Shuckers: Children shuck shellfish in a corner of Kali Baru fishing village in Cilincing, North Jakarta, during school hours in this photo taken March 19. Protracted poverty coupled with lack of coordination among related ministries and agencies seen numbers of child laborers remain unchanged in Indonesia. JP/J. Adiguna
A protracted lack of coordination among ministries and agencies in trying to free children from child labor has dampened hopes for firm and clear measures to eliminate it.
There is no unified agency dealing with children’s affairs. Therefore efforts to eliminate child labor particularly in the informal sector have been handled by the Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection Ministry, the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry, the Social Affair Ministry, the local administration’s social affair agencies, the Health Ministry and the National Commission on Child Protection (Komnas PA).
They are also supported by NGOs funded mostly by foreign donors. Some of these reportedly supported child labor to ensure continuous funding from their donors.
But when it comes to program implementation no traces of their efforts have been felt by children.
“We are aware of the child labor issue. But there’s a need for a more concerted coordination and cooperation between ministries and agencies in tackling the issue,” said the Head of the Female and Child Labor Cross-Sectoral Cooperation Subdivision of the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry, Warsini.
Warsini failed to specify any successful programs initiated by her ministry for preventing minors working particularly in the informal sector.
Most of the bureaucrats in the other sectors are often locked in tedious meetings to formulate legislations and programs, while shrugging off joint responsibilities as departments fail to coordinate their efforts.
“The scope of our duties is to work on policies and advocacy with other departments related to child labor,” said the deputy assistant of child social issues at the Women Empowerment and Child Protection Ministry, Wahyu Hartono.
While claiming the ministry has no authority to implement programs, Wahyu could not specify any ministries or agencies fully responsible for implementing prepared policies and promotional activity..
“We also don’t have any authority over, or sanctions we can deploy against, fellow ministries for failing to effectively eliminate child labor despite the fact we are responsible for coordinating between various institutions,” he said.
The Social Affair Ministry, which is supposed to spearhead efforts in the field claimed to carry out their duties well in reducing the number of child laborers, including in the child labor hotbed areas of Muara Angke in North Jakarta and Bantar Gebang, Bekasi, in West Java.
“The ministry takes part in solving the child labor issue, and has an allocated budget to draw up, implement, monitor and evaluate policies and programs,” said the ministry’s director of children’s social services, Harry Hikmat.
Around Rp 1.5 trillion (US$161 million) has been allocated in the state budget each year for handling children’s affairs.
However, no child labor victims have ever claimed assistance.
“No one has come here to help me,” said Marno, 17, a fisherman of five years in Muara Angke.
Agus, a trash picker at Bantar Gebang also nodded in assent.
Komnas PA secretary-general Arist Merdeka Sirait said the government actually had enough funds to help reduce child labor, but disbursement was not efficient.
“The allocated budget is actually enough to deal with child labor issue. Yet it is ineffective because there is no coordination between related ministries,” he said.
Seto Mulyadi, chairman of Komnas PA, which mostly does advocacy work opposing child labor, said tackling the issues required huge efforts as the root causes of the problem were so complicated.
“More than 5 million children are child laborers. This is not at all easy to solve on its own. The government must act upon the problem as well, especially in dealing with poverty,” Seto said.
“Poverty is the number one cause of child labor. Children who live in poverty are forced to work and earn money.”
However, with poverty eradication still a long way off given that the 2010 poverty rate remains at 15 percent, a more pragmatic approach was needed towards child labor.
“Basically, I do not think there is any problem with children working as long as the work is set within proper boundaries. Children are allowed to work as long as it does not interfere with personal time, cut access to education, and jeopardize their safety,” said Wardah Hafidz of the Urban Poor Consortium.
The Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist of the International Labor Organization for Child Labor Program, Abdul Hakim, highlighted the need for specialized schools to help break the poverty cycle.
“The best solution is to establish the right type of schools besides providing free and accessible schools in different areas in Indonesia and Jakarta,” said Abdul.
The schools, he said, should provide flexible curriculum suited to the characteristics and needs of each area. “A school including subjects on fishing has to be established in fishing villages like Muara Angke,” he said, adding that schools should also provide career coaching and create awareness about child labor.
(gzl/ipa)
