Elly Burhaini Faizal, Jakarta – Home to millions of domestic workers and transferring many of them overseas, Indonesia remains backward in providing protection for these workers.
While it has delayed passing a bill that would protect their basic rights, the country has also yet to ratify an International Labor Organization (ILO) convention that lays out basic principles of decent treatment for domestic workers.
It lags behind six other countries, namely Costa Rica, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, the Philippines and Uruguay that have already announced their decision to ratify the treaty before June next year.
Lita Anggraini, chairwoman of the National Network for Domestic Workers Advocacy (Jala PRT), said on Sunday that domestic workers were in huge demand in millions of Indonesian households as they allowed family members to fulfill public roles in various sectors. This, however, does not stop mistreatment of the workers.
"They remain susceptible to physical and psychological violence. They endure not only improper working conditions, with harsh treatment including excessive working hours without social protection and underpayment, but also poor living conditions," Lita told journalists at the launch of the "12 by 12 Campaign", a global campaign to spread awareness on the importance of ratifying ILO Convention No. 189 on decent treatment for domestic workers.
Domestic-workers rights activists made it the central theme of the 2011 International Migrant Workers Day, which fell on Dec. 18.
Lita said that a draft bill on domestic workers had been dropped several times from the national legislative program (Prolegnas). However, under pressure from activist groups, the House of Representatives has again included the draft bill in the 2012 program.
"It is important to establish regulations for ensuring decent treatment for domestic workers and ratifying the ILO's Convention 189 to open the path toward stronger protection for these workers," said Lita.
The convention was adopted at the 100th International Labor Session (ILS) on June 16. Ip Pui Yu, the International Domestic Workers Network (IDWN) regional campaign coordinator, said the basic principle of the convention was to ensure that domestic workers were treated equally as workers.
"Domestic workers should enjoy equal treatment compared to other type of workers. It means that if a country has a statutory minimum wage, then domestic workers should also be entitled to it. If the country has regulations on working hours, domestic workers should be covered by them as well," she said.
In Indonesia, there are 10.74 million domestic workers. About 67 percent of middle and upper income households employ domestic workers. Domestic workers also account for the majority of Indonesia's approximately 6 million migrant workers.