Indonesia: Lawmakers Ratify Migrants Convention
By UCA News
Lawmakers Thursday finally ratified the 1990 UN Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, after a 13-year delay.
Ratification obliges countries to ensure workers’ basic human rights, as well as the right to return to their home countries, the right to be informed of conditions before taking up employment, and the right to form trade unions.
“Today is a historic moment because a law on the ratification of the convention is born after 13 years of waiting,” said Rieke Diah Pitaloka, an activist and legislator.
The next move, she said, is to harmonize national regulations with the determined standards.
If the placement and protection of Indonesian migrant workers in foreign countries are in harmony with the convention’s imperatives, then migrant workers’ protection will be a reality, she added.
The National Commission on Violence against Women (Komnas Perempuan) also appreciated the move but said it “must be implemented effectively.”
