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#