Today in Indonesia, they are not even recognized legally as workers and are not protected by the manpower act, which exists to safeguard workers’ rights.

A report issued by Amnesty International in 2007, “Exploitation and abuse: the plight of women domestic workers”, found that these workers face economic exploitation, poor working conditions and are frequently subjected to physical, psychological and sexual violence, with little chance of redress for the abuse they suffer.

The Indonesian parliament has now included a domestic workers bill in their legislative agenda for 2010. This is good news as legislation to protect the rights of female domestic workers is long overdue. Legislation needs to be provided for a reasonable limitation of working hours through clearly defined maximum hours of 24 hours of work per week.

Workers need to have a clearly defined weekly rest and leave period. A domestic workers law also needs to set standards to ensure workers receive a salary that will allow them to live with dignity. Employment rights, the setting up of adequate dispute resolutions and the right to collective bargaining and freedom of association are all issues that need to be addressed in forthcoming legislation.  There also need to be provisions to ensure sexual and reproductive rights to domestic workers including access to information and services on family planning and contraceptives, as well as provisions for the establishment of mechanisms to monitor the situation of domestic workers.

Indonesia is to be applauded for taking this welcome first step to ensure that the human rights of women domestic workers are protected. Now it is up to Indonesia’s parliamentarians to ensure that the domestic workers bill is debated and passes into law.

Sarah Carmichael
South-East Asia Coordinator
Amnesty International
Hong Kong

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