IOM will today host a conference in Jakarta on "Promoting Dialogue
and Information Sharing on Labour Migration between Indonesia and
Malaysia, Singapore and the Middle East."

The aim of the conference, which marks the completion of a
broader project, is to develop an action plan to contribute to
enhanced labour migration management capacity in Indonesia and to
strengthen the cooperation between Indonesia and Malaysia,
Singapore, Bahrain and Kuwait.

At the conference, which will be attended by representatives of
governments and civil society organizations from Indonesia,
Malaysia, Singapore, Kuwait and Bahrain, IOM will present the
findings of a research report on labour migration from Indonesia,
placement and pre-departure systems, protection of labour migrants
and an overview of the situation for Indonesian labour migrants in
the four key destination countries.

According to Indonesian Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration
in 2006 there were 2.7 million Indonesian citizens working legally
abroad, or 2.8 per cent of the Indonesian workforce.

The majority of these labour migrants were women working in the
domestic or service sectors and were concentrated in Southeast and
East Asia and the Middle East, in particular Malaysia, Singapore,
Hong Kong, Taiwan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab
Emirates.

Irregularities in the recruitment process in Indonesia and a
lack of labour laws in many destination countries mean that
Indonesian migrants often lack protection and a significant number
experience abuse at some time during their work placement
abroad.

The IOM report, which is expected to be launched in April 2010,
will include recommendations to the Indonesian government on the
development of a future action plan for improved labour migration
management.

For more information please contact:

Cecilia Cantos

IOM Jakarta

E-mail: "mailto:ccantos@iom.int">ccantos@iom.int