Anita Rachman – Nongovernmental organizations on Sunday urged the government to participate in an International Labor Organization plan to adopt an international convention on the protection of domestic workers.
Lita Anggraini, chairwoman of the National Network for Domestic Workers Advocacy (Jala PRT), said the group had learned that the ILO had submitted to the government a draft of the convention and a questionnaire on the government's approach to administering and protecting domestic workers.
Addressing a rally of about 100 domestic workers at the Hotel Indonesia roundabout on Sunday, Lita said the questionnaire was an important first step toward adopting the 2010 ILO convention on domestic workers.
"The government should have shown some positive signs on this issue by starting to promote its importance," she said, adding that the questionnaire should be completed by the Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration.
Ministry spokesman Sumardoko said the ministry would respond to the questionnaire but questioned how the country could sign the international convention specifically protecting domestic workers when it did not have its own law doing so.
The NGO members at Sunday's rally had told the crowd that the country must be prep a red to ratify the future convention on domestic workers.
Lita said Indonesian domestic workers needed full protection of themselves and their rights. "The government should be telling employers about this," she said. "That is why we urge them to promote the issue."
Indonesia has about 9 million domestic workers, including more than 6 million working abroad. Many are prone to violence and other forms of abuse by their employers.
Most domestic workers live at their employers' homes, often working long hours with few chances to enjoy free time. The vast majority of domestic workers are women.
Over the past five years, Jala PRT has received 472 reports from domestic workers alleging abuse or wrongdoing by their employers. Cases include sexual harassment, delayed or denied wages and excessive workloads.
Albert Yosua Bonasahat, national project coordinator for Combating Forced Labor and Trafficking of Indonesian Migrant Workers, an ILO project, said the establishment of clear standards on the protection of domestic workers worldwide would be debated at the 2010 ILO conference.
"We basically will ask whether or not member countries agree to set standards for domestic workers," he said. "We expect that in 2011 there will be a final decision based on the results of the 2010 conference," he said.
He added that the process of creating the convention began in March this year, when ILO headquarters in Geneva sent draft documents and questionnaires to all member countries in preparation for next year's conference.
Albert said the deadline for completing the questionnaire was the end of the month. By not completing it member countries would be unable to receive feedback on their performance in protecting domestic workers, he said.
"The ILO documents are basically a review of member countries' work in dealing with domestic workers' issues h ow they handle domestic workers' problems, he said. "The questionnaire is asking for details about true current conditions."
Albert said the 2010 ILO conference is expected to end with a convention or recommendation on protecting domestic workers. "It would be a general convention, but we could also give some recommendations, for example calculating the standard salary for them," he said.