Aun Falestien Faletehan

By

u3016328

UNICEF defines Child Work as “Children’s participation in economic activity that does not negatively effect their health and development or interfere with education can be positive. Work that does not interfer with education (light work) is permitted from the age of 12 years under the International labour Organization (ILO) Convention 138”.

While the Child Labour is “more narrowly defined and refers to children working in contravention of the above standards. This means all children below 12 years of age working in any economic activities, those age 12 to 14 years engaged in harmful work, and all children engaged in the worst forms of child labour.”

Based on ILO, child labour refers to work that is mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous and harmful to children; and interferes with their schooling; by depriving them of the opportunity to attend school; by obliging them to leave school prematurely; or by requiring them to attempt to combine school attendance with excessively long and heavy work.

The broader concept of “Beneficial vs Harmful “

as a form of child labour?

are engaged in various forms of informal income generation in

order to contribute to the household economy or for personal

survival.

It has been argued that economic independence, and ability to

contribute to the household, is an important psychological factor

in street children’s resiliency, self-confidence and feelings of self-

worth.

All children who live outside their homes and do economic

activities in the street are now called street children. With this

definition, children forced into prostitution and working children

can also be called street children.

Street children with family:

• Still get attention from family

• Continue their schooling

• Work longer hours because forced to bring money to family

• Apply more concentration to their work

• Work as vendors, beggars, street singers, shoe shiners, etc.

Homeless children:

• More independent and appear to enjoy their work more

• More exposed to, and subsequently exhibit more violent behaviour

• Drop out of school

• Receive less or no attention from family

• Tend to use drugs and engage in gambling activities

• Poor health

http://www.streetchildren.org.uk/The Consortium for Street Children (CSC) consists of 56 UK based organisations, working in 89 countries, dedicated to the welfare and rights of street living and working children and children at risk of taking to street life

http://www.pedulianak.com/Fighting for the rights of street children in developing countries, the Peduli AnakFoundation can be characterized as an international NGO. Peduli Anak’s unique approach towards development work has travelled around the world rapidly.

http://www.iscofoundation.org/Indonesian street children organisation (ISCO Foundation)

http://www.streetkids.org/privacy.htmStreet Kids International is a non-profit agency founded in Canada that is a global leader in developing and disseminating the strategies and tools needed to give street kids around the world the choices, skills, and opportunities to make a better life for themselves.

http://www.enscw.org/about.htmThe European Foundation for Street Children (EFSC) is a Brussels-based foundation established in 1995 by Maartje Van Putten, Member of the European Parliament from 1989 to 1999, being committed to improving the situation of children at risk, and particularly street children, on a non-profit basis.

The issue of street children first emerged in early

1980s when less than ten NGOs were working in this

area and the government refused to acknowledge the

existence of street children

The term “anak jalanan” (street children) was once a

taboo word in Indonesia – considered “subversive”, or

anti-development in 1980s but is now accepted.

Street children are called GEPENG (GElandangan-

PENGemis/ Homeless-Beggar) which in Indonesian

means "thin or slim" but implies the marginalization

and humiliation of street children as human beings

A phenomenon in large cities.

About 60,000 homeless children in Indonesia; 20,000 of

whom live in Jakarta (The Capital City).

There are also 11.7 million school dropouts, 400,000 of

whom live in shelters for displaced persons.

Poverty and parent involvement are the main reasons

Street Children mostly work in the informal sector as shoe-

shiners, street peddling, street singers, baggage carriers,

car washers, beggars, and illegal parking assistants, etc.

People can find them easily in such areas as traditional

market, mall, train station, bus station or congested

intersection.

Street children’s life as “career” (Visano’s theory: 1990)

A research by Beazley (2003) about the street child subculture “the Tikyan” in Yogyakarta

There are distinct hierarchical levels and codes of ethics attached to all working activities, and older children will teach newcomers the rules of working on the street.

The lowest level of work in

the Tikyan hierarchy is

“begging”

The “Big Boss” of beggars

in Surabaya

Also, some children

are “scavenging”

plastic spoons, water

bottles, cardboard

boxes, tin-cans,

newspapers and

clothes, which they

re-sell and wear.

Shoe-shining is the most

common profession

among prepubescent

street boys and can be

highly lucrative,

especially for those boys

who play on the fact

that they look cute, thus

gaining sympathy from

the general public.

Other professions

which street boys in

Yogyakarta are

engaged in are selling

newspapers, bottled

water, sweets and

stationary, making

and selling jewelry.

Busking with guitars, drums and tambourines

is at the top of the instrument and work

hierarchy, and street children take a lot of

pride in playing their guitars as it confers a

significant amount of sub-cultural capital.

“Most young children who want to stop shoe-

shining desperately aspire to own a guitar

and will try and save up so that they can buy

one, and thus move up the hierarchy.”

Street children are particularly vulnerable to the worst

forms of child labour which are both potentially and

actually hazardous, including commercial sexual

exploitation of children (CSEC) and involvement in

organised crime.

Further, due to the rigidity of formal education

timetabling, the types of labour engaged in by street

children often prohibit them from attending school,

thus perpetuating cycles of poverty.

Where is an integral part of their learning and

development processes?

Street children are mainly the product of parents who tragically

live under the poverty line and cannot afford to send their

children to school.

The high rates of out-of-school children have resulted in an

increased number of working children and street children, with

the former often working under less than secure conditions.

A survey revealed that the reason the children were taking to the

street was to either help their parents economically by working on

the streets (35%) or paying tuition fees (27%).

It was also reported that almost half of the street children (44%)

still study at school and most of (83%) still live with their parents

and 13% of the street children had dropped out of school.

Every citizen has the right to education (Article 31:1)

The poor and destitute children shall be cared for by the State

(34)

The basic nine-years education which is compulsory for any

children (section 48 of Law No. 23/2002 on Child Protection)

versus the Indonesian government budget.

Section 69(1) of the Manpower Act allows employment of children

aged between 13 and 15 years for light work as long as the job

does not stunt or disrupt their physical, mental or social

development. They are not allowed to work more than three hours

per day. The work should not interfere with schooling, and health

and safety requirements have to be respected. However, there is

no list of types of light work activities that may be performed by

children between 13 and 15 years.

Street-working children in Indonesia is a serious

problem and many children drop out of school

and labour inspection is insufficient.

Reformation of the education system?

Cooperation between NGO’s at local, national

and international levels

“How to design an effective strategy to provide better education for the street-working children

in Indonesia?”