Migrant Care: Jokowi Must Prioritize Migrant Workers in Saudi

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Migrant Care urges President Joko Widodo or Jokowi to prioritize Indonesia’s migrant worker protection in the bilateral meeting with Saudi Arabian King Salman.

“Regarding the protection of migrant domestic workers and the diplomacy on freeing Indonesian migrant workers that are on death row,” says Executive Director of Migrant care, Wahyu Susilo on Wednesday, March 1, 2017.

Wahyu explained that Saudi Arabia has been the favorite destination for Indonesian Migrant workers in the Middle East. There are approximately 1.5 million migrant workers there and most of them are employed as domestic workers.

According to Migrant Care, the state officials and National Agency for Placement and Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers (BNP2TKI) agreed that the cases involving Indonesian migrant workers often happen in Saudi Arabia.

Read: Saudi King Salman in Indonesia; Focuses on Combatting Terrorism

“The cases vary from assault, rape, murder, and other cases that involve labors.” Other than that, Wahyu says, the kafala system adopted by Saudi Arabia causes difficulties for the workers who overstay their permit cannot process the renewal of their documents and are restrained in Saudi Arabia. Some of them even get involved in human trafficking syndicates, he added.

"Up to today, there are dozens of Indonesian migrant worker that are living the last lines of their lives.” Some are even listed in the death row waiting list, some of them are going through their court proceedings, and some are probably getting the death sentence charge.

According to Migrant Care, there were already four Indonesian migrant workers who had been executed in the last decade. They were Yanti Iriyanti (2008), Ruyati (2011), and Karni (2015).

REZKI ALVIONITASARI