145 challenges for the strategic plan for all births to
be registered by 2011. The MoHA extended the birth registration service dispensation policy
aimed at accelerating the achievement of the national strategic plan’s target i.e., all children
in Indonesia are to be registered by 2011.
7
With reference to the Letter of the Minister of Home
Affairs No. 472.112945SJ, the dispensation period which expired in December 2010 was
extended until the end of December 2011. However, the implementation of this policy is fully
assigned to the Offices of Population and Civil Registration at the district level, such that every
district might implement the policy using different procedures. Indeed, not all local governments
have implemented free birth registration since some still regard it as a source of income.
5.2.4 Recommendations
Although access to birth registration has increased, many children in Indonesia still do not
have birth certificates resulting in a high degree of disparity across regions and across different
levels of household wealth. The government has issued many regulations and programmes to
address this but problems related to supply and access continues to arise.
On the supply side, the government should: 1. Bring the service closer to those who are not
accessing registration by: a. Moving the service point to the closest
possible location, or subsidizing the transport and administrative costs of
accessing birth registration; b. Ensuring that birth attendants and midwives
register the births they attend, including home deliveries the government should
also allocate some funds for operational costs, so that birth attendants will not be
burdened by the cost or pass these costs on to the parents; andor
c. Ensuring that civil registration agencies collect birth registration forms from
hospitals on a daily basis. 2. Empower midwives and traditional birth
attendants to help parents with the birth registration process by filling in the registration
forms and delivering them to the closest civil registration office.
3. Subsidize the cost of birth registration and issue birth certificates free of charge.
4. Review the law and regulations to remove discriminatory practices against children born
outside of marriage and outside of legal marriage.
5. Extend the time requirement of 60 days post- birth to register the child’s birth.
On the demand side, the government needs to disseminate information to the public, especially
to poor communities, about the importance of birth registration.
5.3 Working children and child labour
8
5.3.1 Regulatory framework, policies and programmes
After ratifying ILO Convention No. 138 on the minimum age for admission to employment
through Law No. 201999 and ILO Convention No. 182 on the worst forms of child labour
WFCL through Law No. 12000, the GoI has continuously made efforts to reduce child labour,
especially the WFCL and child trafficking. Several laws have been issued to provide a legal basis
for this endeavour, including: Law No. 232002 regarding Child Protection, Law No. 232004
regarding Domestic Violence, and Law No. 212007 regarding the Eradication of Criminal Acts
of Trafficking. In addition, in 2006, ILO’s Global Report on Child Labour called for a global united
effort to eradicate the WFCL by 2016. A consensus was reached among ASEAN governments in mid-
2009 to support this agenda, which was linked to achieving the main MDG target of reducing
extreme poverty.
7 During the dispensation time, children exceed the age limit are still allowed to be registered their birth through office of population and civil registration with free of charge
8 Although trafficking and some activities of children living or working on the street can be considered as among the worst forms of child labour, these
issues are not discussed in this section but later in the chapter. Child trafficking will be discussed in section 5.4 and children living or working on the street in section 5.5.
146 In spite of the progress, Irwanto 2011 points
out that Law No. 132003 on Labour does not fully incorporate ILO Conventions Nos. 138 and
182.
9
He explained that while the Law stipulates that it is prohibited to employ children Article
68, it makes an exception for children aged 13–15 years to perform light work Article 69,
defined as activities “that will not negatively affect a child’s development and physical, mental
and social health” and states that the work should not exceed a maximum of three hours
per day and should be performed during the day time but not during school hours. Another
exception extends to children who work within their own family business. This stipulation is
not in line with Article 2 clauses 3 and 4 of the ILO Convention No. 138, which states that the
minimum age for work in developing countries is 14 or 15 years. Another criticism of this Law is
that it fails to address the lack of any regulations on work for 16- to 17-year-old children.
Presidential Decree No. 122001 established a National Action Committee NAC for the
Elimination of the WFCL, and subsequently Presidential Decree No. 592002 set out the
National Action Plan for the Elimination of the WFCL NAP–WFCL. The NAP–WFCL provides
a guideline for all stakeholders – government institutions, non-government organizations, the
private sector, academics and the mass media – for joint efforts to prevent and eliminate the
WFCL. This programme targets all children employed in the WFCL and all parties who make
use of, supply, or offer children aged under 18 years for employment in the WFCL. The NAP–
WFCL defines the WFCL as including: 1. Children trafficked for prostitution
2. Children engaged in the production, trade
and distribution of explosive and chemical substances
3. Children engaged in the production processes of mining
4. Children engaged in the process of footwear production in the informal sector
5. Children engaged in the offshore fishery sector
6. Children employed as domestic workers 7. Children employed in the plantation sector,
particularly in oil palm plantations 8. Children working in the streets
The NAP–WFCL is being implemented in three stages, each with specified targets and of which
takes a certain period of time. Stage I takes 5 years, stage II takes 10 years, and stage III takes 20
years. The objectives, strategies and programmes for stage I and II are listed in Table 5.3.
The evaluation of stage I of this programme 2002–2007 concluded that it had run relatively
well. During these first five years, the programme managed to deliver direct assistance to 45,111
children, of whom 3,656 were withdrawn from and 41,453 were prevented from entering the
WFCL through the provision of non-formal and vocational education programmes and
rehabilitation. In an effort to raise awareness and increase knowledge about this programme in the
larger community, the government conducted several intensive campaigns through various
media. In addition, the government also increased the involvement of key stakeholders by providing
capacity building opportunities at institutions at the central and local levels. They succeeded in
establishing Provincial WFCL Action Committees in 21 provinces and 72 districtscities, and issued
Provincial Regulations on WFCL in 2 provinces.
In addition to these achievements, the evaluation of the first stage of this programme also revealed
a number of major challenges. These included a lack of updated data on child labour, a lack of
efficient coordination and cooperation at national and local levels, and a lack of optimal budget
allocation for programme implementation. To enhance the impact of the programme, this
evaluation also acknowledged the importance of developing integrated and sustainable
programmes by mainstreaming child labour issues in education programmes and national
poverty alleviation efforts across the country.
Currently, stage II of this programme focuses on: i educating children who have been
withdrawn from or prevented from entering
9 This law was also criticized by Indonesia’s National NGO Coalition for Child Rights Monitoring for failing to give consideration to the minimum age of employment and the nature of work Irwanto, 2011.
