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HRW tells Jokowi to put Indonesia on the rights track
Jakarta Globe - August 29, 2014
"Since the late 1980s, Human Rights Watch has worked on human rights issues in Indonesia and provided input to the Indonesian government," Human Rights Watch Asia director Brad Adams writes in the open letter. "With your election victory, you and your new coalition government have an opportunity – and the responsibility – to address continuing human rights concerns in Indonesia."
The open letter is a broad to-do list for Joko, spanning issues such as corruption-eradication to the "Situation in Papua." HRW places particular attention on the Ministry of Forestry in its clauses on corruption, praising the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) for planting the roots of reform in the forestry ministry but calling for a crackdown on tax evasion.
HRW calls on Joko to open Papua to foreign journalists and international observers; comply with the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention's September 2, 2011 request for the immediate and unconditional release of Filep Karma and other political prisoners in Papua; and to hand over basic law enforcement to local authorities.
The organization also calls for more protection for the country's domestic workers – predominantly young women who are frequently plucked from villages with the promise of steady work only to find themselves working under appalling conditions for exploitative families.
"Many domestic workers labor 14 to 18 hour days, seven days a week, with no day off and make a fraction of the prevailing minimum wage," the letter reads.
The Manpower Act of 2003 excludes domestic workers from the basic protections afforded to other workers – these include the minimum wage, a day off, and a limit on the number of hours worker per week unless overtime is paid. This clearly discriminates against women and must be reformed, HRW says.
In addition to the plight of domestic workers, HRW raises concerns over the rights of women in general.
It notes that the hijab has become mandatory in 79 districts – and that a Christian woman would have to cover her face in the special autonomous region, Aceh. In another example of the gradual import of some of the more extreme elements Arab culture into predominately Islamic Indonesia, the organization points to the continued prevalence of "under-reported" female genital mutilation (FGM) in the country. The government must repeal all sexist bylaws, HRW writes, and eradicate FGM.
Freedom of religion and full accountability for the security forces in Indonesia are longstanding concerns of Human Rights Watch, and human rights body calls on Joko to use the momentum of a new presidency to make tangible progress in reducing the number of attacks on religious minorities and taking legal steps to prevent minority sects' houses of worship from being shuttered or denied permits.
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