Government, NGOs to join hands fighting child labor

By T. Sima Gunawan

OSLO (JP): The Indonesian government pledged yesterday to build better working ties with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in its fight against the exploitation of working children.

Indonesian Ambassador to Norway Amaruddin Noor told the final session of the International Conference on Child Labor that Indonesia would strengthen the ties between NGOs and government institutions concerned with the problem of working children.

Amaruddin delivered the statement shortly before the conference adopted an Agenda for Action, signifying the end of the four-day gathering.

He cited strong cooperation between NGOs and government institutions as among the short and medium-term measures for removing the most intolerable exploitative and hazardous forms of child labor.

While Amaruddin's speech recognized the important role of NGOs in seeking a solution to child labor problems, a labor activist exploded in anger yesterday over what he called a manipulation in the distribution of the Indonesian ambassador's written statement to the conference participants.

Arist Merdeka Sirait of the Kompak foundation, which has been working with children for years, said the one statement read by the ambassador was different than the one handed to the organizing committee.

The document given to participants omitted three points, the first of which was the government's commitment to strengthen its ties with NGOs and other interested institutions.

The other two missing points were the promised support for research on working children and studies on the impact of different intervention programs, and the development of standards and guidelines for companies employing children.

"The point on the strengthening of ties with NGOs is very important to us. If it is missing, this could affect our efforts in dealing with the problems of child labor," Sirait said.

In response to the complaint, Amaruddin said there had not been any intention to delete certain parts of the six-page statement. The three points had been removed only because he initially did not mean to read them out due to time constraints.

"We thought there would not be enough time, because we were told we would only be given five minutes," he said.

In his statement, Amaruddin said the Indonesian government was fully aware that children throughout the world, and especially in the developing countries, were forced to work. This situation made them vulnerable to work-related hazards and exploitation from employers.

"Child labor is a complex problem whose roots are deeply embedded in cultural, social and economic structures and tradition," he said.

"Light work has been viewed as a normal component of the development of a child into responsible adulthood. However, the government is strongly against the involvement of children in hazardous occupations, as reflected in Indonesia's decision to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child," he stated.

Suyono Yahya, Secretary to the Coordinating Ministry for People's Welfare, Indonesia, said that Indonesia adopted the Agenda of Action without any reservation.

The agenda's main goal was the elimination of child labor, but considering the fact that child labor cannot be entirely abolished, Indonesia would implement policies aimed at the progressive virtual elimination of child labor, he said.

"The agenda is morally and politically binding," he said. In order to make it legally binding, the agenda would be contained in the new International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention on Child Labor, scheduled to be adopted next year, Suyono said.

Asked about future steps, Suyono said Indonesia would prepare directives for the implementation of the new Manpower Law.

According to Suyono, the spending for basic social programs per capita in Indonesia is around US$35, out of the $700 income per capita.

There are about 2.1 million working children in Indonesia.