Indonesia
Indonesia is the fourth most populous country in the world, with a population approaching 220 million. Almost 30 per cent of this population is below the age of 15. While significant progress has been made in expanding access to education, more than 4 million children of junior secondary school age do not attend school. Many children enter the workforce at an early age, and many are vulnerable to exploitation in the worst forms of child labour. It is estimated that there are 3.2 million children between the ages of 10 – 17 years old in Indonesia engaged in employment with some involved in the worst forms of child labour.
In 2001 the Government of Indonesia established a National Action Committee on the Elimination of Worst Forms of Child Labour. The Committee prepared a National Action Plan for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour which identifies as its objective the need “to prevent and eliminate the worst forms of child labour through a three-phase programme over twenty years”. The National Plan of Action constitutes a time-bound programme to urgently eliminate the worst forms of child labour. The Government has since taken steps to strengthen the legal framework to tackle child labour and child exploitation.
At the same time, various new policy initiatives have indicated an increasing level of Government commitment to expanding access to education, with initiatives to reduce the costs of education to poor families, expand education in rural areas, and provide cash subsidies to poor families on condition that school-age children attend school.
The ILO response
The ILO’s International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) strongly supports the Indonesian National Action Plan (NAP) for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour. After the completion of the first phase (2002-2007), the ILO is now extending its second phase, Project of Support to the Indonesia Time Bound Programme on the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour – Phase II, to support the Indonesian NAP, funded by the Department of Labour of the United States Government.
In addition to policy, capacity building and knowledge base development support, ILO has local level action programmes in five provinces (North Sumatra, Lampung, West Java, East Java, DKI Jakarta) in its second programme phase supporting targeted children in or at risk of exploitive work in child domestic service, plantation work, trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation, street children at risk of becoming trafficking victims and involvement in drugs trade.
Withdrawal and prevention are conducted through provision of education services using a mix of formal, non-formal education and skills training. The programme also supports the government’s conditional cash transfer programme (Program Keluarga Harapan) by helping children to stay in and go back to school and by building the programme’s capacity combating child labour.
Child labour sectors targeted by IPEC in Indonesia
Use the following links to explore in-depth information on sectors targeted by IPEC in Indonesia:
World Day Against Child Labour – 12 June 2011
Use the following links to explore in-depth information:
World Day - 12 June 2011: Warning! Children in hazardous work - End child labour