President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s instinct to address the abuse of Indonesian workers abroad by banning migration may be well intentioned, but is also harmful and counterproductive, a rights activist says.
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | National | Thu, February 19 2015, 12:59 PM
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s instinct to address the abuse of Indonesian workers abroad by banning migration may be well intentioned, but is also harmful and counterproductive, a rights activist says.
“It discriminates against Indonesian women and restricts their rights instead of protecting them,” Human Rights Watch (HRW) associate women’s rights director, Nisha Varia, said in a statement made available to The Jakarta Post on Thursday.
She made the comments to respond Jokowi’s plan to create a roadmap for ending the migration of Indonesian women abroad for domestic work.
Indonesia and other countries that send domestic workers abroad, including Ethiopia, Nepal, Sri Lanka and the Philippines, have repeatedly imposed bans on migrant domestic work that had little effect, the activist says.
“Many women, desperate for jobs, migrate anyway, but under more dangerous conditions, putting them at heightened risk of trafficking and other forms of abuse. And Indonesian women at home trying to support their families have a key survival strategy taken away,” said Varia.
President Jokowi’s plan to end the dispatch of migrant domestic workers came in the wake of last week’s conviction by a Hong Kong court of a Hong Kong employer for beating, starving and failing to pay Erwiana Sulistyaningsih, an Indonesian domestic worker.
The President said his proposed ban would protect Indonesia’s “dignity”.
According to HRW data, millions of Indonesian women work abroad cooking, cleaning and raising children for families across Asia and the Middle East.
“While migrant domestic work is a critical source of income sustaining many households back in Indonesia, horrific accounts of mental, physical and sexual abuse at the hands of employers or recruiters are routine,” said Varia.
Among abuse cases documented by HRW for more than 10 years include unpaid wages, excessive working hours, the denial of food, forced confinement in the workplace, and forced labor in countries such as Kuwait, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. (ebf)
