Journal of Southeast Asian Human Rights
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Empowering Indonesian Migrant Workers: Human Rights-Based Legal Protection Through Village Regulations and Bilateral Agreements
Full text linkThis analysis explores the various international and national legal frameworks designed to safeguard migrant workers, emphasizing these protections’ significance for the workers and their families. The process encompasses the execution of international accords concerning the safeguarding of migrant workers and their families, the enhancement of the enforcement of Indonesia’s Law on the Protection of Migrant Workers, and the advocacy of Village Regulations designed to shield citizens employed abroad, especially in regions with a significant population of migrant workers. The government ought to enhance the comprehension of human rights among migrant workers and their families. It should also increase public awareness through outreach, dissemination, and campaigns focused on safe and dignified labor migration while empowering and building the capacity of migrant workers and their families. The optimal approach to protection necessitates the formulation of bilateral agreements with the reception countries. These agreements ought to integrate the essential elements of the ICMW.
Keywords: Empowerment, Migrant Workers, Human Rights, Legal Protection, Indonesia, Bilateral Agreements, Rural Regulation
Intelligence Surveillance, Counterterrorism, and the Right to Privacy in Indonesia and Canada
Full text linkThis paper examines the regulation of intelligence surveillance technologies in Indonesia and Canada within the framework of counterterrorism law, focusing on how legal regimes seek to protect public security while safeguarding fundamental rights, particularly the right to privacy. Using a comparative legal approach, the article addresses three interrelated questions: how surveillance powers are regulated in each jurisdiction; what legal and institutional safeguards exist to supervise and constrain their use; and to what extent these regimes comply with international human rights standards governing communications surveillance and personal data collection. The study finds that although neither the Indonesian nor the Canadian Constitution explicitly enshrines the right to privacy, both legal systems incorporate privacy protection as an integral component of their counterterrorism frameworks. Significant differences nevertheless emerge in how security and rights are balanced. Indonesia’s counterterrorism regime, primarily governed by its Anti-Terrorism Act, emphasizes preventive security and grants broad surveillance powers with limited statutory guidance on proportionality and excessiveness. Canada regulates surveillance mainly through its Criminal Code, embedding prior judicial authorization and post-facto review as mechanisms intended to align security measures with rights protection. When assessed against international human rights principles of legality, necessity, proportionality, and effective oversight, the article concludes that Canada’s framework demonstrates a higher degree of formal compliance, while Indonesia’s regime presents greater risks of disproportionate interference with privacy
Castration for Sexual Violence Perpetrators: Controversy and Reformation Based on Human Rights
Full text linkThe rate of sexual violence against children in Indonesia is high, and increases every year. However, the law enforcement process invovles both advantages and disadvantages, with respect to the implementation of castration sanctions in Indonesia. These relate to human rights from both the perspective of the perpetrator, and the victim. In addition, the lack of clear legal provisions regarding procedures for implementing castration sanctions also creates obstacles to their implementation. The research addresses the following questions: How does the controversy surrounding castration sanctions relate to human rights? How can the legal provisions for castration sanctions in Indonesia be reformulated to coply with human rights principles? This research employs a normative research method supported by empirical data. The results of the research show that the implementation of chemical castration has advantages and disadvantages, including the idea that chemical castration violates human rights. Another controversy concerns the refusal of the Indonesian Doctors Association (IDI) to become the executor of castration because the implementation of chemical castration in the form of criminal sanctions is contrary to the doctor\u27s code of ethics. With this controversy, it is necessary to reformulate the implementation of chemical castration sanctions in Indonesia, which will be offered in this research based on the implementation of castration penalties in other countries.
Re-assessing Human Rights Issues in Palu Disaster Management: An International Legal Foundation
Full text linkIn order to investigate the State\u27s duty to provide fundamental rights in a state of exigency, this research aims to assess how the State implements human rights standards on disaster management and response in Indonesia. This study examines whether human rights standards have been included in Indonesian disaster management laws and regulations, as well as how these standards have been applied in the wake of the September 28, 2018, Palu tragedy. The inquiry was carried out through field research utilizing a standard questionnaire based on human rights implementation criteria, in compliance with the 2014 Core Humanitarian Standard on Quality and Accountability (CHS). A focus group discussion amongst stakeholders was held before the field research to get more detailed and impartial information between government actors and the disaster victims. Human rights standards are not being applied to disaster management in Palu, as evidenced by reports of victims being treated unfairly and inadequately supplied with necessities. According to the research findings, there is a conflict between the state authority\u27s propensity to apply positive-legalistic regulation of disaster management and the regulation\u27s lax protection of human rights.
Keywords: human rights, disaster risk reducuction, Palu disaster, Environmen
Eco-Apartheid: Unpacking Environmental Injustice and its Impact on Human Rights
Full text linkThis study comprehensively examines how existing environmental policies often exacerbate social inequality and neglect the rights of vulnerable communities, particularly minorities, indigenous peoples, and those living below the poverty line. This study adopts a library research method, exploring the concept of eco-apartheid and its implications for human rights through an integrated literature review, combined with a content analysis approach. The results of this study confirm that eco-apartheid reflects structural injustices that violate human rights, particularly the right to a clean and healthy environment. Land grabbing, exploitation of natural resources, and urban segregation widen ecological and social inequalities, which are exacerbated by weak law enforcement and the dominance of corporate interests. The right to a decent and healthy environment has been recognised in international law proceedings, such as UN Resolution No. 76/300 of 2022, the 1972 Stockholm Declaration, and the 1992 Rio Declaration. In the ASEAN region, exclusive development has marginalised poor communities and reinforced eco-apartheid, necessitating a new legal paradigm that places the environment as a subject of human rights protection, with the application of various principles of precaution and vigilance, transparent policy reform, and protection for environmental defenders. Ecologically, just legal excellence is critical for eliminating eco-apartheid and guaranteeing every individual\u27s right to a safe, fair, and sustainable environment
Rethinking Digital Migration Governance in Southeast Asia: Protecting or Restricting Human Rights?
Full text linkThis article examines the governmentality and biopolitics of Southeast Asian digital migration governance through the framework of decolonial theory. It unpacks how digital technologies are deployed by states and institutions in the policing of migration, from biometric registration and algorithmic surveillance to the use of AI-assisted databases. The research investigates how these tools condition migrant behaviour, generate new inclusion/exclusion figures, and naturalize surveillance practices. At the biopolitical level, it analyses migrants and refugees as datafied subjects and examines the role of biometric technologies as mediators of access to rights, resources, and humanitarian aid. Decolonial theory is employed to examine the concept of data colonialism and argue that Western technologies and data sustain colonial dependencies and re-produce asymmetrical power relations in migration governance. Drawing on examples from Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia, the study demonstrates how digital migration governance enhances precarity among migrants and refugees amidst the expansion of state surveillance. Although disaster relief solutions are commonly couched in humanitarian rhetoric, such processes tend to facilitate environments of exclusivism, with limited input by the communities that they are intended to serve. This article interrogates current narratives by emphasizing the importance of decolonization in digital migration governance. It calls for the promotion of local knowledge, technological sovereignty, and community-driven alternatives, that centre the autonomy of migrants and refugees. In doing so, the research engages with broader discussions on the intersections of technology, migration, and power, and calls for more responsible regulation and governance of digital spaces