Child workers not given recognition

Child workers not given recognition

JAKARTA (JP): A respected social researcher has accused the government of trying to sweep the embarrassing issue of child workers under the carpet by denying its existence.

Irwanto PhD of the Atma Jaya Catholic University Research Center said yesterday that the government has failed to give proper attention to the problem of child workers because of this denial.

He cited a 1994/1995 report on the national social welfare which failed to include any data about child workers. Also, a 1992 report said that there were 2.1 million child workers, a much smaller estimate than that given by experts and activists of non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

"There are a lot more child workers out there, but I won't mention any figure because I don't want to create controversies," he said after receiving a donation of A$100,000 from the Australian Agency for International Development for the center. It was handed over by the body's First Secretary Ray Lloyd.

Irwanto blamed the lack of information on child workers on the government's inadequate attention to the problem. "We plan to collect information about the real number of child workers and submit it to the government," he said.

The donation will be used to finance a one year research on child workers in Java, which will involve more than 15 NGOs in several cities.

Irwanto said NGOs, with their wide span of networks across the country, have a crucial role in dealing with the problem of child workers.

Lloyd agreed, pointing out that NGOs can work in the remotest areas that even the government cannot reach.

Under the project, NGOs will accept training on information management and advocacy to handle child workers' problems.

A 1993 survey put the number of Indonesian children working at 2.6 million, 2.31 million of which live in rural areas and 290,000 in urban areas.

Of the 2.6 million child workers surveyed in 1993, about 50,000 worked under conditions that failed to meet the criteria set by the International Labor Organization. (31)