[Kabar-indonesia] RI, WB Target Child Labor with Cash Aid Program [+India's Ban: Ineffective?]

[JoyoNews at aol.com]

also: India bans employment of children below 14
[But rights activists held out little hope that the lot 
of child labourers would change.]

The Jakarta Post
Wednesday, August 2, 2006

Cash aid program launched to eliminate child labor 

Ridwan Max Sijabat, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government, in cooperation with the World Bank, is initiating a 
cash-based program to send impoverished child laborers to school.

The conditional cash transfer program, which is part of the effort to 
eradicate poverty and the worst forms of child labor, will be tried out in six 
provinces as a pilot project. It will also provide health care for children and 
pregnant women. 

Deputy Chairman of the National Development Planning Board (Bappenas) Bambang 
Widianto said the cash would be transferred through state-owned PT Pos 
Indonesia to poor families in West and East Java, Gorontalo, Jakarta, North Sulawesi 
and East Nusa Tenggara. 

"If the pilot project succeeds, it will be developed as a national program," 
he said at a meeting of the National Committee for the Elimination of the 
Worst Forms of Child Labor here on Tuesday. 

The monthly cash aid will amount to Rp 200,000 (US$22) to Rp 600,000, 
depending on the size of the family. 

"Children receiving benefits are required to visit clinics designated by the 
Health Ministry. Those aged between seven and 15 are required to attend 
school, and that will be verified every three months, while pregnant women have to 
visit clinics or public health centers designated by the Health Ministry," 
Bambang explained. 

Bappenas, in cooperation with the National Statistics Bureau, is still 
collecting data on poor families eligible for the program. 

Bambang said many children work in factories, fishing, places of 
entertainment, and prostitution and narcotics syndicates because their parents cannot 
afford the cost of education. 

Data at the Manpower Ministry shows that the number of poor families and 
child laborers has increased to some 38 million and 2.8 million respectively in 
2005. 

Director General for Labor Supervision at the Manpower and Transmigration 
Ministry Marudin Simanihuruk said so far, his office has succeeded in sending 
more than 14,000 child laborers to school, and preventing as many as 11,400 
children from being employed in fishing, prostitution, mining, the footwear 
industry and drug trafficking. 

"The East Kalimantan regency of Kutai Kartanegara, which is rich in natural 
resources, has been declared child labor-free, while North Sumatra and East 
Java have set up local special committees for the elimination of child labor," he 
said. 

The International Labor Organization (ILO) has worked with other groups, 
including NGOs, to carry out programs in numerous provinces over the past three 
years to help eliminate child labor. 

ILO chief technical advisor Patrick Quinn said that besides strengthening the 
capacity of provincial administrations, ILO has also worked with labor unions 
and the Indonesian Employers' Association (Apindo) to set up learning centers 
for child laborers in West Java, North Sumatra and East Java. 

Indonesia committed to eliminating child employment just after it ratified 
ILO conventions in 1999 and 2000 supporting a minimum wage and calling for an 
end to the worst forms of child labor. 

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Agence France-Presse
August 2, 2006

India bans employment of children below 14
 
Employing children under 14 in households, roadside eateries and hotels will 
be illegal in India from October, the government has announced, saying it 
hopes to improve the plight of millions.

But rights activists held out little hope that the lot of child labourers 
would change.

A labour ministry statement late Tuesday said the ban has been imposed under 
the 1986 Child Labour Prohibition and Regulation Act and would take effect 
October 10.

It warned that anyone employing children in homes, roadside eateries, 
restaurants, hotels, motels, teashops, resorts, spas or in other recreational centres 
will be liable to prosecution.

Penalties range from a prison term of up to two years and/or a fine of 
between 10,000 rupees and 20,000 rupees (212 and 424 dollars).

The ban is expected to "ameliorate" the sufferings of millions of working 
children, said the labour ministry, estimating that there are some 12.6 million 
child labourers in India.

Describing the employment of children as domestic helps or in the hospitality 
industry as "hazardous," the statement said that in most cases they were 
subject to physical violence, psychological trauma and sexual abuse.

Those working in highway eateries were identified as the "most vulnerable" 
and "easy prey to sex and drug abuse."

These abuses went unnoticed and unreported as they took place in the close 
confines of the households or restaurants, the government said.

"Children are made to work for long hours and are made to undertake various 
hazardous activities severely affecting their health and psyche," it added.

India has already banned children from working in hazardous industries like 
making fire crackers and glass factories under a parliamentary act passed in 
1986.

But many children continue to work in such establishments because of lax 
enforcement of laws.

Activists said the new ban would not make much difference eliminating child 
labour.

"I wonder how successful this move is going to be? How many people has the 
government penalised so far (under existing laws)? Do they have any records of 
that?" asked social anthropologist Neera Burra, an author of a book on child 
labour.

"I want to know how the government plans to enforce the ban." she said.

Burra also asked the government to spell out plans for the rehabilitation of 
children rescued from such places.

"We need workable plans for rehabilitation. After the children are rescued 
they need to be sent to school. Do we have adequate schools to cater to the 
need?" she said.

"Most are housed in observation homes that are very much like prisons."

Rishi Kant, an activist with Shakti Vahini, a non-governmental organisation 
working with children, also questioned the effectiveness of the ban.

"It is a welcome step no doubt but the government should follow it up with 
practical alternatives," Kant said.

"For instance, vocational training as well as sensitising parents will go a 
long way," he said.

Parents, for instance, were diffident about sending children to schools two 
or three kilometres (miles) away from their villages but when it came to 
sending them off to work in another state they did not seem to mind, he said.

The rescue of children had to be coupled with "overall economic development 
as well as incentives to parents and children to wean them away from child 
labour," he added.

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Joyo Indonesia News Service
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