Religious groups told to fight against child labor
Religious groups told to fight against child labor
Berni K. Moestafa, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The International Labor Organization (ILO) has asked local
religious organizations to help it free an estimated eight
million Indonesian children from the shackles of child labor.
The participation of religious organizations is crucial to
help the country eradicate child labor, said Pandji Putranto, the
national program manager for ILO's International Program for the
Elimination of Child Labor (IPEC).
"We may take them (religious organizations) for granted, but
they are indeed on the front lines here," Pandji said on Thursday
after the close of a two-day workshop on how to eliminate child
labor in Indonesia.
About 60 participants from six religious organizations took
part in the workshop, discussing the need and ways to eliminate
child labor in the country, according to an ILO statement.
The participants came from Nadhlatul UIama, Muhammadiyah, the
Bishops Council of Indonesia (KWI), the Indonesian Communion of
Churches (PGI), the Council of Buddhist Communities (Walubi) and
Pasarisada Hindu Dharma.
Pandji said religious organizations had far-reaching networks
and their messages were accepted by the public.
"They are strong advocators and an effective pressure group to
force the government to act on child labor," he said.
Pandji said the participants responded positively to ILO's
call for a joint effort to combat child labor.
He said their organizations could eventually become part of
Indonesia's national action program to fight child labor.
According to the government, poverty is the main barrier to
efforts to eliminate child labor in the country.
The 1997 economic crisis pushed many families below the
poverty line. The number of poor people in Indonesia now reaches
about 40 million people, or about 20 percent of the country's 215
million population.
According to ILO's estimates in 2000, some eight million
children between the ages of seven and 15 were forced into child
labor, mostly to support their families.
About 70 percent of these children worked in the agriculture
sector, including on plantations and farms, and for forestry
companies. He added that most of the children were employed by
their own families.
Pandji said Indonesia's children were forced to take part in
nearly all of the worst forms of child labor.
A recent ILO report said that 246 million children between the
ages of five and 17 were involved in child labor worldwide.
Among them, 8.4 million had fallen victim to what the
organization called the worst forms of child labor. This includes
debt bondage, human trafficking, armed conflicts, prostitution,
pornography and other illicit activities.