Putri Prameshwari – Labor activists have denounced the opposition by the Indonesian delegation to an International Labor Organization meeting this month to drafting a convention that would have provided legal protection for workers.

Lita Anggraini, chairwoman of the National Network for Domestic Workers Advocacy (Jala PRT), said the government's decision at the 99th International Labor Conference in Geneva, held from June 2-18, to vote against a convention on workers' protection was "a betrayal of their own nation."

"The points in the convention are similar to what we have included in a draft of the domestic workers' bill," she said.

The bill calls for employers to allow workers a minimum of 12 days of paid leave annually after their first year of employment, in addition to other benefits similar to those enjoyed by workers in the formal sector.

If passed into law, the bill would also allow the recruitment of domestic workers as young as 15 years old, with written consent required from the parents or guardians of those under 18.

The House of Representatives' Commission IX, overseeing welfare issues, dropped the bill from the priority list of legislation after a meeting on June 2. Lita said that with Indonesia voting against the ILO convention and the House not taking the workers' bill seriously, there was no hope of government protection for the estimated 2.6 million domestic workers in the country or the 6 million overseas.

Ari Sunarijati, director of women and child affairs at the Federation of All Indonesian Workers Union (FSPSI), accused the government of showing no intention to improve protection for its workers during the ILO conference.

Ari, who attended the conference, said that even though the forum concluded with an agreement to draft a convention, Indonesia's vote to reject the plan was an embarrassment. "At the end, more than 300 delegations agreed to the convention."

In a press release, Manpower and Transmigration Minister Muhaimin Iskandar said Indonesia in fact supported the final result of the conference, an agreement to start adopting a convention next year.

The records of the ILC proceedings show Indonesia voted that the standards discussed at the conference take the form of a recommendation, while most other delegations voted that the standards take the form of a convention supplemented by a recommendation.