Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Government Urged to Ratify Convention on Migrant Workers
Source: Antara News

Jakarta - The National Commission for Women (Komnas Perempuan) hailed Tuesday Human Rights Watch (HRW)'s latest report on the condition of Indonesian migrant workers in Saudi Arabia and urged the Indonesian government to soon ratify the Convention on Migrant Workers and Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

"The Indonesian government must show its good will to change the worrying condition affecting the Indonesian migrant workers abroad by issuing strategic policies," the commission's commissioner, Sri Wiyanti Eddyono, said in a press conference.

By ratifying the Convention on Migrant Workers, the government would become more powerful to build a system of dispatching migrant workers abroad, she said.

"The following step is to make bilateral agreements with the recipients of Indonesian domestic helpers, particularly Saudi Arabia so there will be common efforts to ensure law enforcement and protection of migrant workers on the basis of human rights principles," she said.

She said the commission lauded the HRW's fact-finding team which had successfully documented the real condition of Indonesian migrant workers in Saudi Arabia.

"The research conducted by the HRW is very relevant to Indonesia, considering most of Indonesian migrant domestic helpers are employed in Saudi Arabia," she said.