Jakarta, IO – The Indonesian Women’s Coalition (KPI) said that 30 percent of the 165 Indonesian citizens who are facing capital punishment are women.
KPI secretary general Mike Verawati said that in some cases, what the migrant workers did is a form of resistance. According to him, many Indonesian workers abroad are not always treated properly by their employers.
“We see how the sanctions given are very unfair to female workers, but they were given death sentence,” said Mike, per CNN Indonesia, Mon (1/7).
Mike also expressed surprise at the death penalty imposed on migrant workers. He emphasized that their actions were sometimes a reaction to the bad treatments of their employers, such as violence and even rape.
As of May, according to the Foreign Ministry (Kemlu) there are 165 Indonesian citizens facing the death penalty abroad. The ministry’s citizen protection director Judha Nugraha said most of the cases are in neighboring countries — 155 people in Malaysia, one in Vietnam, and three each in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Laos.
Read: Footprints Of Archaic “Austronesian” Humans In Bada Valley
“The majority are narcotics trafficking cases, followed by murder,” he said.
Kemlu and the Indonesian embassies and other ministries/agencies have step up coordination to ensure that Indonesian citizens receive necessary assistance and their rights are protected according to the local justice system. (un)