Crisis forces more children to work: ILO

JAKARTA (JP): A nationwide survey in December 1998 found that the number of children forced to work to augment their families' incomes increased to 1,809,935 from 1,644,227 in 1997.

The survey, conducted by the Central Bureau of Statistics, involved children between the ages of 10 and 14. The Jakarta office of the International Labor Organization (ILO), however, believes this figure is too low, particularly when considering that six million children dropped out of school last year due to the economic crisis.

"Without assuming that all of the children (who dropped out) have to work, the number is still too low, especially if we remember that child labor is often an illicit and illegal business," the office said in a statement on Monday.

ILO Jakarta said child workers were present in almost all sectors, including mining, prostitution, construction, offshore fishing and jobs which exposed them to dangerous chemicals. However, some 70 percent of the children work in the agricultural sector.

The situation calls for an integrated policy which encompasses all aspects of the increasingly complicated problem of child labor in Indonesia, the organization said.

In cooperation with the International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC), the Ministry of Manpower and the National Development Planning Board, ILO Jakarta plans to commemorate National Children's Day on July 23 with a workshop in Bogor on child labor.

The workshop, to run from July 22 to July 24, will be opened in Jakarta by Minister of Manpower Fahmi Idris. The event will feature a number of experts, including ILO director Iftikhar Ahmed, Elizabeth Unger of IPEC, Nafsiah Mboi and Irwanto of Atma Jaya University.

The workshop is also meant to help promulgate recently ratified ILO Convention No. 182 on the elimination of the worst forms of child labor.

The ILO defines "the worst forms of child labor" as:

* all forms of slavery and practices similar to slavery, such as the sale and trafficking of children, forced or compulsory labor, debt bondage and serfdom;

* the use, procuring or offering of a child for prostitution, for the production of pornography or for pornographic performances;

* the use, procuring or offering of a child for illicit activities, in particular for the production and trafficking of drugs;

* work which, by its nature or the circumstances in which it is carried out, is likely to jeopardize the health, safety or morals of children;

Indonesia ratified the United Nations convention on the rights of children in 1990, but as in many other developing countries, children often are not protected from abuse. In certain volatile areas of Indonesia, children often became the victims of armed conflict.

Data from the Foundation of Indonesian Children's Welfare (YKAI) showed that during the decade-long military operations in Aceh, up to 20,000 children were orphaned. In the Santa Cruz military shooting in Dili, East Timor, in 1991, 64 children between the ages of 6 and 18 died. In the clash between military personnel and followers of Warsidi, the leader of a religious sect, 66 children between the ages of 1 and 18 died.

In the May 1998 riots in Jakarta, one 13-year-old and one eight-month-old infant died of gunshot wounds, while 20 other children between the ages of 12 and 17 died in burning buildings.

In the ethnic unrest which ravaged Sambas, West Kalimantan, between January and March 1999, at least one child was killed.

In the military shooting in Simpang KKA, Lhokseumawe, Aceh, on May 3, 1999, eight children between the ages of 6 and 17 died of gunshot wounds, while 22 others were seriously injured. During the unrest on May 15, 1999, in Ambon, two children reportedly died of gunshot wounds.

The children's welfare foundation has begun a campaign to raise funds for children who are victims of unrest. Donations can be sent to the YKAI at Jl. Teuku Umar 10, Menteng, Central Jakarta, or to Depot Anak YKAI, account number 067010-71646 Bank Bumi Daya at Wisma Nusantara in Jakarta.(swe)