Education law may protect child loborers

Tony Hotland and Ridwan Max Sijabat, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

In the absence of legislation to protect workers in the informal sector, the education law and child protection law are regarded as the only legal mechanisms available to ensure children employed as housemaids have their rights respected.

To make the 2004 education law work, regional governments need to pass bylaws requiring people who employ children as domestic helpers to provide protection for them by giving them access to education and enough time for recreation, director of labor supervision at the Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration Maruddin Simanihuruk said.

"Child domestic workers cannot be treated as child laborers, but as members of the families who employ them. They are not workers in legal terms as their employment is not based on industrial relations that are only recognized in the formal sector," he said.

The education law stipulates a compulsory nine-years of education, while the child protection law bans all forms of exploitation of children. The latest survey has uncovered that one in five school age children does not go to school.

An estimated 640,000 children are employed as house maids in the country, according to the International Labor Organization.

A New York-based Human Rights Watch report revealed that child domestic helpers in Indonesia as young as 12 years old work far beyond their capacity, depriving them of their rights to education and protection. The rights group also found the children, who are mostly girls, are prone to sexual threats.

Simanihuruk acknowledged that the government had not proven its political commitment to enacting a labor law that could help stop the abuses.

"The absence of a labor law governing the informal sector has something to do with strong public resistance," he said. Taking an example, the government's campaign to give domestic helpers one day off per week in 2002 sparked protests from employers.

The widespread abuse of house maids has prompted the House of Representatives to urge the government to draft a bill on protection for domestic workers and those in the informal sector.

Jacobus Kamarlo Mayong Padang, a member of the House's Commission IX dealing with labor affairs, said efforts were being intensified to formalize the status of workers employed in the informal sector, including house maids.

"We've had discussions leading to that direction. The point will be how to regulate their working hours, household jobs, rights and obligations, and even a labor contract. But it's still quite a long haul because we have to revise the existing labor law first," he said.

He said the challenge to regulate domestic helpers unfortunately lay with society itself which was divided by the issue.

"There seems to be a sincere wish to treat domestic helpers humanely. But on the other hand, there still a common feeling that maids are employed without specific hours, let alone a contract," said Jacobus.

Another Commission IX member Hakim Sorimuda Pohan said there had already been discussions with the government about granting a formal status to informal workers.

"The (manpower) minister also acknowledged this problem. But this will require amendments to the labor law, and this won't be in the near future since we just revised it," he said.

Hakim agreed that giving a formal status to these workers was essential as happens in other countries such as Hong Kong, Japan, and Taiwan.

Regarding the employment of children as workers, both Jacobus and Hakim were of the opinion that the government has to enforce all relevant laws including Law No. 23/2002 on child protection.

The law carries a maximum sentence of 42 months imprisonment and/or maximum fine of Rp 72 million (US$7,500) for any person who abuses children. It also threatens a maximum 10 years of imprisonment and/or a maximum fine of Rp 200 million for any abuse causing death.