ACCESSING JUSTICE FROM THE 3rd COUNTRY TO

GLOBAL MIGRATION:

Study on Indonesian WomenDomestic Migrant Worker in the UAE

PPI LEIDEN 10 NOVEMBER 2012

Sulistyowati IriantoCentre for Women and Gender Studies

University of Indonenesia

Research Problem To challenge how justice can be

accessed by IDW who are constrained due to (1) the absence of law, and lack of (2) legal knowledge, (3) legal identity, (4) legal aid.

To scrutinize the social embeddedness with IDW as centre. How the woman is situated in such intersectional imbalance power relations connecting her with family& various actors in migration business (village broker, rec agencies, the State, the employer & society)

Why the UAE ?The UAE is the rising star of the

richest and wealthiest countries in the world for only 40 years after its declaration as a nation in 1971

Population: in 2010 is estimated at 6 mio

Approximately 20 percent are the nationals, 80 % are migrant labour, in which 60 % are South Asian

The UAE was faced with the limitation of the local workers regarding quantity as well as competence in many areas of expertise

Location of the UAE

Migration in the UAE The massive migration has caused labor

issues and demographic imbalances In 2009, foreign workers constituted 2.5

million of the total labor forces of 2.7 million. This means that the nationals constituted less than 10 percent of the employed population.

Six millions of Indonesian become part of global migration (There are around 75.000 Indonesian living in the UAE, and around 57. 000 of them are women domestic workers )

Social structure: clear distinction Emirate-non Emirate Arab non-Emirate & non Arab

Arab non Emirate are: Saudi, Syrian, Iranian, Egyptian, Yamani, Kuwaiti, Qatari, Omani, Bahraini,etc

Non-Arab are: Westerner, Indian, Pakistani, Filipino, mainland China, Bangladeshi, Ethiopian, Indonesia, etc)

Men & women BICULTURALISM in character: materializing

global modernization, but preserve the original Arabic culture & tradition

In the past

The magic of present UAE

“Female” Zayed University

Methodology Documentary research (Act no 39/2004 &

regulations, international legal instruments, contract, etc)

Doing ethnography of law with gendered perspective

Research site : (1) pre-departure stage in Condet, East

Jakarta(2) placement phase in UAE: IDW in the

Embassy shelter (Abu Dhabi & Dubai), agents, employer, UAE community, gov’t official (KBRI), judge in Al Ain Court

Drawing the “social embededness”

Playing theatre:true stories

Shelter to run away

FINDINGSAccess to Justice

(1) Legal Problem: Weakness of the Act no 39/2004 on Placement & Protection

(1) Priority is on placement and not protection The title 86 articles on placement & 8 on protection The mindset is business orientation, not protection No single word about “domestic migrant worker”

(2) Many weaknesses : Institutional dualism between Ministry of Labour & Nat’l

Body, highly financial requirement for establishment of recruiting

agency , 400 hundred are licensed & 800 are illegal, recruitment & training process are undertaken by private

companies with the weak regulations Difficulty to claim insurance

Protest against the Act no 39/2004

The absence of law: how women are structured

in law ?There is no specific law regulating

them (Inds & UAE)It refers to how domestic work is

social and culturally perceived It is seen as “informal work”,

“additional job”, “dirty job”, excluded from job market and professional job, “invitation to work in a family”.

It shows power relations among women & family & state (s) & global market

Legal ProblemBeing not regulated, domestic

work issue is addressed to immigration office –Ministry of Interior (not Ministry of Labour)

Regulated as foreigner under immigration authority, somebody who invited in the family (not worker)

The applying rule is: in-house regulation

No legal certainty

The existing multiple contracts: Contract signed in Inds pre-

departure (Act no39/2004)Contract signed in the UAE’s

immigration office Written agreement btw agent &

employer (salary & 3 months probation)

Regulating “salary” differently

The UAE’s Contract: what can be criticized ?

Protection for both parties: IDW & employer

Conflict & dispute are settled in Imgr office or Courts

No intervention from representative sending countries & its implication

Absconding/ takmim: employer totally releases its relation with DW

Written in English & ArabicIDW should keep the contract, but it is

not practiced

Legal problem

“Run away”: illegal & abscondingSending to jail: charged with

ethical cases (a-susila): 80% IDW are in jail for charging with having “relation” with man, the rest 20 % is for abortion & baby killing, stealing, child mistreatment, child kidnapping, burning the house, etc

Legal knowledgeMost of them (around 70 in Abu

Dhabi & around 100 in Dubai)-> have no access to legal knowledge

Questioning curriculum of pre-departure training (& its monitoring)

Pre departure phase: some are prepared with “irrational” guidance (“magic”) instead

Legal identityFalse identity: name, age, home

address, etcNo access to hold passport –

(legal identity is human rights) questioning the dissemination of

information & undocumented worker

Legal AidThere is no specific Act for legal aidAct no 37/1999 on Foreign Relations: Gov’t

obliged to provide legal representatives & Act 39/2004 Art 80 underlined it

In reality: it doesn’t work Domestic worker is excluded from their access to country’s labour court & legal aid scheme

Insurance includes legal protection mechanism it is uneasy to claim

Hiring local lawyer & its implication

One Stop “Trading” Center:

Study in Condet

Supporting facilities:medical centre

Store & expenditure service

Training center & boarding

house

Law firm/ notaries & document service

Placement phase: Global Market

Picture of IDW in the UAE

 “They are wanted because they share the same religion, hardworking and obedient, and they do not mind low payment. Yet at the same time, they are discriminated, considered as the other, given stereotypes and stigma as cheap, left behind, and stupid simply because they are from different race, ethic group, nationality, class and for sure: women.”

Portrait of Injustice: IDW Experience in the KBRI shelter

Long working hours, lack of rests periods

Unpaid salary, underpaid and salary deduction

Bad diet: lack of food, forcing to eat rotten meals

Communication restriction (no cell phone)

Physical abuse, psychological abuse, sexual harassment (done by male or female employer)

Force confinement: charging with criminal for having boy friend, kidnapping, burning the house, child mistreatment

Socio-cultural EmbeddednessIn the home Country: Family: approval, pressure, self-sacrifice, power

relation Disintegration between the will, body and mind

of the women.

In the village: • Kampong recruiters /brokers: emotional, trust

relationship;

It is a multifaceted relation: patron-client, upper class - lower class, or it can also involve gender and religion

Pre-departure (in Condet): • Agency: their relations can be a very close like

a family, a very formal, or an unclear• some agents do not have an office

In the UEA Migrant Workers and Agencies: Bio-data as a Tool for Global Marketing; Live in locked rooms in boarding houses; In a custody of the agency staff: potentially

“domestic” violence; But there are also some emotional

relationships.

Indonesian Agencies and UAE Agencies:• unique and personal relationship;• the partnership is created based on an

identity or emotional attachment• It shows like an unequal business, but

agencies in the UAE would compensate with emotional relation or build “family ties”

Socio-cultural Embeddedness II

Start of the structuring identity

In the UEA In the employer’s house: • Cultural gap: Little knowledge about the

employers, family, culture, language; • Cultural clashes, not only with the family

members, but also with other workers in the home;• Having a boy friend as an Indonesian habit is

not allowed;• Practicing magic: bring soil from home, put

“urine” in a cup of tea etc “… my sponsor told me to bring a lump of soil from my backyard. When I got to the United Arab Emirates, I mixed that soil with the soil I took from the yard of my employer’s house. He said I had to do it so that I would feel at home here knowing that I had soil from my own village near me.” 

Socio-cultural Embeddedness III

Concluding Remarks

Many people benefit from the chain of migration industries

IDW play important role in global market for replacing domestic work of the Arab women, hence they can take part in global economic.

Indonesian domestic workers are structured as “other” in intersectional power relations for being non-Emirate, non-Arab, lowest class, not well educated & trained, and women

Thank you