TEMPO.CO, Makassar – The International Labor Organization (ILO) predicted that approximately 26 percent of the total 2.6 million domestic workers in Indonesia are children under the age of 18 years old. Out of the 26 percent, as many as 90 percent out are females from poor families in villages.
South Sulawesi ILO Coordinator Imelda Amelia Sibala said that making children work automatically blocks their access for growth.
"If they do not go to school, then they will automatically have no skills," she said during the 'Night Dialogue and Screening of Films about Children' held by ILO in cooperation with the South Sulawesi Child Protection Agency during the World Against Child Labor Day last June 12.
Imelda believed that if the government allows children to work, that means it must accept the fact that in 15 years there will be more citizens out of work. Due to the lack of education during their childhood, these children will have difficulty getting proper jobs in the future.
Sakka Pati, an academician from the Faculty of Law at Hasanuddin University argued that children must be given a special treatment and should not be allowed to work. The local administration is currently drafting a governor's decree to be added to Regional Law No. 04/ 2013 about the child protection system.
"The discussion about this decree is the right momentum to eradicate child labor," said Sakka.
REZKI ALVIONITASARI