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Two national rights commissions have expressed concern over the number of underage children working in the country, classifying it as child abuse.

“This is categorized as abuse of children as they are still under 18 years old,” Masruchah, an official at the National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan), told the Jakarta Globe on Sunday.

“They are children and their rights should be protected by the state and working is not their main job.”

She said that it was a complicated problem because it was tied to widespread poverty throughout the archipelago.

“It’s hard for low-income families as they need money,” she said. “And the bargaining position of the children with the parents is low, so [the children] are pushed into a corner. It’s a matter of relative power.”

Seto Mulyadi, chairman of the National Commission for Child Protection (Komnas Anak), told the Globe on Sunday that there were currently five million underage children working as domestic help or in the entertainment and mining industries.

“This is a cause of serious concern as it means that the rights of children have been violated,” Seto said.

He added that labor unions, neighborhood units [RT], community units [RW] and domestic worker agencies should strive to stop children’s rights from being violated.

“There should be strict and direct monitoring by community unit heads regarding the presence of underage maids in homes,” he said. “They need to get their education and they also need rest. [The community] should guarantee that underage children receive what they should receive,” he said.

Indonesia has a regulation to control children’s working hours through the Manpower Ministerial Decree No. 115/2004, which states that children can work according to their talents and interests without being forced by anyone, with the work expected to boost their creativity. However, this regulation is aimed at children in the entertainment industry.

The decree also states that children should work a maximum of three hours per day and 12 hours per week, and they should only work after school hours.

In an attempt to reduce the risk of exploitation, the decree also states that parents should accompany their children while they work.

Lawmakers from the House of Representatives Commission IX, overseeing labor issues, have promised to pass a law this year to protect the rights of the nation’s four million domestic workers.

The National Network for Domestic Workers Advocacy (Jala PRT) has been calling for a law to protect domestic workers since 2004.

From 2005 to 2009, the network received 472 reports of domestic workers allegedly being subjected to abuse in cases that included sexual harassment by employers, delayed wages and excessive workload.