Most Indonesian women migrant workers were now employed as domestic helpers and this had made it difficult for the government to monitor their safety.
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Women`s Empowerment and Children Protection Minister Linda Gumelar said Indonesian women migrant workers should no longer work in the informal but in the formal sector where particular skills are required.

The minister made the statement after attending a hearing on protection of women and children with the House of Representatives` Commission VIII here Tuesday.

"My ministry has been intensively holding workshops and courses for women migrant workers to teach them particular skills and give them knowledge of the cultures of destination countries," she said.

According to the minister, by mastering particular skills, women migrant workers would be able to get better paying and safer jobs.

She said most women migrant workers were now employed as domestic helpers and this had made it difficult for the government to monitor their safety.

"The existence of illegal manpower recruiters is also compounding any effort to ensure our women migrant workers safety," said Gumelar.

Therefore, besides intensifying the courses on particular skills for women, she said, efforts also needed to improve law enforcement to protect women migrant workers.

Gumelar said, the legal cases against women migrant workers were the effect of the weakness of migrant law protection.

She further said the legal case of Vitria Depsiwati who was facing a life sentence in Singapore was proof that legal protection for women migrant workers was still weak.

"Putting underage children to work in Indonesia is banned but Vitria was sent to Singapore as a migrant worker while she was only 17 years old," Gumelar said.

Vitria Depsiwahyudi is an under age woman migrant worker from Jember, East Java, who is threatened with a life sentence by the Supreme Court of Singapore on the charge of having murdered her employer.

Therefore, Gumelar added, the related ministries, especially the Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration, should more tightly supervise manpower recruitment companies and strengthen the deployment of women migrant workers.

"The fact is that women become victim because they do not understand about the law, manpower recruitment companies should give the right and clear information to candidate migrant workers. They should also follow legal recruitment procedures," she said. (*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
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