I'nesia urged to protect its expat workers

"In the past two decades, Indonesia has become one of the world's biggest migrant worker suppliers. Therefore, migrant workers are an important part of Indonesian manpower that the government must protect by among others benefiting from bilateral and multilateral agreements," ILO deputy director for Indonesia Michiko Miyamoto said.

Every year, Indonesia sends around 700,000 workers abroad, particularly to East Asia, Southeast Asia and the Middle East, she said. Of those, nearly 78 per cent are employed as domestic helpers.

"Although the migrant domestic helpers are Indonesia's second biggest foreign exchange earner, many of these 'foreign-exchange heroes' suffer from exploitation and torture," she said. To protect its migrant workers overseas, she said, Indonesia can refer to the ILO document on multilateral framework on labour migration non-binding principles and guidelines for a rights-based approach to labour migration.