TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Government to seek vaccine access for migrant workers abroad
The government is looking at how it might ensure the vaccination of Indonesian migrant workers abroad, including undocumented workers.
Change Size
Health workers scan the temperature of a migrant worker on April 15, 2020 in Batam, Riau Islands. The man was one of 47 migrant workers who were detained by the Maritime Security Agency (Bakamla) for illegally entering Indonesia by sea from Malaysia via Nongsa district, Batam. (Courtesy of Bakamla/via kompas.com)
T
he Foreign Ministry is looking for ways to ensure that the large overseas population of Indonesian migrant workers (PMI), one of the groups at most risk of infection, has access to COVID-19 vaccines in their host countries.
Andy Rachmianto, the ministry’s protocol and consular affairs director general, said he had tasked its diplomatic missions abroad to assess their host countries’ vaccination policies for foreign residents.
Andy said this would ensure that the state could provide vaccine access for both formal and informal PMI as well as their dependents, including undocumented workers and their families abroad. It would also help determine whether it was feasible for Indonesian embassies and consulates to offer vaccination services.
“The main duty of our overseas representatives is, in principle, to ensure that Indonesian citizens have access to the vaccination services available in accredited countries in accordance with the prevailing laws, regulations and policies,” Andy told lawmakers at a hearing on Tuesday.
While thousands of Indonesians flocked home at the start of the pandemic, before borders were closed and travel restrictions imposed to curb the spread of COVID-19, Indonesia still sent 113,000 PMI abroad last year.
The figure is still a sharp decline from some 276,000 PMI who departed for jobs overseas in 2019, according to the Indonesian Migrant Workers Protection Agency (BP2MI), with most employed as domestic workers, caregivers and plantation workers.
The estimated total of Indonesians working abroad ranges from a minimum 4 million people to a maximum 9 million, with the latter accounting for undocumented migrant workers.
