Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers after Moratorium Policy on Consignment of Migrant Workers and its Impact to Indonesia Saudi Arabia Relations

Abstract

Indonesian government implement the moratorium on consignment of its migrant workers to Saudi Arabia after a migrant worker whose name is Ruyati was sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia in 2011. The moratorium is expected to ensure the safety of migrant workers. However, it has further impacted on migrant workers and becomes an issue of Indonesia - Saudi Arabia relations. We investigate the efforts of protecting Indonesian migrant workers from the Indonesian diplomatic representatives and its impacts on Indonesian relations with these countries. We conduct interviews with the representatives of the Indonesian Government and Indonesian migrant workers in Saudi Arabia. The findings are analysed with human security perspective, responsibility to protect (R2P) in the context of international migration. We argue that protection efforts based on human security to those migrant workers could leverage the position of Indonesia in its relations with Saudi Arabia. The problem of Indonesian migrant workers in Saudi Arabia is a complex issue, therefore we suggest further research to highlight the issue from the perspectives of the workers and cultural differences between those two nations.