VZCZCXRO7368
OO RUEHDT RUEHHM RUEHJO RUEHPB RUEHPOD
DE RUEHJA #0163/01 0361021
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 051021Z FEB 10
FM AMEMBASSY JAKARTA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 4434
INFO RUCNARF/ASEAN REGIONAL FORUM COLLECTIVE
RUEHXI/LABOR COLLECTIVE
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 JAKARTA 000163
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
STATE FOR EAP/MTS, DRL/ILSCR FOR SMORGAN, G/TIP FOR LCDEBACA,
DOL/ILAB FOR LSTROTKAMP, RRIGBY, TMCCARTER
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ELAB ECON EIND PGOV SOCI ID
SUBJECT: INFORMATION ON CHILD LABOR AND FORCED LABOR FOR DOL
CONGRESSIONAL REPORTING REQUIREMENTS
REF: SECTATE 131995
Task 1/TVPRA
------------
1. (U) Post does not have information on additional goods for the
Indonesian TVPRA list. Post does ask that lacking substantiated
reports that DOL delete gold from Indonesia's TVPRA list of goods.
Removing Gold
-------------
2. (U) Mission has not received any reliable reports to corroborate
local NGOs reports of exploitation of child labor in gold mining.
Mission would appreciate DOL providing us with any credible reports
so that we may investigate.
Task 2/TDA
----------
Laws and Regulations
--------------------
3. (U) The legal framework relating to working children has changed
significantly in recent years and a number of important pieces of
legislation have either been enacted or are presently in the
pipeline. Taken together this new body of law represents an
important step forward. The reforms in part constitute part of a
wider process underway in Indonesia in which the GOI has indicated
its commitment to an approach to labor policy consistent with ILO
standards. The major challenge now facing the GOI is to effectively
socialize and enforce the new legal framework.
4. (U) In 1989, Indonesia adopted the UN Convention on the Rights of
the Child. In March 2000, Indonesia ratified ILO Convention No. 182
(Convention Concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the
Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor). Indonesia has also
ratified the main ILO Conventions relating to child labor. ILO
Convention No. 138 (Concerning Minimum Age for Admission to
Employment), was ratified in June 1999. The minimum age for work is
15. The law contains an exception for employing children aged 13-15
to perform light work that does not disrupt their physical, mental,
and social development. A set of requirements is outlined for
employment of children in this age range, including a maximum of 3
hours of work per day, parental permission, and no disruption of
schooling.
5. (U) Indonesia has ratified ILO Convention 182 and Law No. 13 of
2003 reiterates the convention's articles on hazardous labor while
Minister of Manpower Decree No. 235 of 2003 defines types of work
that are hazardous to children. Under Law No. 235 of 2003,
employing and involving children under 18 in the worst forms of
child labor (WFCL) or economic exploitation are prohibited under the
law; failure to comply can result in criminal sanctions of 2 to 5
years of imprisonment. The law defines WFCL as slavery; use of
children in prostitution, pornography and gambling; use of children
for the production and trade of alcohol, narcotics, and addictive
substances; and all types of work harmful to the health, safety and
morals of children. The law identifies a list of such harmful
activities and provides detailed descriptions and examples of these
activities. These include jobs requiring children to work with
machines; jobs where physical, chemical, or biological hazards are
present; jobs with inherent hazards such as construction, offshore
fishing, lifting heavy loads etc; and jobs that harm the morals of
the children including working in bars, massage parlors,
discotheques, or promoting alcohol or drugs to arouse sexual desire.
Persons who expose children to such hazardous activities are liable
to terms of up to 5 years of imprisonment or a fine.
6. (U) An Indonesian decree calls for programs to ban and abolish
WFCL and improve family income, as well as specific programs for
non-formal education and returning children to school by providing
scholarships. Additional specific legal sanctions are laid out
against offenses of commercial sexual exploitation, child
trafficking, involving children in the production or distribution of
alcohol or narcotics, and involving children in armed conflict.
Anyone exercising legal custody of a child under 12 years for the
purpose of providing that child to another person, knowing that the
child will be used for the purposes of begging, harmful work, or
work that affects the child's health, faces a maximum sentence of 4
years imprisonment. The law also prohibits sexual intercourse
outside of marriage with a female recognized to be less than 15
years, engaging in an obscene act with a person less than 15 years,
and forcing or allowing sexual abuse of a child, with maximum
JAKARTA 00000163 002 OF 004
penalties ranging from 7 to 12 years of imprisonment.
7. (U) The national government has also created a program to
overcome child labor which is called Child Labor Withdrawal Program
(PPA PKH) which includes prevention and eradication program. The
prevention program handled by social department is a cash
compensation program to help poor family's education and health.
While, eradication programs includes sweeping and skill training.
Anti-trafficking laws
---------------------
8. (U) In 2007, the GOI passed a comprehensive anti-trafficking law.
The law meets international standards to prevent and outlaw
trafficking, and includes a comprehensive legal mandate for rescue
and rehabilitation of victims. The law outlaws all forms of
trafficking including debt bondage and sexual exploitation. It also
provides stiff penalties for complicity in trafficking by officials
and labor agents, which include harsh prison sentences. Penalties
for trafficking of a child, under 18 years, range from three to 15
years in prison, with penalties for officials higher by one-third,
and fines of between $12,000 and $60,000. The GOI has trained
thousands of law enforcement officials on fighting trafficking. The
numbers of special anti-trafficking police and prosecutors
increased. Police targeted operations trafficking children
domestically and internationally in until 2009, breaking up several
large syndicates, rescuing hundreds of children and arresting
traffickers.
9. (U) The minimum age for recruitment or enlistment into the armed
forces is 18 years. The law protects children in emergencies,
including natural disasters.
10. (U) Indonesia has ratified most major conventions relating to
trafficking. In addition to those referred to above, Indonesia has
ratified ILO Convention 29 on Forced Labor, the UN Convention on the
Elimination of Discrimination against Women, and has signed the
optional protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on
the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography.
Indonesia has also signed the UN Convention against Transnational
Organized Crime and its supplemental Protocol to Prevent, Suppress
and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children.
Enforcement Against WFCL
11. (U) As of the end of 2009, there were 26 Provincial Action
Committees and 116 District/Municipality Action Committees for the
elimination of WFCL. To further encourage provincial and district
government to establish the committees, the Ministry of Home Affairs
has issued a Ministerial Decree on the establishment of District
Action Committees, District Plan of Action, and community
empowerment in combating worst forms of child labor.
12. (U) Ministry of manpower has reported that there are currently
2200 labor inspectors across Indonesia, 600 in Jakarta, in the
ministry, 1600 throughout the country, with responsibility for child
labor protection. Inspectors withdraw the children from work and
return them to school. Parents are given business training and
capital to increase self-reliance. In 2009, ILO trained labor
inspectors from five provinces, funded by the ministry.
13. (U) New regulations include:
-- Jan 2009, Ministry of Interior released a decree, Permendagri No.
6/2009, to form an action plan committee and actions in provincial
and district level to eradicate the worst forms of child labor;
--August 2009, The National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas)
released national Strategic Guidelines on Access to Justice,
focusing for manpower issues. Four issues of focus are: child labor,
migrant labor, formal labor, informal labor. The focus on child
labor will be to pull children out of WFCL, to direct strong
punishment for those who recruited and treated children within WFCL,
and to ensure provincial and district government protect children
from WFCL;
--April 2009, in Southern Kalimantan and July 2009 in Central
Kalimantan, formed action committees against WFCL.
--June 2009, District Government of Serdang Bedagai, North Sumatera,
declared a commitment for a district "Free from WFCL and Child labor
in 2016".
--Surabaya City is preparing local regulations on Child Protection,
which includes protection from child labor. The draft regulation
JAKARTA 00000163 003 OF 004
will be discussed in the parliament in March 2010.
--The Central Java Government launched the Provincial Action Plan on
Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor through Governor's
Regulation No. 23/2008 in March 2008.
--In Sukabumi District, West Java, a district regulation on
prevention of trafficking in women and children was endorsed in
January 2008 (District Regulation No. 2/2008).
--The government of Tanjung Balai District in North Sumatra endorsed
a District Regulation on the Elimination of the worst forms of child
labor in August 2008.
--The East Java Manpower Department held an anti-child labor
campaign among companies allegedly employing child workers. The
campaign was also directed at families whose children were working.
--Local governments in East Java, in cooperation with ILO and NGOs,
conducted vocational training and workshops to prevent child labor
for underage workers.
Social Programs Addressing WFCL
-------------------------------
14. (U) Indonesia's constitution, as amended in 2002, stipulates
that the Government must dedicate 20 percent of the national budget
for education. In 2009, the education budget is fixed at about 21
percent (USD 19 billion), an increase of about 33 percent over 2008.
15. (U) The GOI in 2007-2008 implemented the "Family Hope Program,"
a Conditional Cash Transfer (CTF) to the poor. The program has
increased school participation at elementary and secondary levels
(ages 6-15), particularly out-of-school children, including those in
child labor. CTF began in July 2007 and now includes operates in 13
provinces(West Sumatera, Jakarta, West Java, East Java, Gorontalo,
North Sulawesi, East Nusa Tenggara, Aceh, North Sumatera, Banten,
Yogyakarta, West Nusa Tenggara and South Kalimantan.) Reaching
500,000 impoverished households to date, the goal is to reach 6.5
million households by 2015. The program requires that households
send their children aged 6 to 15 years back to school. Social
workers verify children's attendance. In collaboration with
relevant stakeholders, the GOI provides services such as remedial
education and counseling to keep children in school. In August 2008,
the Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration launched a program to
support CTF, targeting 5,000 child laborers to be taken out of the
workforce and referring them to education services. This program
will run until 2015.
16. (U) The GOI built nearly 1,260 new schools in 2008 and 11,069
new classrooms; accommodating 963,891 children aged 13-15 who did
not have access to junior high school.
Comprehensive Policy
--------------------
17. (U) The 20-year National Action Plan (NPA) for the Elimination
of Worst Forms of Child Labor completed its first 5-year phase in
2007. The first phase, established by Presidential Decree No.
59/2002, focused on mapping child labor problems, raising awareness,
and eliminating the top five priority worst forms of child labor:
offshore fishing and diving; trafficking for purposes of
prostitution; mining; footwear production; and drug trafficking and
was conducted in conducted in Jakarta, West Java, East Java, North
Sumatera and East Kalimantan.
National Plan of Action
-----------------------
18. (U) The Manpower Ministry chairs a National Action Committee for
the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor, which coordinates
child labor elimination efforts throughout the country and produces
annual reports on the implementation of the National Plan of Action
(NPA). According to the Manpower Ministry, during the first phase
of the project, 2,154 children were taken out of the worst forms of
labor and 27,078 others were prevented from going to work.
19. (U)In July 2008, the Indonesian government launched the second
phase of a five-year project to support the National Action Plan on
the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor. Under this
project, the government hopes to remove as many as 22,000 children
from hard labor and provide assistance to 2,000 poor families by
JAKARTA 00000163 004 OF 004
2011. The first part of the strategy will focus on continuing to
promote national and local policies to tackle child labor. The
second part of the strategy will involve direct, targeted
interventions in four sectors. These include child domestic labor
in Jakarta, West Java, East Java and Lampung; children in
plantations in East Java, Lampung and North Sumatra; trafficking of
children for sexual exploitation in Jakarta, West Java, East Java,
and North Sumatra; and street children at risk of trafficking and
drug trafficking in Jakarta.
20. (U)Through these programs the project will remove children from
the worst forms of child labor and prevent many others from entering
such work. Children will be assisted through the provision of
educational and other services, including the linkage with the
Government's Conditional Cash Transfer program. Many families and
communities will benefit from socio-economic programs supported by
the project.
21. (U) The National Plan of Action of Human Rights in Indonesia
(2004-2009) contains a specific objective on protecting the rights
of the child, with a series of activities aimed at combating
trafficking and protecting against sexual exploitation, pornography,
and worst forms of child labor. The NPA to Combat the Trafficking
of Women and Children and the NPA to Combat Commercial Sexual
Exploitation are in place to help reduce the trafficking and
commercial sexual exploitation of children.
22. (U) To keep children in school, the government continued the
Open Junior High School program, which was designed for
disadvantaged primary school graduates who are unable to attend
conventional junior high schools. In 2008, the government
established 2,576 Open Junior High Schools across the country, with
higher concentrations in areas with large numbers of child workers
to address the issue of child workers. The schools feature flexible
study time and location, agreed to by tutors, students and parents,
enabling child workers to study while employed. The number of
students attending such schools in 2008 totaled 306,498, with 16,684
teachers, and 30,776 tutors in 10,368 learning centers.
23. (U) The West Sumbawa regency administration in West Nusa
Tenggara has carried out a free education program since 2006
exempting all students from school fees up to the university level.
Osius#