Government and IPEC

IPEC country programme approach

Following the signing of an Memorandum of Understanding with a Government, IPEC support for the government is based on a phased, multi?sectoral strategy with the following elements:

n Encourage ILO constituents (national governments, employers' organizations and workers' organizations) and other partners to begin dialogue and create alliances

n Determine the nature and extent of the child labour problem, usually in cooperation with the National Bureau for Statistics.

n Assist in devising national policies to counter it

n Set up mechanisms to provide in?country ownership and operation of a national programme of action, usually by a National Steering Committee on child labour. Various Government Agencies and Non-Government agencies, Representatives of workers and employers are members. In Indonesia the National Steering Committee approves national action programmes proposed by IPEC, but is not active in another way.

n Promote development and application of protective legislation

n Support direct action aimed at preventing child labour or withdrawing children from work

n Integrate child labour issues systematically into social and economic development policies, programmes and budgets ,such as for example the programme with the Ministry of Home Affairs, where the child labour issue was integrated into the poverty alleviation programme.

What must governments do?

Three fundamental types of action against child labour can be provided only by the central government:

nchild labour legislation and appropriate enforcement mechanisms
n a national child labour policy that sets public priorities and reaches out to engage all the important social actors
n a publicly funded system of basic education that ensures quality schooling that is physically and economically accessible to children of even the poorest families

Convention 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labour particularly requires governments to:

nRemove children from hazardous work and prohibit certain dangerous practices
nPrevent the engagement of children in the worst forms of child labour
n Provide the necessary and appropriate direct assistance for the removal of children from the worst forms of child labour and for their rehabilitation and social integration
n Ensure access to free basic education, and, wherever possible and appropriate, vocational training, for all children removed from the worst forms of child labour
n Identify and reach out to children at special risk (e.g.very young children, migrant children)
n Take account of the special situation of girls

Examples of national policies and programmes of action against child labour

Many IPEC-participating countries have adopted national policies and programmes of action against child labour and introduced legislative reforms. Notable examples include:

na constitutional amendment raising the minimum age for admission to employment to 16 years in Brazil;
n a widening of the scope of the Child Labour act in India ;
n a five?year "national plan against the sexual exploitation of children" in Cambodia;
n a new minors code in Costa Rica and Nicaragua expressly prohibiting child labour;
n the adoption in Senegal of a law for the protection of underage children against violence and sexual exploitation;
n and the passage of a law in Turkey extending the minimum time a child has to attend school from five to eight years.
n Three countries - Nepal, Tanzania and El Salvador - recently committed to time-bound national plans to eliminate child labour completely.

In countries that have participated in the programme for some years, considerable progress has been made in changing perceptions and attitudes towards child labour. An important indicator of progress in sustaining long?term action is the extent to which these concerns are reflected in official government policies, programmes and budgets. For example:

nIn Brazil additional state and local forums have been established as part of the National Forum for the Prevention and Elimination of Child Labour);
nin Turkey the Child Labour Unit of the Ministry of Labour and Social security is now widely recognized as the focal point for child labour activities;
n in Bangladesh the Ministry of Labour and Employment has introduced child labour in its Tripartite Consultative Council.
nThe allocation of greater government resources to enable action has been demonstrated in Bangladesh, Brazil, India, in Nepal, Pakistan and Kenya.
nThe replication and expansion of successful action programmes and projects has taken place in Bangladesh, Thailand and Turkey.

Institutional structures

Strengthening institutional structures to deal with child labour is a continuous process that starts from the moment a country joins the Programme. Mature country programmes have directed their attention in recent years to the specific need for strengthening the capacity of partners to address the worst forms of child labour. Capacity?building through training and immersion in concrete hands?on activities, as well as experimenting with various approaches to deal with the problem, has started or has already generated concrete results.

The strategy, methodology and instruments to collect and utilize child labour data have been refined and surveys initiated in 14 countries. New surveys are underway in 18 more countries.

The Indonesian Government

Since the beginning IPEC has been working intensively with the Indonesian Government, including:

Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration

As the coordinating ministry for child labour, the cooperation with this Ministry is very important. Since the beginning the focus of IPEC has been on the strengthening of the capacity of labour inspectors to enforce the law on child labour. Labour inspectors have been trained to specifically carry out inspection for child labour. At the moment a programme is running to strengthen the capacity of the inspection mechanism to ensure children are removed from the workplace. Another programme that will be started with the Ministry of Manpower is to strengthen their capacity to implement Convention 182 and Convention 138. Within the Department of Labour Standards a Child Labour Unit will be established for this purpose.

Ministry of Home Affairs

The Ministry of Home Affairs has been carrying out a programme in about 15 provinces as part of the national poverty alleviation programme. Working children were identified and provided with scholarships, motivators were trained to motivate parents and children. Although the IPEC project provided for only 300 scholarships, the Ministry of Home Affairs provided 5000 scholarships itself and instructed all the Provinces to make budget for child labour.

Ministry of National Education

In 1994 a programme with the Ministry of Education focused on the improvement of the non-formal education curriculum and teaching methods. A new programme is about to start that will continue with improving the teaching methods and strengthen the management of non-formal education.

Central Bureau of Statistics

Several surveys have been supported on economically active children in several Provinces, including Bandung, Medan and Deli Serdang. Research methodologies for working children were developed.

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