Deputy Speaker of the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) Lestari Moerdijat noted that a law is needed to realize the protection of domestic workers under the efforts to support human rights principles.

To this end, Moerdijat assessed that efforts to accelerate the ratification of the Domestic Workers’ Protection Bill (RUU PPRT) as law should be supported by all parties.

“Our Constitution underscores an important point regarding human work, which in Article 27, paragraph (2) stipulated that every citizen has the right to work and a decent living for humanity,” Moerdijat noted in her statement here on Wednesday.

She conveyed the statement while opening the Expert Meeting event titled “Community Aspirations for the Protection of Domestic Workers,” that was held online and offline by the Denpasar 12 Discussion Forum at the Parliament Complex, Jakarta.

Moerdijat assessed that the 1945 Constitution had mandated that work and a decent living are two aspects that are interrelated to each other.

She noted that all parties should support the domestic workers’ protection law, as an instrument of protection for domestic workers.

“However, in fact, the RUU PPRT has to go through a long and winding road to become a law,” she stated.

The MPR deputy speaker explained that since 2004, the bill had been proposed, and in 2009, it was pushed to be ratified as law.

According to Moerdijat, in 2019, the bill was included in the National Legislation Program (Prolegnas) but has not entered the approval process of the House of Representatives (DPR) to become law.

“In 2020, the Legislative Body of the DPR approved the RUU PPRT as an initiative of the DPR, but until now, the regulation has not yet been brought to the Plenary Meeting,” she further noted.

She remarked that the Denpasar 12 Discussion Forum has held three discussions in the 2020-2021 period to deliberate on the importance of the domestic workers’ protection bill for domestic workers.

However, she assessed that policymakers had not been moved to ratify the bill into law, thereby resulting in domestic workers in the country not receiving comprehensive attention and protection.

Source: Antara News