World Day Against Child Labour 2009: Government of Indonesia – ILO to tackle female child Labour

The International Labour Organization (ILO) in Indonesia will join with governments, national confederations, academic institutions, NGOs, and other key constituents in organizing a national march against child labour on Sunday, 21 June 2009, from 07.00am – 12.00pm, at West Gate of Senayan Main Stadium, Jakarta. The march will start at two starting points: Atma Jaya University and the Ministry of National Education.

Press release | 15 June 2009

JAKARTA (ILO News): The International Labour Organization (ILO) in Indonesia will join with governments, national confederations, academic institutions, NGOs, and other key constituents in organizing a national march against child labour on Sunday, 21 June 2009, from 07.00am – 12.00pm, at West Gate of Senayan Main Stadium, Jakarta. The march will start at two starting points: Atma Jaya University and the Ministry of National Education.

From these starting points, more than 1,500 people, including ex-child labourers, from various organizations will walk to Senayan Main Stadium, declaring their aspirations for a future with access to quality education, with children’s rights, and without child labour. HE Mr Erman Suparno, Minister of Manpower and Transmigration and HE Ms Meutia Hatta, State Minister for Women’s Empowerment, will open the march.

Organized in conjunction with the commemoration of the World Day Against Child Labour on 12th of June, the march marks the long journey and efforts in tackling child labour and reaching a future without child labour. The starting points of the March signify the importance of education in this effort.

The march also marks the tenth anniversary of the adoption of ILO Convention No. 182, which addresses the need for action to tackle the worst forms of child labour. This year, under the theme “Give Girls a Chance – End Child Labour”, the World Day will highlight the continuing challenges, with a focus on exploitation of girls in child labour.

Around the world, an estimated 100 million girls are involved in child labour. Many of these girls undertake similar types of work as boys but often endure additional hardships and face increased risks. Girls are exposed to some of the worst forms of child labour, such as commercial sexual exploitation, child trafficking and exploitive domestic work.

In many countries, including Indonesia, girls below the minimum age of employment can be found working in a wide range of occupational sectors and services. In Indonesia, four main major areas where girls are commonly engaged include: child domestic labour, commercial sexual exploitation of children, child trafficking, and street children.

Alan Boulton, Country Director of the ILO in Indonesia, stated that girls can face particular disadvantages due to discrimination and practices which allocate certain forms of work to specifically to female child workers. This can have a negative impact on any opportunity for school attendance and can present a physical danger to them.

“Therefore, on this World Day, it is important to call for policy responses to address the causes of child labour, paying particular attention to the situation of girls, as well as greater attention to the education and skills training needs of girls. The World Day also calls for measures to protect poor households with children from the effects of the global economic crisis,” he added.

The national march is one of the efforts taken by the ILO and its partners to promote awareness and action for tackling child labour problems in Indonesia. The march is organized under the coordination the ILO’s main partners, JARAK, a network of NGOs against child labour, and London School of Public Relations Jakarta (LSPR Jakarta), an education institution focusing on communication science.

The ILO is the United Nations agency dealing with work and workplace issues. The ILO has been actively calling for the elimination of child labour, in particular its worst forms, since 1992. Today, the ILO has two technical cooperation programmes dealing with child labour issues: The Project of Support to the Indonesia Time Bound Programme on the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour, funded by the United States Department of Labour (USDOL) and the Education and Skills Training for Youth (EAST), funded by the Government of Netherlands.

For further information please contact:

Arum Ratnawati
Chief Technical Adviser of the ILO’s Child Labour Programme
Tel. +6221 3913112 ext. 122
Email

Patrick Daru
Chief Technical Adviser of the ILO’s Education and Skills Training Programme
Tel. +6221 3913112 ext. 150
Email

Dede Sudono
Education Specialist of the ILO’s Child Labour Programme
Tel. +6221 3913112 ext. 126
Mobile: +62811 140 457
Email