Government, NGOs to join hands fighting child labor

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.