In 1998, the International Labor Organization (ILO) estimated that 8.5 percent of children between the ages of 10 and 14 in Indonesia were working.⁹⁷⁵ According to the 2000 assessment by the Indonesian Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS), approximately 2.3 million children between the ages of 10 and 14 were economically active. However, this does not include children who worked in the informal sector. ⁹⁷⁶Almost 40 percent worked on the islands of Java and Bali, according to data compiled by the National Child Protection Commission. ⁹⁷⁷A 1999 National Socioeconomic Survey found that 10 percent of children between the ages of 10 and 14 worked.⁹⁷⁸ The World Bank estimates that between 2.3 to 2.9 million children work in Indonesia’s informal and industrial sectors alone (excluding agriculture).⁹⁷⁹ According to BPS data, more boys in the 10- to 14-year age group tend to work than girls of the same age.⁹⁸⁰

Child labor is prevalent in rural areas where the majority of children work in agriculture.⁹⁸¹ Researchers have noted that in the period prior to the Asian Economic Crisis (1970-1996) national rates on children’s labor force participation had been declining. However, while children’s labor force participation rates were falling in rural areas, they climbed in urban areas.⁹⁸²

Children also work in industries such as furniture, garment and footwear manufacturing, food processing, toy making, and small mining operations.⁹⁸³ In North Sumatra, boys work on fishing platforms called jermals between 12 to 13 hours per day for periods of up to three months in often dangerous conditions. These children face threats of physical and sexual abuse, injury from fishing nets, poisonous snakes in the ocean, and the possibility of falling into the sea and drowning.⁹⁸⁴ Children also split and dry fish, gather shellfish, shell shrimps, crabs and other kinds of shellfish.⁹⁸⁵

Many children work on plantations on an informal basis. On palm oil plantations, they apply pesticides and clear and collect palm oil seeds.⁹⁸⁶ On sugar plantations, they cut, plant and harvest the cane. Children on tobacco plantations use insecticides, and fertilize plants, while on cacao plantations children harvest and clear trees.⁹⁸⁷ A 2000 report by the Government of Indonesia and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) found an increase in the incidence of children working in exploitative and hazardous activities such as garbage scavenging, domestic servitude and prostitution.⁹⁸⁸ Other children work in the informal sector in newspaper sales, shoe shining, car parking, and begging.⁹⁸⁹ A recent study by the National Child Protection Commission suggests that about 40,000 to 50,000 children live on the streets in Indonesia’s cities where they are at risk of sexual abuse and prostitution. Many of them do not attend school.⁹⁹⁰

According to a 1999 Central Bureau of Statistics survey, up to 3 million persons in Indonesia work as domestic servants, of which 310,378 are between the ages of 10 and 18 years old.⁹⁹¹

The conflicts in Indonesia have also contributed to the increase of child labor because of the economic impact it has had on the country. Children are forced to work in order to help support their families. In some cases, children have been recruited as child soldiers in armed conflicts.⁹⁹² The Medical Emergency Rescue Committee (MER-C) estimates that 7,000 children have dropped out of school in order to work, including some girls who engage in prostitution to meet basic needs.⁹⁹³

A recent study found widespread involvement of children in prostitution in Indonesia. An estimated 30 percent of all children in prostitution are under the age of 18 (between 40,000 to 70,000 children).⁹⁹⁴ Prostitution is particularly prevalent on the islands of Riau province, where the clientele is often international.⁹⁹⁵

Trafficking of children is a growing problem.⁹⁹⁶ Children, primarily girls, are trafficked into prostitution both within Indonesia and to international destinations that include Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Persian Gulf countries, Hong Kong, Australia, Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan. There are also reports of children sold into marriage by their parents and trafficked to other countries.⁹⁹⁷

2. Children’s Participation in School

In 1997, the primary net attendance rate was 88.4 percent,⁹⁹⁸ and the primary net enrollment rate was 99.2 percent.⁹⁹⁹ Net enrollment rates are similar for both genders at the primary school level.¹⁰⁰⁰ About 5.5 million children between 7 and 15 years of age do not attend school.¹⁰⁰¹ The percentage of children who reached grade five in 1998 was 88 percent.¹⁰⁰²

Twenty percent of children, however, fail to complete their primary education, and 30 percent of children ages 13 to 15 years old are not in school.¹⁰⁰³ The number of school age dropouts rose from 2.8 million in 1997 to 8 million at the end of 1998, mainly for economic reasons.¹⁰⁰⁴ According to Indonesian Ministry of Education and International Labor Organization (ILO) data, between 11.7 and 11.9 million school-age children did not attend school in 1999.¹⁰⁰⁵

Various factors reduce children’s participation in schooling in Indonesia. Families must pay school fees, which increase with grade levels, and also pay for books and school uniforms.¹⁰⁰⁶ While public transportation costs are subsidized by the government, schools may be located far from home, which affects girls in particular due to safety concerns. The quality of schooling is reportedly often inadequate, and the curriculum sometimes fails to meet the needs of children.¹⁰⁰⁷ The 1958 Citizenship Law, which states that citizenship is passed paternally, has had the effect of prohibiting children of foreign fathers from attending public schools.

3. Child Labor Law and Enforcement

In April 1999, an Indonesian statute raised the legal age for employment from 14 to 15 years.¹⁰⁰⁸ The law prohibits children under the age of 15 from working more than four hours a day, but enforcement of this law is reportedly rare.¹⁰⁰⁹ The Protection of Children Forced to Work Law Regulation of 1987 allows children under the age of 14 to work in certain types of work with parental consent and for a limited number of hours dependent on a family’s financial need. Employers must report the number of children working under this law.¹⁰¹⁰ A 1998 Circular Letter from the Governor of North Sumatra set the minimum age for employment on jermals at 18 years.¹⁰¹¹ The Law on National Defense of 1982 set 18 years as the minimum age for voluntary recruitment into the armed forces.¹⁰¹²

Indonesia ratified ILO Convention No. 138 on Minimum Age for Employment on June 7, 1999, and ILO Convention No. 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labor on March 28, 2000.¹⁰¹³

The Government of Indonesia signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the International Labor Organization’s International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor (ILO-IPEC) in 1992 becoming one of the first countries to participate in the ILO-IPEC program. Indonesia has established a national steering committee and developed a draft National Plan of Action for addressing exploitative child labor.¹⁰¹⁴

Various child labor projects are under way in Indonesia. ILO-IPEC, with funding from the U.S. Department of Labor, is currently working to address the situation of children involved in the deep sea fishing sector on jermals in informal footwear production, and in scavenging.¹⁰¹⁵ Various nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and international agencies work to assist street children, including the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and the International Labor Organization (ILO), and open houses have been established in several provinces.¹⁰¹⁶

The BPS collects data on children ages 10 and older annually, and every three or four years conducts a survey on working children from 5 to 9 years of age.¹⁰¹⁷ BPS also conducts smaller surveys of targeted populations on an ad hoc basis.¹⁰¹⁸

In the 1970s, the Indonesian Government began a major initiative to raise enrollment rates among children from ages 7 to 12 through the construction of primary school buildings.¹⁰¹⁹ The increases in school enrollment at the primary level resulted in an extension of basic education by three years.¹⁰²⁰ In 1994, compulsory basic education was extended from six to nine years,¹⁰²¹ but this measure has not been fully implemented because of the lack of legal mechanisms for enforcement.¹⁰²² In addition to formal schooling, two “packets” have been developed by the government to provide nonformal education to children, based on their needs and ages.¹⁰²³

During the 1998 school year, in response to increasing numbers of school dropouts, the government began a supplementary program to provide grants to schools in the poorest areas and to distribute monthly scholarships, awarded by school-level committees, to children based on financial need. In its first year, the program dispensed between 1.2 and 1.6 million scholarships.¹⁰²⁴, In 1999 Indonesia’s Central Planning and Development Board earmarked 10 percent of educational safety net funds for working children to alleviate the growing trend of children dropping out of school for economic reasons.¹⁰²⁵

In January 2001, the ILO launched a program to provide 19.2 million children with improved basic education by improving the non-formal education system to suit the needs of working children.¹⁰²⁶

In 2001, central government spending on total education was equivalent to US$ 1.3 billion or 6 percent of central government spending, according to the 2001 revised budget. Figures are not available for amounts that regional governments spent on education under the fiscal decentralization program. Nonetheless experts agree this sector is severely underfunded.¹⁰²⁷

The following bar chart presents selected government expenditures expressed as a percentage of GNP. The chart considers government expenditures on education, the military, health care, and debt service. Where figures are available, the portion of government spending on education that is specifically dedicated to primary education is also shown.¹⁰²⁸

While it is difficult to draw conclusions or discern clear correlations between areas of government expenditure as a percentage of GNP and the incidence of child labor in a country, this chart and the related tables presented in Appendix B (Tables 14 through 19) offer the reader a basis for considering the relative emphasis placed on each spending area by the governments in each of the 33 countries profiled in the report.

⁹⁷⁵ World Bank, World Development Indicators 2000 [CD-ROM], Washington, D.C., 2000 [hereinafter World Development Indicators 2000 ].

⁹⁷⁶ Irwanto, Fentiny Nugroho, and Johanna Debora Imeldak, Trafficking of Children in Indonesia (Jakarta: ILO- IPEC, 2001), 25.

⁹⁷⁷ Jakarta Post, August 9, 2001, as cited in Electronic Correspondance from U.S. Department of State Official, Eric Barboriak, to U.S. Department of Labor Official, April 24, 2002 [hereinafter Jakarta Post].

⁹⁷⁸ P. Irwan, H. Hendriati and Y. Hestyani, Alternative Education Strategies for the Young Disadvantaged Groups in Indonesia (Jakarta: UNESCO, 1999), as cited in Peter Stalker, Beyond Krismon: The Social Legacy of Indonesia’s Financial Crisis (UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre, Italy, December 2000), 20 [hereinafter Beyond Krismon ]. However, given the percentage of children out of school, some analysts suggest that a more likely figure is 20 percent.

⁹⁷⁹ Irwanto, Mohammad Farid, and Jeffry Anwar, Situational Analysis of Children in Need of Special Protection in Indonesia (Jakarta: CSDS Atma Jaya, Department of Social Affairs, and UNICEF, 1998), 2 [hereinafter Situational Analysis of Children in Need ].

⁹⁸⁰ Some theorists find that this trend is unlikely, as it is contradicted by education rates of participation in which girls drop out of school earlier and at higher rates than boys. Indonesian Experience with Child Labor at 19-20.

⁹⁸¹ 1997 Central Bureau of Statistics data, as cited in Challenges for a New Generation: The Situation of Children and Women in Indonesia, 2000 (Jakarta: Government of Indonesia and UNICEF, September 2000), 140-41 [hereinafter The Situation of Children and Women in Indonesia ].

⁹⁸² Situational Analysis of Children in Need at 56. See also Indonesian Experience with Child Labor at 19-20, which states that participation of children in the workforce decreased between 1977 and 1996, while it has increased in urban areas. In fact, participation rates by girls ages 10 to 14 in the urban workforce have more than doubled. Additionally, while data are not yet available, the Asian crisis is presumed to have had a significant impact on child labor. Ten million workers lost their jobs, and the rupiah radically devalued, particularly impacting the poor. For further discussion of this issue, see Henri Sitorus and Yayasan Handal Mahardika, “The Economic Crisis and Child Workers in Indonesia: The Case of Child Plantation and Industrial Workers in North Sumatra”; see www.cwa.tnet.co.th/booklet/Indonesia.html.

⁹⁸³ Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1999 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of State, February 2000), 1150-51 [hereinafter Country Reports 1999—Indonesia ].

⁹⁸⁴ ILO-IPEC Programme to Combat Child Labor in the Fishing Sector in Indonesia and the Philippines (Phase 1), project document (Geneva: ILO, 1999), 2-3.

⁹⁸⁵ Chairil Chaniago, “Girl Workers in the Fisheries Sector in Belawan,” in Child Workers in Asia (Bangkok: Child Workers in Asia, vol. 16, no. 2, May-August 2000), 12-13.

⁹⁸⁶ On one plantation, owned by the state of Indonesia, children living near the plantation make up almost 30 percent of the 1,500 workers. They work roughly the same hours as adults but are paid much less. See Henri Sitorus and Yayasan Handal Mahardika, “The Economic Crisis and Child Workers in Indonesia: The Case of Child Plantation and Industrial Workers in North Sumatra” at (www.cwa.tnet.co.th/booklet/Indonesia.htm) [hereinafter “Economic Crisis and Child Workers in Indonesia”].

⁹⁸⁷ “Economic Crisis and Child Workers in Indonesia. See also interview with SBSI labor union officials, by U.S. Department of Labor official, October 13, 2000, and interview with Dr. Soedarti Surbakti, director general of BPS, Statistics Indonesia, by U.S. Department of Labor official, October 9, 2000, who finds the rate of child work in agriculture is declining. Dr. Surbakti said that only about 58 percent of child laborers are working in agriculture today [hereinafter Surbakti interview].

⁹⁸⁸ The Situation of Children and Women in Indonesia at vi.

⁹⁸⁹ U.S. Embassy-Jakarta, unclassified telegram no. 003129, June 28, 1999 [hereinafter unclassified telegram 003129].

⁹⁹⁰ Jakarta Post.

⁹⁹¹ ILO, Trafficking of Children in Indonesia, 34, as cited in Electronic Correspondance from U.S. Department of State Official, Eric Barboriak, to U.S. Department of Labor Official, April 24, 2002 [hereinafter Electronic Correspondance 4/24/02]. A 1995 survey estimated roughly 700,000 children below age 18 at work as domestic servants in Jakarta; see Blagbrough, Child Domestic Work in Indonesia: A Preliminary Situation Analysis (London: Anti-Slavery International, 1995), as cited in Innocenti Digest 5: Child Domestic Work (UNICEF International Child Development Centre, Italy, May 1999), 3.

⁹⁹² Children have been reported in militia groups that formed in East Timor and in the separatist region of Aceh and in the Maluku Islands. Reports from the Malukus indicate that children between the ages of 7 and 12 years of age have participated in both sides of the conflict. “Asia Report: Indonesia and East Timor,” May 2000, 2, 7; see www.child-soldiers.org/reports_asia/indon_and_et.html. According to this source, sources within the churches in the region said at least 200 boys had been forcibly recruited and trained as fighters.

⁹⁹³ W. E. Santi Soekanto, “Traumatized Children Left Neglected,” Jakarta Post, October 7, 2000.

⁹⁹⁴ Mohammad Farid, “Sexual Abuse, Sexual Exploitation, and the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children,” in Situational Analysis of Children in Need at 96-97. According to the National Commission for Child Protection, there are 390,000 children in prostition. See Electronic Correspondance 4/24/02.

⁹⁹⁵ Country Reports 1998—Indonesia at 1152.

⁹⁹⁶ Country Reports 2000—Indonesia at Section 6f (www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2000/eap/index.cfm?docid=707). See also The Situation of Children and Women in Indonesia at vi.

⁹⁹⁷ Country Reports 1998—Indonesia at 1152-53. See also Electronic Correspondance 4/24/02.

⁹⁹⁸ USAID, GED 2000: Global Education Database [CD-ROM], Washington, D.C., 2000. According to the 2000 UNICEF Situation Analysis, about 5.5 million children between 7 and 15 years of age do not attend school. See Electronic Correspondance 4/24/02.

⁹⁹⁹ World Development Indicators 2000 .

¹⁰⁰⁰ Indonesian Experience With Child Labor at 26.

¹⁰⁰¹ UNICEF Situation Analysis 2000 , as cited in Electronic Correspondance 4/24/02.

¹⁰⁰² World Development Indicators 2000 .

¹⁰⁰³ Beyond Krismon at 19.

¹⁰⁰⁴ Unclassified telegram 003129.

¹⁰⁰⁵ Country Reports 2000—Indonesia at Section 5.

¹⁰⁰⁶ U.S. Embassy-Jakarta, unclassified telegram no. 004679, September 29, 2000 [hereinafter unclassified telegram 004679].

¹⁰⁰⁷ The Situation of Children and Women in Indonesia at 143.

¹⁰⁰⁸ Unclassified telegram 004679. According to the ILO, several laws relating to child labor are currently being reviewed by the Government of Indonesia, including an omnibus Manpower Development and Protection Act, but due to public opposition and political constraints, these bills have not yet been approved.

¹⁰⁰⁹ Unclassified telegram 003129. The Department of Manpower includes 1,300 labor inspectors responsible for enforcing labor laws, including those related to child labor. The size of the force is reportedly inadequate for the effective monitoring or response to child labor. Training specifically on child labor issues is provided to labor inspectors.

¹⁰¹⁰ Country Reports 1999—Indonesia at 1150. See also unclassified telegram 004679.

¹⁰¹¹ “Implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child: Experience in Handling Child Labor in North Sumatra,” in Child Workers in Asia , vol. 15, no. 3 (September-December 1999) (www.cwa.tnet.co.th/V15-3/ indonesia.htm).

¹⁰¹² “Asia Report: Indonesia and East Timor,” May 2000 (www.child-soldiers.org/reports_asia/indon_and_et.html).

¹⁰¹³ For a list of which countries profiled in Chapter 3 have ratified ILO Conventions No. 138 and No. 182, see Appendix C.

¹⁰¹⁴ Electronic correspondence from Pandji Putranto, ILO-IPEC, to U.S. Department of Labor official, March 18, 2001.

¹⁰¹⁵ Indonesian Experience with Child Labor at 77-79.

¹⁰¹⁶ Country Reports 2000—Indonesia .

¹⁰¹⁷ Since 1998, only information for age 15 and above has been published.

¹⁰¹⁸ Surbakti interview.

¹⁰¹⁹ Esther Duflo, Schooling and Labor Market Consequences of School Construction in Indonesia: Evidence from an Unusual Policy Experiment, National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), NBER Working Paper Series No. 7860 (Massachusetts: August 2000), 2. Ultimately, more than 61,000 schools were constructed.

¹⁰²⁰ The Situation of Children and Women in Indonesia at 98.

¹⁰²¹ Ibid.

¹⁰²² Interview with Darmastuti Soetrisno, director of kindergarten and primary education, Ministry of Education, by U.S. Department of Labor official, October 13, 2000.

¹⁰²³ Ibid.

¹⁰²⁴ Beyond Krismon at 10-11.

¹⁰²⁵ Unclassified telegram, 6/28/99. Funds provided by the Asian Development Bank, the World Bank, and the Indonesian Government.

¹⁰²⁶ UN Wire, “Indonesia: ILO Targets 19.2M Children for Improved Education,” January 4, 2001 (www.unfoundation.org/unwire/index.asp).

¹⁰²⁷ Electronic Correspondance 4/24/02.

¹⁰²⁸ See Chapter 1, Section C, 5, for a fuller discussion of the information presented in the box. See also Appendix B for further discussion, and Tables 14 through 19 for figures on government expenditure over a range of years.