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Govt urged to adopt UN norms on migrant worker protection
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Migrant workers and activists from the NGO Migrant Care stage a demonstration during a Car Free Day event at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle in Jakarta in December 2016. (JP/Wendra Ajistyatama)
T
he Jakarta-based Human Rights Working Group (HRWG) hopes the upcoming meeting between the Indonesian government and a United Nations committee on migrant workers will provide momentum for the country to revise its regulations on the protection of migrant workers’ rights.
HRWG program manager Daniel Awigra said the committee may push countries, including Indonesia, to align their laws with universal standards, as cited in the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families.
“In our report submitted to the committee, we urge the committee to recommend that the government [heed] the convention in the revision of the 2004 Law on the Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers,” Daniel said in a statement on Thursday.
He added that the revision had been deliberated at the House of Representatives. The latest draft, however, still favored private recruitment agencies and lacked tight standards in the recruitment process, he said.
“Private agencies often don’t want to get involved when there’s a case involving workers they recruited in the first place,” Daniel said.
Read also: Migrant workers far from full protection
The UN committee will hold a dialogue for the first time with Indonesia from Sep. 4 to 6 in Geneva, Switzerland, regarding the government’s progress in implementing the multilateral convention on migrant worker protection.
In April, Indonesia sent an initial report to the committee as a requirement for countries that have ratified the convention. (kuk/bbs)
