Pregnancy tests urged for migrants

Pregnancy tests urged for migrants

Multa Fidrus, Tangerang

Indonesian migrant worker activist Normawati has proposed to the
government and migrant workers recruitment agencies to make it
mandatory for workers to use contraceptives and to take a urine
test in an effort to minimize the number of women workers getting
pregnant while working abroad.

"Besides teaching them domestic work, the agencies must also
teach workers about the use of cotraceptives to prevent
pregnancy," she said on Tuesday.

She added that returning migrant workers should undergo a
pregnancy test.

Normawati estimated that on average 20 women workers returned
home with babies each month from the Middle East. The number,
monitored since January, did not include those who got pregnant
while working there.

Every day, between 800 and 1,000 workers arrive at the
Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Cengkareng while the
number of workers leaving is between 1,600 and 3,000 people a
day.

"Those workers got pregnant mostly because they were raped by
their employers," she said. "However, there are some who get
money from their employers to have sex."

Normawati regretted that the government has done nothing to
help the workers.

"The government does not do anything to help either the
mothers or the children although it collects Rp 25,000 (US$2.8)
from each returning worker," she said. "Why does the government
chose to spend Rp 33 billion to renovate the Ministry of Manpower
and Transmigration training center in Ciracas (East Jakarta) to
replace the airport's terminal III?"

According to Normawati, many workers handed over their babies
to orphanages for adoption because they could not bear the shame.

Some six million migrant workers are working as domestic
helpers and laborers in 16 countries. Indonesia is the second
largest exporter of labor after the Philippines which sends
around 10 million workers overseas.

The workers contributed US$1.86 billion to Indonesia's foreign
exchange, a decrease from 2002's $2.3 billion. This year, the
government expects a $5 billion contribution from the workers.

"Migrant workers are the second contributor after oil and gas
to the country's foreign exchange reserves. Why doesn't the
government give them adequate protection?" Normawati said.

The government has submitted a bill on labor protection to the
House of Representatives and appointed manpower minister Jacob
Nuwa Wea as its representative during the bill's deliberation.
The bill is expected to be endorsed in September.