Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2000, published 89th ILC session (2001)

Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) - Indonesia (Ratification: 1950)

The Committee notes the Government’s report.

1.  The Committee had asked the Government to supply information on the situation of children obliged to work under extremely dangerous conditions on fishing platforms off the north-east coast of Sumatra. It notes from the information communicated by the Government in its report of February 1999, that the Government is aware that this situation is not compatible with the Convention, but that it is due to the difficulty experienced by the families of these children to find other sources of income. The Government states that the local government of the north of Sumatra has been called on to create alternative sources of income for the population living along the coasts of this region and that the Government, in collaboration with the ILO’s International Programme for the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC), is currently undertaking a study with a view to solving the problem of the children working on fishing platforms (jermals). The Government also indicates that the local government has received instructions to replace all the children by adult workers, and that the Governor has established a team in charge of gathering statistics on the number of children who should be receiving schooling; the number in need of training for work having reached the age of employment; and the number of children who could become self-employed.

2.  The Committee notes that one of the IPEC programme objectives in the field of eradication of child labour in the fisheries sector in Indonesia, of which the Committee has been informed, is to remove 1,900 children from the fishing platforms before 2001. However, the Committee notes the information presented in the case studies carried out under the IPEC programme, which suggest that there have been cases of forced recruitment and kidnapping, which have targeted the most vulnerable children, such as street children. The Committee notes that the Government is involved in this programme. The Committee also notes the statement made by Anti-Slavery International at the 25th Session of the United Nations Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery held from 14 to 23 June 2000, that children are still working on the platforms. It appears from the interviews carried out during the study that organizations conducted, that children are removed from the platforms when the inspection visits are announced. According to this information, some children are obliged to remain on the platforms without being paid for their labour, after working 12 hours a day over several months.

3.  The Committee hopes that the Government will supply information on the measures taken to ensure that its instructions are strictly applied as regards the recruitment of children for work on fishing platforms, so as to avoid them being subject to conditions of forced labour and exploitation, particularly as regards the payment of wages and working hours, to which neither the children themselves could freely agree, nor their parents in their place.

4.  In its previous observation, the Committee referred to the situation in East Kalimantan on the Island of Borneo, where, according to allegations formulated by the World Confederation of Labour (WCL), the Dayak tribe were submitted to conditions of debt bondage. This situation arose from practices in commercial logging concessions under community development programmes drawn up by the enterprises and in industrial forest plantations. By way of compensation for the negative impact of these concessions on local communities, the Government is said to have required all concessions to undertake the development of a nearby community under the HPH Bina Desa Programme; however, according to the WCL, these programmes were commonly misused by companies, which coerced and threatened villagers into forming work groups and farmers’ groups. The groups were then ordered to carry out uncompensated labour on participatory development projects designed by the company without regard for the needs or wishes of the community being "developed".

5.  The Committee also noted that, according to the WCL, under the industrial forest transmigration programme, impoverished farmers from Java were provided with a boat ticket to a Kalimantan port. They were then placed in far-flung locations, where some had no choice but to engage in plantation labour for a wage lower than the cost of living, forcing them into debt. Indigenous people, as well as transmigrant workers, were forced into a situation of total dependence and impoverished workers were turned into bonded labourers.

6.  The Government indicated in its September 1998 report that the objective of the community development programme was to assist the village community in acquiring economic and social facilities such as roads and village meeting halls, developing various local businesses, and improving awareness of forest conservation and security. Planning and implementation by the logging concessions is always based on a diagnostic study, which is to identify the economic condition and potential of the respective village as well as social conditions, aspirations and expectations of the community. To build the economic and social facilities, the Dayak people ask only for support from the programme to provide the material needed. They work together voluntarily without expecting wages. The Committee had asked the Government to provide information on the practical application of the programmes, and particularly on any measures aiming, for example, at guaranteeing that the villagers concerned enter into the programmes voluntarily and that there is no form of compulsory labour.

7.  The Committee notes the information communicated by the Government in its February 1999 report, to the effect that the industrial forest plantation transmigration (IFP), is carried out through voluntary recruitment, with families receiving adequate lodgings. The worker is paid a wage that must not be lower than the regional minimum wage, and the working week is around 40 hours. The Government also indicates that four of the indigenous community leaders met between 21 and 24 July 1998, and agreed that the migration implantation programmes were well accepted and should not be called into question. The Government also made efforts to meet the leaders of the indigenous communities and social workers from the villages engaged in the community development programmes. These meetings have shown that the communities appreciate the presence of the IFPs and their support to the development of the economic and social infrastructure of the community, and the populations of the villages are aware that they are participating in collective work, for which they have given their own consent, willingly.

8.  The Committee takes due note of these indications. It requests the Government to continue to supply information on the situation of indigenous communities engaged in IFPs, in particular on the measures taken to ensure the principle of voluntary recruitment in practice. The Committee asks the Government to indicate whether the indigenous worker engaged in the IFP signs a contract of employment, and to transmit a copy of such contract. The Committee also wishes to receive information on the amount of the wages effectively earned by IFP participants.

9.  In its earlier comments, the Committee also mentioned a joint decree by the Ministries of Forestry and Transmigration, requiring the logging concessions to develop industrial forest plantations known as Huraman Tanaman Industry (HTI). The Committee had been informed that the wages paid in the plantations were usually significantly lower than the cost of living, that shops had opened near the plantations or logging worksites, and that purchases at these stores were made by a system of vouchers managed by the company. This system was established on the basis of wages to be earned by the workers, thus creating the risk of debt bondage. The Committee noted that the report contained no comment on this point with regard to debt bondage, and asked the Government to provide information on this matter. The last report was also without information on this question, and the Committee hopes that the Government will supply the detailed information requested in the near future.