Child slavery in Indonesia

Hundreds of thousands of child workers are being exploited, sexually abused, and overworked because Indonesia is not enforcing laws to protect them, a human rights watchdog has said.

Many Indonesians have live-in maids who cook and clean, but a new report by Human Rights Watch said hundreds of thousands of them are underage girls, some as young as 11.

"There's a wilful blindness on behalf of some government officials who choose to ignore or deny that child domestic workers are exploited and abused," said Bede Sheppard of Human Rights Watch.

The 78 child maids interviewed in the report told of 18-hour workdays, sexual abuse by their employers, and conditions tantamount to slavery as they were forced to work for free.

Fifteen-year-old Ratu was one of the child maids researchers spoke to. She said: "Every day my employer was angry and she would kick me and pinch me. Almost every day. When I mopped the floor, I did not use a mop for mopping, just my hands and a rag, and then my employer kicked me to go deeper under the bed. She would pinch me on my shoulders."

Another girl, Kemala, aged 16, said: "I work from 4am until midnight. I am not allowed to rest."

People classed as formal workers in Indonesia can get a minimum wage, overtime pay, an eight-hour workday and 40-hour work week, a weekly day of rest, and vacation. But domestic workers have none of these rights. This lack of rights discriminated against women and girls, who make up the vast majority of domestic workers, the campaign group said.

Indonesia's manpower ministry accepted that there was more work to be done. "We have already implemented some of the recommendations ... Of course this report focuses on the very worst cases. There are good cases as well that are not in this report," the ministry’s Laurend Sinaga, told Reuters news agency.

Indonesia has seen great turmoil in recent years including the devastating Boxing Day tsunami in2004. SOS Children was one of the first NGOs offering support to the survivors in Aceh province after the tsunami struck and continues to provide long-term assistance in the area.

Written by Hayley Jarvis for SOS Children