INDONESIA'S DIPLOMACY IN PROTECTING INDONESIA'S MIGRANT WORKERS AGAINTS HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN SAUDI ARABIA (2010-2014)

Abstract

Human Right is the basic and absolute right of every people, because he or she was born human. The topic of human right issues has become the most discussion topic all over the world which create charter that upholds the human right that is Universal Declaration of Human Right and Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action. In Indonesia, Saudi Arabia is the second largest country as the main destination for Indonesian migrant workers placement, even though Saudi Arabia is also known as the country with a high level of migrant workers complaints. This research uses the concept of diplomacy to analysis the Indonesia's diplomacy in protecting Indonesia's migrant workers in Saudi Arabia. The Kafalah's system which Saudi Arabia embraces, is the main factor which caused human rights violation. The case of Sumiati on 2010, forced Indonesian government impose the moratorium towards Saudi Arabia, effective on August 1, 2011. The impact of moratorium pushed Saudi Arabia towards the discussion that resulted in agreement of Indonesia's migrant workers protection. Through several diplomacy effort (summit or meetings and negotiations) such as Senior Official Meetings I, Senior Official Meeting II, Ministerial Bilateral Meetings, on February 19, 2014 Indonesia managed to improve the protection of migrant workers by signing Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Ministerial Bilateral Meetings II.