More on migrant workers

The news on the Nunukan tragedy, once the hottest headlines in the Indonesian media, has slowly receded from the public eye. However, we still often hear comforting reports about fund raising for the suffering Indonesian migrant workers stranded in Nunukan, more and more medical and social workers being sent to Nunukan, temporary health centers being built in Nunukan, more food and medicines being transported to Nunukan, and a well- organized administration taking care of the illegal Indonesian migrant workers. Nevertheless, there are still many shortcomings.

The Indonesian government should stop looking upon migrant workers as being vehicles for bringing in foreign exchange, contributing to economic growth and helping to prevent the collapse of the country, which is already up to its ears in debt. They should be treated as normal human beings having rights that need to be protected.

Migrant workers, whether documented or undocumented, have rights as workers and as human beings as embodied in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the UN Convention on the Protection of the Rights of all Migrant Workers and Members of their Families, and the other relevant international conventions.

To anticipate a similar catastrophe in the near future, besides quickly ratifying the United Nations Convention on the Protection of Migrant Workers and their Families, the Indonesian government should work hand in hand with the trade unions, labor movement, and migrant and migrant support groups.

Initiatives should be continuously taken in the areas of providing assistance to migrants, advocacy, lobbying, campaigning, networking, documentation, information and research. Cooperation should be instituted among peoples and social systems that are empowering, people-oriented, and which promote sustainable livelihoods and holistic, integrated humanitarian values. The trade unions and labor movement should develop a migrant worker's agenda and build linkages on migrant concerns.

By working concretely together, the burden on the Indonesian government in handling the problems of Indonesian migrant workers would be eased.

LYNDA SOETITO, Jakarta