Jakarta, ILO to set up team on child workers

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.