Gold mining companies urged to stop child labor
Tuesday, December 19 2000 - 04:00 AM WIB
The International Labor Organizaion (IO) through its local representative has called on gold mining companies in Central Kalimantan to end the use of children in their gold mining activities, Kompas reported on Tuesday.
The organization's national program manager Pandji Putranto said that the use of children as workers in the gold mining activities in South Kalimantan was still rampant due to the lack of control from the local manpower office.
"The child labor should be ended because it is against the human rights," he said, adding that the government has issued a regulation which set the minimum age of the people that can work at gold mining activities but the regulation is not fully enforced. According to him, many workers at the gold mining companies are below 15-year old, the minimum age set to get employment.
Based on data made in 1999, at least 3,000 children, with the age of less than 15 years are involved in gold mining activities in Central Kalimantan. Most them have to work to support their education or even their families. (*)