Jakarta – Most Indonesian domestic workers are denied their rights and many fall victim to abuse, the International Labor Organization (ILO) said here Tuesday.
Lotte Kejser, the ILO country chief technical adviser, said a 2005 study found 60 percent of 500 Indonesian domestic workers surveyed were either only partially paid or did not receive payment at all. The survey also found 20 percent of them suffered sexual harassment, while 40 percent faced psychological abuse.
ILO country director Alan Boulton said the abuse and harassment stemmed from the fact that domestic helpers were not recognized as workers.
"There has not been any recognition that domestic helpers are also workers. The starting point for ending the abuse and exploitation is to ensure that they get this recognition," he said, adding that this lack of recognition made it difficult for the ILO to determine the exact number of Indonesian domestic workers.
Kejser said the issue of domestic helpers' recognition was not covered under the country's 2003 labor law.
"Law number 13 on manpower, the key national labor law, does not incorporate domestic workers into the regulatory system for employment relations," she said, adding that no regulations were made requiring written contracts for domestic workers.
"Indonesia also does not have a minimum wage requirement for domestic workers. Besides that, days off are not covered under the labor law or any other legislation," Kejser said.
Apart from the local problem with domestic helpers, the plight of Indonesian migrants working mainly as maids overseas also remains a serious issue for the country.
The government has come under fire for its perceived failure to protect Indonesian workers abroad, although it has deflected some of the blame onto the migrant workers for using illegal means and unofficial agencies to get abroad.
Many Indonesian workers have been severely exploited and some even killed by their foreign employers. The government had difficulty tracing some victims because they left the country through human trafficking.
One of the ILO's designated ambassadors for Indonesian migrant workers, Franky Sahilatua, a prominent local singer, said migrant workers were considered successful if they were lucky enough to get good employers.
"It's not the system that makes them successful. They are just lucky to have good employers. The government should protect the workers' rights from before they leave until they return," Franky said.
As part of an effort to stop the abuse and exploitation of domestic workers, especially women, the ILO and the Asian Domestic Workers Alliance (ADWA) will hold a campaign to recognize domestic helpers as workers.
The campaign will kick off at Tugu Proklamasi in Menteng, Central Jakarta, on May 1, which is also International Labor Day. Over the following two days, ADWA will host a meeting for representatives from Bangladesh, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand and the Philippines.
One Indonesian migrant maid, Sumiati or Mia, who recently returned from Hong Kong, said she hoped the campaign would make the government recognize domestic helpers as workers.
"We hope there will be a law to protect us. We have worked very hard to earn a living despite all the abuse and harassment. And we will encourage other Asian countries, which also send workers abroad, to establish laws on similar issues," said Mia. (trw)