Ratification of ILO Convention not urgent
Ratification of ILO Convention not urgent
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia sees no urgency in ratifying the ILO
Convention on migrant workers to legally protect its workers
overseas, a senior official said yesterday.
"I don't see any point in our ratifying the convention now
because it has not yet been enacted by many other countries
either," Director General for Industrial Relations and Labor
Standards Suwarto said.
Suwarto made the statement in response to the call made by the
International Labor Organization (ILO) this week that Indonesia
to ratify the convention.
ILO Deputy Director General Mary Chinery-Hesse said while
attending the UN conference on women in Beijing on Thursday that
Indonesian workers overseas were defenseless because of Jakarta's
failure to ratify the ILO conventions ensuring legal protection
for women migrant workers.
Tens of thousands of Indonesians work in the Middle East,
notably Saudi Arabia, and in Malaysia. There have been persistent
reports of physical and sexual abuse of Indonesian workers by
their employers in Saudi Arabia.
In response, the government has repeatedly announced it will
phase out the sending abroad of unskilled workers and increase
the number of skilled workers.
"The convention will work effectively if not only Indonesia,
but also other countries, such as Malaysia and Arab Saudi, also
ratify it," he said.
He said that although ratification is not compulsory, all
countries, including Indonesia, have a moral obligation to adopt
ILO conventions to show their commitment to respecting workers'
rights.
Indonesia, whose labor law already addresses labor protection
measures stipulated in the ILO conventions, will ratify the
migrant workers convention in due time, he pledged.
The convention stipulating migrant workers' rights was one of
the three conventions discussed during the International Labor
Conference in Geneva last June. The other two are conventions on
health and occupational safety in mines and among domestic
workers.
Up to now, Indonesia has adopted eight ILO conventions
concerning, among others, the wage system, equal treatment of
local and foreign workers, freedom to associate, forced and child
labor, health and occupational safety.
More effective
Suwarto said that instead of ratifying the ILO conventions,
Indonesia would rather improve its bilateral relations with
countries which employ a large number of Indonesians in a bid to
protect its workers.
He said Indonesia has signed bilateral agreements with
Malaysia and Saudi Arabia to improve legal protection for the
Indonesian workers employed in the two countries.
"Besides, Indonesia has also set up joint teams with the two
countries to handle disputes involving Indonesian workers and
their employers. And it is better and more effective than waiting
for the two countries to ratify the ILO conventions," he said.
He acknowledged that a greater number of Indonesian workers
overseas were vulnerable to abuse and maltreatment. But he said
this was not solely the fault of Indonesia because many other
countries have yet to produce legislation on unskilled foreign
workers.
He said that Indonesians working as housemaids in Saudi Arabia
are not under protection of the kingdom's labor law because they
are viewed as members of their employers' family. (rms)