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Always on Call: Abuse and Exploitation of child Domestic Workers in Indonesia

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In Indonesia such stories are all too typical.By becoming domestic workers Vina and Lili had ceded control of their lives to their employers.As one domestic worker told us, "As a domestic worker you have no control over your life.No one respects you.You have no rights.This is the lowest kind of work." This report provides an account of the working conditions of child domestic workers based on forty-four interviews with former and current child domestic workers, ages eleven and older.It illustrates the endemic exploitation and abuse of these young workers who are employed in other people's households, including the households of relatives, engaged to perform tasks such as cooking, cleaning, laundry, child caretaking, and, sometimes, working at their employers' business.Hidden in their employers' homes, isolated from their parents, with no oversight by the Indonesian government, these children often toil in exploitative work conditions.. While some of the nineteen Indonesian officials we spoke with acknowledged that some child domestics face abuse, most were quick to argue that such abuse was limited to a handful of extreme cases and did not require fundamental changes in the government's approach.This response contrasts markedly with public statements by officials on the need for enforcement of basic rights protections and creation of grievance and redress mechanisms to stem similar abuses faced by Indonesian adults working as domestics in Malaysia, Singapore, and the Middle East.It is as if officials find it unthinkable that Indonesians could treat Indonesian domestics in ways in which officials know such workers are treated overseas.Meaningful change for child domestics in Indonesia will require a more objective view of the situation.This report is a contribution toward that end, and builds on the efforts of a growing number of grassroots organizations working on behalf of child domestics in Indonesia. In Indonesia girls typically enter domestic work between the ages of twelve and fifteen.The legal minimum working age in Indonesia is fifteen.Girls are recruited by employers, friends, relatives, or labor agents from rural or poor urban areas for work as domestics in urban centers.Labor agents told Human Rights Watch that employers prefer hiring children because they are cheaper than adults, can be more easily managed, and "cannot run away from the employer.. Girls described being lured with false promises of higher wages in cities, but without being given details about all the tasks they would perform, the hours they would be expected to work, or the lack of vacation days for months at a time.Most girls said they typically worked fourteen to eighteen hours a day, seven days a week, with no day off.Many told us their employers forbid them from leaving the workplace to visit their family or friends or from receiving any visitors, rendering them depressed and isolated from the outside world.In the worst cases, in addition to working eighteen hour days, some were physically and sexually abused.Employers often withhold salary until the child returns home once a year for Eid-ul-Fitr, a Muslim holiday at the end of Ramadan; many then fail to pay the children at all or pay less than what they promised.The employers' tactic of withholding the salary deters child domestics who live far from their homes from leaving exploitative situations.

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Availability

KP X.0000105

KP X INT a

My Library

Available

Detail Information

Series Title

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Call Number

KP X.INT a

Publisher

Jakarta : Human Rights Watch., 2005

Collation

i, 74 hlm. ; 23 cm.

Language

Indonesia

ISBN/ISSN

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Classification

KP X

Content Type

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Media Type

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Carrier Type

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Edition

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Subject(s)

Pekerja migran
Buruh migran--Indonesia

Specific Detail Info

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Statement of Responsibility

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