While working there between 2011 and 2013, she became a victim of modern slavery. She was denied rest days, forced to wear plastic bags instead of clothes and was attacked with bicycle chains and a hot iron. She was prohibited from contacting anyone outside during those years, and her family thought she had died.

Sadly, horrific stories about abuse against women migrant workers, particularly domestic workers like Kartika, are not new to many of us. Women migrant workers around the world remain vulnerable to various forms of rights violations, including physical, psychological and sexual abuses, exploitation, modern slavery and trafficking in persons.

Vulnerabilities of women migrant workers are highly structural and systemic. First of all, deeply rooted discrimination against women reflects in the feminized sectors, in which the majority of the workforce is (often migrant) women, such as domestic work, care work and sex work. This type of work, collectively referred to as reproductive labor, is associated with women’s duties in the domestic sphere, where the labor is uncompensated and unrecognized in a capitalistic system.

This is embodied in the low-paid and around-the-clock working arrangements in these sectors, while the nature of work performed in the domestic sphere, or behind closed doors, makes workers highly vulnerable to abuses and less able to seek help.

Second, this discrimination against women’s reproductive labor is embedded in a lack of legal protection for migrant workers in the feminized sectors. Many countries in Asia do not give full legal recognition to domestic work (and no recognition at all to sex work) by excluding it from many labor standards and enforcing discriminatory standards.

In Hong Kong, where Kartika worked, minimum wage and maximum working hours do not apply for migrant domestic workers while it is compulsory for them to “live-in” the house of their employers. In Indonesia, the Domestic Workers’ Protection Bill has been in limbo in the House of Representatives for 19 years.

Another systemic issue that is very common is in temporary and tied visa systems, where low-paid migrant workers are given time-restrictive immigration status, which is tied to a particular employer and type of work. If they lose jobs, they would not only lose income, but they may also lose their immigration status and access to social and legal protections.

In Hong Kong, migrant domestic workers are given only two weeks to find new employment after termination of work, otherwise they are required to leave the territory. This often hinders workers from leaving exploitative or abusive workplaces, let alone taking actions against unfair treatment and rights violations.

Kartika was finally able to escape her abusive employers when they were away on holiday and she referred to the Indonesian Consulate. However, according to her advocates, her case was handled by her employment agency upon the Consulate’s instruction, and during two years of legal proceedings, she was not provided with adequate medical and psychosocial care. After her employers were found guilty in 2014, the Consulate arranged her repatriation without receiving any unpaid wages, instead of assisting her to pursue civil claim for compensations.

The legal challenge for the civil claim was assisted by civil society organizations led by migrant women such as JBMI-Hong Kong, Mission for Migrant Workers and International Migrants Alliance. They continue supporting Kartika, who was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

According to a report by Manila Times, lawyers said the severity of the injuries limited her future employment options. Rehabilitation to rebuild her life and recover from physical and mental trauma is dependent on the support of her close communities and civil societies.

As has been set out in international legal frameworks, states have a duty and obligation to respect, protect and fulfill human rights. Kartika’s experience showcases the failure of both Indonesia and Hong Kong governments to fulfill their obligations: To prevent human rights violations, to ensure individuals have access to justice and effective remedies when their rights were violated and to cooperate with other states in doing so.

Despite the largest compensation award in Hong Kong being ordered to the abusive former employers of Kartika, her struggle for recovery and reintegration will drag on. Moreover, we will continue to see more violations against women migrant workers unless the structural causes of their vulnerabilities are recognized and addressed in the laws of both countries of origin and destination, as well as labor migration cooperation between them.

While Hong Kong benefits from the labor of around 340,000 foreign domestic workers, the government should acknowledge its policies failed to protect the rights of Kartika and many other domestic workers, and must make necessary improvements. The Indonesian government should also review the management of Kartika’s case by its Consulate and ensure their mandate to protect its citizens abroad meets the state’s human rights obligations.

From Feb. 27 to March 3, ahead of International Women’s Day, Indonesia hosted the 36^th  ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) Meeting. Consultations on best practices in creating a fair working environment for migrant workers and workshops on using referral systems for human trafficking and violence against women were among several initiatives proposed by Yuyun Wahyuningrum, Indonesia’s AICHR representative and chair of AICHR 2023.

In order to maximize these efforts in ASEAN and beyond, the Indonesian government, as chair of ASEAN 2023 and one of the largest source countries of migrant labor in the region, should do more to take a lead in addressing vulnerabilities of women migrant workers. This must be done through meaningful and effective engagement with victims and survivors like Kartika and many women’s and migrant rights groups who are filling the gaps of states’ responsibilities to promote and protect human rights.

We must not wait any longer to end the exploitation and abuses caused by oppression of women migrant workers.

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The writer is a cofounder of Better Engagement Between East and Southeast Asia (BEBESEA) and the executive director of Southeast and East Asian Centre (SEEAC).