YLBHI proposes PPRT Bill to include a 'panic button' provision for domestic workers
JAKARTA — The chair of the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI), Muhammad Isnur, has proposed that the Draft Law on Protection of Domestic Workers (RUU PPRT) include a ‘panic button’ mechanism for domestic workers (PRT).
According to Isnur, such a feature is important to provide rapid protection for domestic workers when facing emergency situations, such as violence or sexual violence at a private workplace.
‘So we need to develop a mechanism similar to what exists in some countries, where once you are recognised as a PPRT, you have a panic button,’ Isnur said during a public hearing (RDPU) on the RUU PPRT at the Legislative Body (Baleg) of the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR) on Thursday (5 March 2026).
He explained that such protection is needed because the PRT’s place of work is the employer’s home, often regarded as a private space making it difficult for outsiders to access.
According to Isnur, the conditions often make it difficult for authorities to enter when there are allegations of violence against PRT, especially if the employer has power or influence.
‘Because this is a closed space, a space that many people consider private, why would you come into my space,’ Isnur said.
Isnur added that the panic button mechanism could, in the future, be linked to complaint and inspection systems as regulated in various international labour standards.
‘This should be connected to the mechanism we must create in the context of ILO conventions, complaints and inspections,’ Isnur said.
‘This needs to be developed further; I envisage there being a panic button, connected to the site,’ he added.
For information, the PPRT Bill has been submitted since 2004 and is regarded as urgent as a legal umbrella to protect workers in the domestic sector.
PRT’s work area being in private spaces makes government supervision limited, increasing vulnerabilities to discrimination, exploitation, and violence.
Since 2004, the PPRT Bill has always appeared in the national legislative programme (Prolegnas) in every DPR session, but has not yet been enacted by the end of the current DPR term (2019-2024).
President Prabowo Subianto previously stated his commitment to pushing the law’s passage.
Most recently, Deputy Speaker of the DPR Sufmi Dasco Ahmad said the DPR would continue the RDPU or public hearings related to the PPRT Bill.
‘Yes, as of five days ago we will start public hearings for PPRT, and after Eid we will also include the Labour Law (Undang-Undang Ketenagakerjaan) in these hearings because this also involves sensitive issues and must be agreed upon by all parties, so we will hold these regularly,’ Dasco said at the DPR building, Tuesday (3 March 2026).