Indonesian maids' protection urged - Middle East - Al Jazeera English

Growing calls within the country to stop sending migrant workers to Saudi Arabia after two cases of alleged torture.

Last Modified: 20 Nov 2010 08:45 GMT

Members of Migrant Care hold banners that read 'Saudi Arabia: Criminal on Humanity during a protest in Jakarta [AFP]

There are growing calls within Indonesia to stop sending migrant domestic workers to Saudi Arabia, following two cases of alleged torture by employers in the past week.

The Indonesian province of East Nusa Tenggara (NTB) has already announced a moratorium on local women travelling to work in Saudi Arabia after Sumiati binti Salan Mustapa, a 23-year-old woman from the region, was hospitalised in the Saudi city of Medina.

"This moratorium is an assertion from the local administration, which also pushes for the central government to take action to stop abuse of Indonesian migrant workers, especially those from NTB," Zainui Majdi, the governor of NTB, was quoting as saying by the news website kompas.com.

Majdi urged the central government to defend Sumiati's rights and promised to provide her with compensation.

During her time working as a maid in Saudi Arabia, Sumiati's employers allegedly burned her, broke her middle finger and cut her lips with scissors.

Saudi statement

Abdulrahman al-Khayyat, Saudi Arabia's ambassador to Indonesia, said on Thursday that the case of Sumiati was "a very rare case", according to The Jakarta Post newspaper.

But Anis Hidayah, the executive director of the Indonesia-based voluntary body Migrant Care, condemned al-Khayyat's statement as "deceitful", the daily reported.

His organisation has recorded 5,563 cases of alleged abuse of migrant workers in Saudi Arabia so far this year, including 1,090 allegations of physical abuse and 898 allegations of sexual abuse.

Sumiati, pictured, was allegedly cut with scissors and burned with an iron by her employers [AFP]

Amnesty International (AI), the London-based human-rights watchdog, said on Friday that the two cases could be just "the tip of the iceberg" concerning the "systematic abuse" of Asian women working as domestic servants in the Gulf region.

Gulf states "have to take steps to put an end to this horrific treatment of migrant domestic workers, by immediately removing the legal climate of impunity that allows employers to exploit, enslave, abuse, assault and injure their domestic workers with virtual impunity" Malcolm Smart, AI's director for the Middle East and North Africa, said.

AI said Sumiati's treatment symbolised the plight of foreign workers in the region.

Earlier this week, New York-based group Human Rights Watch urged Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Kuwait to do more to protect domestic workers in their countries, saying a string of allegations point to a "broader pattern of abuse".

Indonesia has already demanded an investigation into reports that a maid was allegedly killed by her employer in Saudi Arabia and dumped in a bin - the second case of domestic worker abuse in the country to emerge this week.

Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Indonesia's president, said on Friday that a team had been sent to the Saudi town of Abha to investigate reports of the murder of 36-year-old Kikim Komalasari binti Uko Marta.

Kikim was allegedly sexually and physically abused before her death.

Policy review

Muhaimin Iskandar, the Indonesian labour minister, said Komalasari's neck had been slashed and she had severe cuts to the rest of her body.

"As ordered by the president, we will make a full review to reach a final conclusion over whether to continue or not [sending migrant workers]," he said after a cabinet meeting on the need to give greater protection to the country's migrant workers in the Middle East - estimated to be close to one million.

Demanding justice for the "extraordinary torture", Yudhoyono said: "We will launch an investigation this week for the two cases. It's not only to seek justice but to prevent similar incidents from happening in the future."

Yudhoyono said he was encouraged by the Saudi government's quick response, but said Indonesia was reviewing sending migrant workers to Saudi Arabia and Jordan.

"I'm hopeful the perpetrators will be punished according to law," he said.

Indonesian maids' protection urged - Middle East - Al Jazeera EnglishSource: Al Jazeera English

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Human Trafficking a ‘Low Priority’ for Indonesian Officials - The Jakarta Globe

March 25, 2010

Nurfika Osman

Fourteen young female trafficking victims who were rescued by a police task force in Riau gathering in Bandung on Wednesday. The victims, who reportedly were forced into prostitution, were from West Java. The youngest of the girls was just 14 years old. (Antara Photo/Agus Bebeng)

Human Trafficking a ‘Low Priority’ for Indonesian Officials

A lack of concern by local administrations is the primary reason for rampant human trafficking in the country, especially of children, activists say.

“Local governments do not take human trafficking as a priority, while it has become increasingly rampant and the areas of trafficking are expanding in the country,” Hadi Supeno, head of the Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI), told the Jakarta Globe on Wednesday.

Hadi said the measure showing this insufficient concern was the fact that there was no special budget allotted by these local governments to combat human trafficking.

“I have found that in many cases, a local government does not want to return victims of trafficking to the places they came from just because it does not have the budget for such a case,” he said.

“They also do not have special centers to treat the victims’ mental wounds, one of the most important things that need to be addressed.”

He said human trafficking operations were once primarily in West Java, East Java and East Nusa Tenggara, while the destinations were Batam, East Kalimantan, West Kalimantan and Jakarta.

“But now, the sources can also become destinations as well, and there are new places that have become destinations of trafficking,” he said.

North Sulawesi and Papua, he said, had become sources of children for trafficking as well as destinations.

Recently, a 14-year-old girl was found to have been abducted by traffickers in Central Java and taken to Aceh, where she was forced to work as a housemaid. Aceh, he said, had not previously been a trafficking destination.

He said these changing dynamics made it impossible to predict whether a region would become a source or a destination for human trafficking.

“We cannot map that anymore, and our children are more at risk of exploitation, especially those who are living in poverty.”

Sri Wiyanti Eddyono, a former member of the National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan), told the Globe on Thursday that poverty was at the root of human trafficking.

“Poverty and the patriarchal system have forced our society into sacrificing women, and they have become a commodity,” Sri Wiyanti said.

She said she had uncovered many cases where young girls were sold into prostitution or forced to become domestic workers by traffickers. “Even parents are among the agents in human trafficking cases,” she said.

Despite the 2007 Law on Human Trafficking, enforcement remains weak, she said.

“Lack of law enforcement is also one of the causes that make the spread of human trafficking out of control,” Hadi said.

Meanwhile, the Ministry for Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection has reaffirmed its commitment to fight trafficking.

“We are aware that human trafficking is a serious situation and we take this in a sense of urgency,” ministry spokesman Rudy Purboyo told the Globe on Thursday.

“We are now the head of the working committee in combating human trafficking in the country, which shows that we use our staff to handle cases in field,” Rudy said.

The International Labor Organization estimates that between 40,000 and 70,000 children in the country are victims of sexual exploitation, and that 100,000 children are trafficked every year.

According to the ILO, about 30 percent of female prostitutes in the country are below 18 years of age, with some as young as 10 years old.

Human Trafficking a ‘Low Priority’ for Indonesian Officials - The Jakarta Globe

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