Juridical Analysis of Ending Child Neglect and Economic Exploitation Based on the Values of Justice

Abstract

Children are holders of human rights who possess a dual vulnerability, thereby requiring special protection from the state, society, and family. However, the empirical reality in Indonesia reveals a concerning phenomenon regarding the high rate of child neglect and economic exploitation. The practice of employing underage children, both in the formal and informal sectors such as street begging syndicates, constitutes a clear violation of children's constitutional rights to grow, develop, and receive an education. This article aims to examine in depth how Indonesia's positive legal framework responds to the crimes of child neglect and economic exploitation, and why the existing legal instruments often fail to provide substantive protection for victims. The analysis focuses on the conflict between rigid statutory provisions and the reality of structural poverty, which is often used as a justification for child exploitation. This study employs a normative legal (juridical-normative) research method using conceptual and statutory approaches. The study focuses on examining the harmonization between the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia, the Child Protection Law, and the Manpower Law. This approach was chosen to dissect the structural weaknesses in child protection provisions, which tend to be reactive and lack coercive mechanisms to directly restore children's economic rights. The results of this juridical analysis recommend a regulatory reconstruction grounded in the value of substantive justice. The law must not stop at textual certainty but should be dismantled and rebuilt to deliver distributive and restorative justice. This reconstruction includes the need to formulate new legal norms requiring the state to automatically assume responsibility for caregiving and educational financing for children who become victims of economic exploitation. In addition, harsher criminal sanctions and administrative fines are needed for corporations or syndicates proven to employ children. Through this holistic regulatory reconstruction, it is hoped that Indonesia's legal system will be able to break the cycle of child neglect and restore the sovereignty and dignity of the nation's future generations. Keyword: Children; Exploitation; Human; Justice. Juridical Analysis of Ending Child Neglect ... (Wedy Mahadi) The copyright of this document is owned by Faculty of Law UNISSULA and is protected by the law ║ 721 FACULTY OF LAW PROCEEDING OF INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THE LAW DEVELOPMENT FOR PUBLIC WELFARE ISSN: 2798-9313 LICS 2026 Topic: Strengthening Legal Frameworks for Combating Human Trafficking and Enhancing Protection of Women and Children 1. Introduction Human Rights (HR) constitute the primary pillar of modern civilization, demanding respect and protection from the state without discrimination. Within the spectrum of human rights, children's rights occupy the most essential and fundamental position because children are individuals who have not yet attained the physical and psychological maturity necessary to defend themselves. Philosophically, the protection of children is not merely a moral obligation of adults but an indispensable instrument for ensuring the continuity of human civilization. If children's fundamental rights are neglected, then civilization is destroying its own future by creating a generation that is physically, mentally, and intellectually vulnerable.1 Within Indonesia's constitutional system, the commitment to child protection has been enshrined at the highest legal hierarchy, namely the Constitution. Article 28B paragraph (2) of the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia guarantees unequivocally that, "Every child has the right to survival, growth, and development and shall have the right to protection from violence and discrimination." This provision legitimizes child protection as the state's constitutional obligation. This means that the state's presence in preventing all forms of violence, including neglect, is an absolute requirement for the existence of a just rule-of-law state. Although the constitutional foundation is firmly established, the sociological reality at the grassroots level often presents a heartbreaking paradox. Structural poverty, low levels of parental education, and economic pressures are the primary criminogenic factors driving the high incidence of child neglect. Neglect is not only understood as the physical abandonment of a child but also as the failure of families and the state to provide proper care, access to education, and adequate nutrition. This condition of neglect makes children one of the most marginalized groups, whose sovereignty over their childhood is taken away by the harsh demands of survival. It is from this root of neglect that a far more destructive derivative crime emerges, namely the economic exploitation of children. Children driven by poverty are often "forced" or "manipulated" into entering the labor market prematurely. They are employed in sectors that endanger their health and safety, such as working as sand miners, laborers in informal factories, or becoming objects of exploitation by urban street begging syndicates. This cruel practice 1 Asshiddiqie, Jimly. Konstitusi dan Konstitusionalisme Indonesia. Jakarta: Konstitusi Press, 2006. Juridical Analysis of Ending Child Neglect ... (Wedy Mahadi) The copyright of this document is owned by Faculty of Law UNISSULA and is protected by the law ║ 722