Free trade may end child labor, says minister
JAKARTA (JP): Trade and economic growth which uses child labor could not be maintained if a country wanted to survive amid future competition, a minister said yesterday.
"We all need to ensure that children have access to education and other social services to increase this nation's ability to compete," Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Azwar Anas said.
Inaugurating the Second National Conference on Child Labor, Azwar said that poverty caused child labor.
In 1990, 2.24 million children were forced to work. "Thus, attempts to alleviate the conditions which compel children to work must be continued," he said.
Citing that Indonesia ranked 33rd on the 1995 World Competitiveness Report, Azwar contended that the implementation of the Nine-Year Compulsory Basic Education program should be sped up so that it is completed by the end of 2004. Then the nation would be better able to face stiff competition from free trade after 2003 and 2010.
He cited South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong as examples of countries whose economies grew because of the support of a "critical mass": workers with at least junior high school education.
M. Horiuchi, assistant director-general of the International Labor Organization (ILO) Asia and Pacific region, identified three factors that contributed to the increasing awareness of the condemnation of child labor: realization that child exploitation had reached an intolerable point; that child labor conditions were no longer acceptable to business standards; and, stronger commitments to human rights.
Given the complexity of the issue, Horiuchi noted, a definition of child labor must first be understood by all before further discussion could commence.
"Child labor includes children working like adults, paying for their own economic or family's needs, not just children wanting to gain some pocket money," Horiuchi added.
Last month, ILO estimated that around 73 million children aged between 10 and 14 years had to work.
In Indonesia, 9.55 percent of children aged between 10 and 14 years work, the report said.
According to Horiuchi, Asia contained two-thirds of all child workers in the world, but improvement was coming.
"The number of child workers is dropping due to increases in family income and basic education," she said.
Another speaker at the three-day seminar, Irwanto of the Atma Jaya University, said researchers needed to consider children who were unpaid because they worked in domestic environments where their contributions go unnoticed.
Budi Setiawan, a seminar organizer, said the conference was intended to increase the public's awareness on child labor issues.
"Greater awareness of child labor is expected to push forward a more concrete solution on legislative and executive levels," he said.
The conference is being held in Bogor, West Java, and is hosted by the Indonesia Children Welfare Foundation, the International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor and the Ministry of Manpower.(21/14)