Art performance and exhibition of migration cycles mark the launch of PROTECT initiative in Indonesia

JAKARTA, Indonesia (ILO News) - Eight women and men former Indonesian migrant workers wearing red and white Indonesian flag headbands with ropes wrapped around their bodies performed the plight of Indonesian migrant workers through a combination of theatrical and musical performance. Despite their great contribution to the social and economic development of origin and destination countries. Indonesian migrant workers still face labour exploitation, discriminatory laws and practices, human trafficking, violence and harassment as well as limited access to essential services.

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Accompanied by an acoustic guitar, they poetically echoed: “We do our obligations, but our salaries are confiscated, our labour rights are violated, our documents are detained by individuals who masked as angels but turned out to be wolves in sheep’s clothing.”

The seven-minute performance was concluded with hopes for a better future: “We are grateful that we can work. We are grateful we can get this opportunity. Yet, we hope everything is orderly. We hope everything can be improved.  Give us quality education and training. Give us clear authoritative information. Give us right to occupational safety and health. Give our right to protection. This is our hope and prayer.”

In addition to the performance, an exhibition regarding the protection of Indonesian workers were also conducted. The exhibition, consisting of seven dioramas, depicted the rights of migrant workers to be economically, socially and legally protected in the whole cycle from before, during and after migration based on the Law No. 18/2017 on the Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers.

Depicting before migration cycle, the first two dioramas of the exhibition highlighted the roles of villages and the integrated gender responsiveness-one roof services offices (LTSA) in providing prospective, current and former migrant workers and their families with various support services. These services are ranged from gender-responsive authoritative information, safe labour migration information, training, and gender equality to reintegration support and unionism as well as psychosocial, health or social, legal assistance and case handling services.

The third and fourth dioramas demonstrated the role of the Indonesian embassies in the destination countries and the role of the foreign services officer and labour attaché in providing relevant services and training programmes to better protect Indonesian migrants during employment. Meanwhile the fifth diorama presented activities on skills and economic development for reintegration. The sixth diorama was designed as an information centre providing relevant publications, manuals, success stories and other information materials, while the seventh diorama was used to showcase a business development by Indonesian Migrant Workers’ Union (SBMI) in the form of a mini market.

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Held in May at the historical park of Lapangan Banteng in Jakarta, these performance and exhibition were part of the launch of the new initiative of the ILO and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Indonesia, funded by the European Union (EU), called PROTECT. PROTECT Indonesia aims to strengthen the rights of women migrant workers, children and at-risk groups in the country. The launch was attended by more than 120 participants representing government institutions, Indonesian Police, Attorney General's Office, migrant worker communities, private placement agencies, trade unions, and CSOs.

“Through the performance and the exhibition, we would like to showcase the processes, procedures, available services as well as the ILO programme initiatives to support the government of Indonesia and other social partners in strengthening the protection for Indonesian migrant workers,” explained Sinthia Harkrisnowo, ILO’s Coordinator of PROTECT Project in Indonesia.

Developing a strategic programme for the next three years

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The launch was concluded with a consultative meeting in which around 30 relevant stakeholders (40 percent were women) discussed programme activities under PROTECT project for the next three years. Sri Andayani, Head of Planning and Cooperation of the Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers’ Agency (BP2MI), emphasized that the government could not stand alone and need to collaborate with relevant partners in ensuring the implementation of regulations, specifically labour migration law. 

“To date, to better protect Indonesian migrant workers, BP2MI has a call centre and the Ministry of Manpower has a complaint centre. However, at the national level, these programmes have not yet integrated, and we need to amplify these efforts by involving relevant governmental institutions such as the Ministry of National Development Planning and the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs,” she stated.

From the perspective of migrant workers, Yatini as the head of Federation of Informal and Migrant Worker Union (SEBUMI) under the Confederation of All Indonesian Trade Union (KSBSI) highlighted the crucial of strengthening cross border support services and referral mechanism to improve cases prevention and handling in Malaysia, in collaboration with the Indonesian embassy as well as non-governmental institutions and Indonesian migrant workers' unions in Malaysia.

In 2023 alone, more than 270,000 Indonesian migrated abroad, with more than half (61 percent) comprising women. These women predominantly seek employment in domestic work, care work, agriculture, plantation and manufacturing industries in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Malaysia. However, a considerable number of Indonesian migrants particularly those in Malaysia, are migrating through irregular channels.