The Child Welfare Desk of Jakarta archdiocese and the International Labor Organization (ILO) have joined calls by a child protection body urging the government to abolish child labor in Indonesia.

Herman Yosef Marsudi, chairman of the welfare desk, an arm of the archdiocese’s social institution Lembaga Daya Dharma, said the Church will back any move to reduce the number of child workers.

“We support total abolition. These children need a proper education,” said Marsudi.

Peter Van Rooij, executive director of the ILO’s International Affairs bureau in Jakarta, said his organization will also support efforts to end child labor in Indonesia, “which has shown some improvement since early 2000.”

They voiced their support after the National Commission for Child Protection called on the government to take concrete steps to abolish child labor.

“The government must end all forms of work amongst children,” said Aris Merdeka Sirait, the commission’s secretary-general.

Last year, a joint government-ILO nationwide study revealed that 1.7 million children aged 5-17, out of 4 million surveyed, were child workers.

One of them is Dede, who sells cigarettes, tissues and candy in the streets of Jakarta.

“I’m doing it so I can give some money to my family in Bogor,” the 13-year-old boy told ucanews.com on July 23, Indonesia’s National Child Day.

Dede lives with his aunt in a ramshackle rented house in South Jakarta. He leaves home each morning at 5 a.m. and walks three kilometers to Jatinegara, in East Jakarta, where he sells his wares all day before returning home at 6 p.m.

He earns about 200,000 rupiah (US$23) each day, which he gives to his aunt, who then buys more goods for sale. As a reward, he is given 10,000 rupiah.

“I return to Bogor each month and give all the money I’ve saved [about 300,000 rupiah] to my mother,” he said.

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