VII. National and Local Governments' International Legal Obligations

Indonesia has chosen to join several international treaties that create a strong framework for guaranteeing decent working conditions for child domestic workers. The obligations that stem from these treaties are binding on the national government, as well as on provincial and district governments. Going forward, as all levels of government work to develop appropriate protections to child domestic workers through regulation, they should aim to meet these international standards.

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child requires the regulation of the hours and conditions of employment to ensure that children have adequate time for rest, leisure, and play.[194]

Under the ILO Minimum Age Convention the minimum age for admission to general employment "shall not be less than the age of completion of compulsory schooling and, in any case, shall not be less than 15 years."[195] However, in Indonesia, as nine years education is compulsory[196] and children generally begin elementary school at age seven, the minimum requirement for an individual to enter into work therefore should be someone who is at least 15 years old and has completed nine years of compulsory education. Indonesia is free to set the age of entry into general work higher than 15 years old, should it choose to do so. Indeed, the Minimum Age Convention requires Indonesia to "raise progressively" the minimum age of work "to a level consistent with the fullest physical and mental development of young persons."[197]

The Minimum Age Convention does allow for children from 13 to 15 to be employed in light work if it is not likely to be harmful to their health or development or prejudice their education.[198] Governments must "determine activities in which employment is permitted and [to] prescribe the number of hours during which and the conditions in which such employment or work may be undertaken."[199]

The Convention on the Rights of the Child guarantees children the right "to be protected from performing any work that is likely to be hazardous or to interfere with the child's education, or to be harmful to the child's health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development."[200] Under the ILO Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention some forms of child labor are flatly prohibited, such as slavery or practices similar to slavery. Other types of work are prohibited if they constitute "work which, by its nature or the circumstances in which it is carried out, is likely to harm the health, safety or morals of children."[201]

According to the Recommendation adopted by the ILO to supplement the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, "hazardous work" may include:

(a) work which exposes children to physical, psychological or sexual abuse;

(b) work under particularly difficult conditions such as work for long hours or during the night;

(c) work where the child is unreasonably confined to the premises of the employer;

(d) work with dangerous machinery, equipment and tools;

(e) work which involves the handling or transport of heavy loads;

(f) work which may expose children to hazardous substances, such as chemicals, pesticides, cleaning acids, or human waste and secretions, particularly of sick individuals;

(g) work which exposes children to high noise levels; and

(h) work at dangerous heights or in confined spaces.[202]

The Recommendation also calls upon governments to give "special attention" to "the problem of hidden work situations, in which girls are at special risk."[203]

Domestic work by children where such conditions exist, some examples of which are documented in this report, is a worst form of child labor under international law.

It should then be prohibited to allow children to be subject to or at risk of such working conditions, and the government must take immediate and effective measure to secure the elimination of these worst forms of child labor as a matter of urgency.[204]

The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, to which Indonesia is a party, provides that everyone is entitled to just and favorable conditions of work, rest, leisure, reasonable limitations on working hours, and periodic holidays.[205]  This extends to those engaged in domestic work, as well as those in the non-domestic work force and there is no permissible justification for excluding domestic workers from laws that set out and protect these rights.

Moreover, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women obligates governments to ensure the "right to equal remuneration [between men and women], including benefits, and to equal treatment in respect of work of equal value."[206] Similarly, the Convention on the Rights of the Child provides that all the rights enumerated in the Convention, including the right to be free from economic exploitation, are applied equally to all children irrespective of sex, social origin, or other status.[207]