Good News From The Minister Of Manpower Ida Fauziyah: The Government Is Committed To Reducing Child Labor

Indonesian Minister of Manpower, Ida Fauziyah. (Photo: Doc. Ministry of Manpower)

JAKARTA - The Minister of Manpower, Ida Fauziyah, emphasized that the government is committed to reducing child labour, especially in the worst forms of child labour.

"The government is serious and firm in making various concrete efforts to reduce child labor in Indonesia," said Minister of Manpower Ida in a written statement, quoted from Antara, Wednesday, June 23.

This commitment is marked by the ratification of ILO Conventions No. 138 and No. 182 by Law No. 20 of 1999 and Law No. 1 of 2000.

In addition, the government incorporated the second technical substance in the ILO convention into Law Number 13 of 2013 concerning Manpower.

The Minister of Manpower Ida added that the government has prepared a National Action Plan for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor (RAN-PBPTA) through Presidential Decree No. 59/2002. This NAP-EWFCL is a reference in eliminating the worst forms of child labour.

"We have finished implementing RAN-PBPTA Phase I and Phase II. For now we are implementing RAN-PBPTA Phase III," he said when he was a keynote speaker in a national webinar on "Prevention and Protection of Child Labor in Indonesia", Wednesday.

In eliminating the worst forms of child labour, he said that the Ministry of Manpower had made five concrete efforts. First, increasing understanding through socialization to the business world and the public about the worst forms of child labour.

Second, make efforts to prevent and eliminate child labor from WFCL through various programs, including the Child Labor Free Zone/area Program, and the Campaign Against Child Labor. Third, from 2008 to 2020, the Ministry of Manpower has implemented the Child Labor Reduction Program and has succeeded in attracting 143,456 children from the workplace.

According to him, the purpose of this program is to reduce the number of child workers from poor households (RTM) who drop out of school to be withdrawn from the workplace through assistance in shelters in order to motivate and prepare children to return to education.

"This program can be successful with the support of various parties, both government and non-government, including the community," said the Minister of Manpower.

Fourth, strengthening the capacity of law enforcement on child labor and WFCL through the expansion of education and training, such as the technical guidance for supervising child labor norms. Fifth, implementing policies for the prevention and control of child labor and WFCL both pre-emptively, preventively and repressively by the labor inspector through socialization to stakeholders, examination of companies suspected of employing children and investigations.

"All the steps taken reflect the cooperation and synergy with the existing pentahelix elements and will continue to be improved in the future," he said.

He also stated that one of the pentahelix synergy steps that will be implemented in Preventing Indonesian Child Labor, namely the Ministry of Manpower in collaboration with various parties, especially the business world to implement the Declaration of a Child Labor Free Indonesia in 2022 at Karawang International Industry City (KIIC), Modern Cikande 10 Industrial Estate (MCIE) in Karawang. Then, Makassar Industrial Estate (KIMA), Modern Cikande Estate (MCIE) in Banten, and Krakatau Industrial Estate Cilegon (KIEC) in Banten.