convention, provide a safety net to protect the poor and expand opportunities for quality education.
Nisha said that the poor working conditions of women in the formal sector, especially in the labor-intensive manufacturing sector, was beginning to emerge as a problem that needs serious handling.
She argued that despite standards set for women workers in their workplace and the labor market, women workers are still subject to discrimination.
She pointed out that a recent survey on female workers in nonunionized factories in Java found that out of those who applied for maternity leave, only 47 percent got it and of that only 12 percent were paid for the maternity leave.
Many women workers have also been fired because of marriage, pregnancy and giving birth, she said, citing that this was against the protective standards and policies ensuring equal pay for jobs of equal values and equal employment opportunities.
She also criticized the nationwide malpractice of not providing women workers with family and medical allowances. She said if women workers are not entitled to such allowances they should be awarded with, for instance, a higher financial remuneration, or other compensations.
Nisha said that although Indonesia has ratified the 1979 UN Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, through Law No. 7/1984, abuses of women rights are still rampant in the country. (rms)