Indonesian migrant workers, who fell victim to online scams and left for Cambodia or Myanmar, on average, hold bachelor’s degrees, BP2MI Head Benny Rhamdani said during the ASEAN Protects Migrant Workers Declaration FMB9, which was streamed online on Monday.
The workers are reportedly placed illegally with the promise of high wages and fast-track methods. They are reportedly aware that they will be placed illegally on tourist or Umrah visas.
This is despite Article 8 Point 1 of Law No. 18 of 2017 on Indonesian Migrant Workers' Protection concerning administrative protection and technical protection.
The law underlines that every document for administrative purposes should also be owned by workers and their visas should be workers’ visas.
"Everyone who officially works in placement countries, they have to comply with what has been stipulated by the law," Rhamdani stressed.
He called for government assistance in handling the issue.
He also stressed that the Philippines, Laos, Cambodia, and Timor Leste are not placement countries.
Rhamdani said he expects that the 42nd ASEAN Summit led by Indonesia will encourage all ASEAN leaders to declare war against human trafficking and not give permission to foreign nationals to work unofficially in other countries.
Thus, all leaders need to declare that ASEAN is ready to fight against human trafficking and uphold the law that can protect migrant workers so that they do not fall victim to scams.
"We can use diplomatic forums to act stringently so that there is no negotiation, no compromise, toward human trafficking, which we can categorize as a humanitarian crime," the BP2MI head said.
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Translator: Hreeloita D S, Fadhli Ruhman
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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