In 2004, Rima, a domestic helper in Hong Kong, was repeatedly beaten and raped by her employer until she met a fellow Indonesian who took her to the police.
In December 2001, the badly beaten and bruised body of 19-year-old Muawanatul Chasanah, a domestic helper in Singapore for nine months, was found in what became known as "the worst maid abuse case" in the city-state.
These are just two stories chronicled in Dreamseekers: Indonesian Women as Domestic Workers in Asia, published by the International Labour Organization (ILO) in 2006. They are just a fraction of the thousands of cases of abuse against Indonesian female migrant workers, many of which go unreported.
"Everybody believes there is substantial under-reporting," Lotte Kejser, chief technical adviser for trafficking in the ILO's Jakarta office, told IRIN.
About 80 percent of workers leaving the country are women seeking work as domestic helpers. And over the past decade, according to the National Commission on Violence Against Women Indonesia, incidents of violence against Indonesian women have steadily increased.
Awareness raising
To draw attention to this abuse, the commission and rights agencies have been campaigning to raise awareness among Indonesian women of their rights.
The campaign, said Sri Wiyanti Eddyono, a commissioner, was organised at the community level, with the commission working with local NGOs to conduct forums or theatre productions to make women more informed and, therefore, empowered.
"Last year, the cases of violence against domestic workers [employed abroad] was huge - around 5,000 of the reported 22,000," Sri Wiyanti told IRIN. "This year, we gathered more than 25,000 reports from across the country and overseas."
She said their statistics included cases of domestic violence, migrant worker exploitation, women trafficking and sexual abuse. Migrant worker abuse and domestic violence, she said, made up the majority of reported cases.
"Overseas domestic workers are probably the group of workers that experience the most systematic form of abuse - sexual, physical, mental," Kejser said, explaining that their work situation often rendered them powerless and completely dependent on their employers.
This year, with legislative and presidential elections scheduled for 2009, the commission is using the 16-day focus on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women to encourage women to put the issue high on the political agenda.
"First on the list is the ratification of the convention on migrant workers," Sri Wiyanti said, referring to the UN Convention on Migrant Workers, a comprehensive international treaty regarding the protection of migrant workers' rights, which Indonesia has signed but not ratified.
According to Kejser, Indonesian migrant workers are among the least protected in the world. From high placement fees and poor training to lack of legal papers and government support, low salaries and lack of benefits, Indonesian migrant workers fare worse than those from countries such as the Philippines.
"There is no clear explanation as to why the convention hasn't been ratified yet," she said, "but ratifying it would obligate the country to protect migrant workers, for instance, by lowering placement fees, negotiating better work conditions overseas, and ensuring better support from embassies."
jd/bj/mw
In December 2001, the badly beaten and bruised body of 19-year-old Muawanatul Chasanah, a domestic helper in Singapore for nine months, was found in what became known as "the worst maid abuse case" in the city-state.
These are just two stories chronicled in Dreamseekers: Indonesian Women as Domestic Workers in Asia, published by the International Labour Organization (ILO) in 2006. They are just a fraction of the thousands of cases of abuse against Indonesian female migrant workers, many of which go unreported.
"Everybody believes there is substantial under-reporting," Lotte Kejser, chief technical adviser for trafficking in the ILO's Jakarta office, told IRIN.
About 80 percent of workers leaving the country are women seeking work as domestic helpers. And over the past decade, according to the National Commission on Violence Against Women Indonesia, incidents of violence against Indonesian women have steadily increased.
Awareness raising
To draw attention to this abuse, the commission and rights agencies have been campaigning to raise awareness among Indonesian women of their rights.
The campaign, said Sri Wiyanti Eddyono, a commissioner, was organised at the community level, with the commission working with local NGOs to conduct forums or theatre productions to make women more informed and, therefore, empowered.
"Last year, the cases of violence against domestic workers [employed abroad] was huge - around 5,000 of the reported 22,000," Sri Wiyanti told IRIN. "This year, we gathered more than 25,000 reports from across the country and overseas."
She said their statistics included cases of domestic violence, migrant worker exploitation, women trafficking and sexual abuse. Migrant worker abuse and domestic violence, she said, made up the majority of reported cases.
Photo: ILO/Jakarta  |
| The campaign against violence is organised at the community level with forums or theater productions meant to make women more informed and, therefore, empowered |
This year, with legislative and presidential elections scheduled for 2009, the commission is using the 16-day focus on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women to encourage women to put the issue high on the political agenda.
"First on the list is the ratification of the convention on migrant workers," Sri Wiyanti said, referring to the UN Convention on Migrant Workers, a comprehensive international treaty regarding the protection of migrant workers' rights, which Indonesia has signed but not ratified.
According to Kejser, Indonesian migrant workers are among the least protected in the world. From high placement fees and poor training to lack of legal papers and government support, low salaries and lack of benefits, Indonesian migrant workers fare worse than those from countries such as the Philippines.
"There is no clear explanation as to why the convention hasn't been ratified yet," she said, "but ratifying it would obligate the country to protect migrant workers, for instance, by lowering placement fees, negotiating better work conditions overseas, and ensuring better support from embassies."
jd/bj/mw
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
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