Jakarta, ILO to set up team on child workers

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Jakarta administration and the International Labor Organization (ILO) will establish a team to address the issue of child workers in the capital, particularly the protection of children who leave school to become domestic helpers.

Following a meeting with Governor Sutiyoso on Tuesday, ILO country director Alan J. Boulton said that the governor had proposed the idea. He hinted that the team would help the administration develop better approaches in handling the issue.

"We have also gained his support to revise some regulations which support the practice of child domestic labor in Jakarta," he said.

Boulton said that amid growing concerns that child workers were often abused by their employers, the revisions were direly needed.

The ILO has estimated that more than 200,000 children below the age of 18 in Greater Jakarta are working without legal protection, mostly in households. The number is a quarter of the government's estimate of around 800,000 child workers nationwide.

Jakarta Manpower Agency head Ali Zubeir said that the administration had been drafting a bylaw to regulate manpower in the city.

"However, we will not include the issue of child workers in the bylaw draft but will regulate it in a separate gubernatorial decree," he said.

Zubeir said that the agency would take into account inputs from non-governmental organizations and labor unions, including the ILO.