WHAT DO WE WORK ON?

On-going update in September 2009 and on

HERALDING human rights analysis as our framework and norm in our research and delivering services, currently we focus on, first, helping resolve the problems of the migrant workers from Indonesia who are mostly working in Asia Pacific and Middle Eastern countries; second, conducting trainings of public budgetting analysis for indigenous people but also local councillors of Lembata district in East Nusa Tenggara.

Earlier we helped improve city poor people's participation in making public decisions, and lastly, we conducted similar activities focusing on malnutrition and hunger phenomenon in Indonesia with a deep down case study in E. Nusa Tenggara.

The first round of the first two programs are finishing soon. As we have concluded a review and assessment of what are the tasks of migrant worker attaches in Singapore and Malaysia we are looking forward to push through a proposed scheme of improved protection for the Indonesian migrant workers, particularly with serious problem of un-documentation.

On the Indonesia migrant workers issue, we conducted research and advocacy projects:

• to initiate overall protection perspectives for the stakeholders, i.e. 1) migrant workers associations and unions, including their families, and the NGOs working for them, 2) the governments, central and district levels, and 3) the recruitment and placement agencies to start drafting district level regulation for protecting the clean, due process from pre-departure up to re-integration. We have already published the study results, unluckily, still in Indonesian language. Please do see the post on the book. You may have the book for free only pay the shipping. Contact our secretary Indah MFP at ecosoc@cbn.net.id or ecosocrights@gmail.com.
  
• the suicide and fatal accidents phenomena befalling over 100 migrant domestic workers in Singapore; from 1999 up to 2005 there have been 124 of them found dead after falling from high apartment buildings. We have also published the result in a book published in 2005 entitled Women's body manipulation in silenced private domain: The problems of Indonesian migrant workers in Singapore. See the post on this publication.
  
• the rampant exploitation against migrant workers in the transit system for their return to village origins in Terminal 3 of the Jakarta international airport of Sukarno-Hatta; this post to the publication of this research: The transit system of the return of the Indonesian migrant workers at Terminal III of the Jakarta airport and the Tanjung Priok's Jakarta port -- Analysing the problems and reconsidering solutions.
  
• problem mapping of the Indonesian migrants working overseas from recruitment process, during their working period overseas, and after they return to the country
• to build database of the Indonesian migrant workers that will help the networking to monitor human rights abuses against them
• See our articles on Indonesian migrant workers.

On hunger in Indonesia, we focus

• to conduct comprehensive, comparative research on hunger in East Nusa Tenggara province with case studies in four districts of W. Sumba, E. Sumba, Southern Timor Tengah (TTS), Sikka and also the provincial capital of Kupang. We have produced booklet containing the research result in February 2007. Please contact us for the copy.
• to build networking in an attempt to resolve the malnutrition and hunger problems through campaign and advocation activities. We focus particularly in East Nusa Tenggara and West Java, both are the epicenter of the hunger phenomena during 1998 until 2005,
• to conduct assessment on hunger problem in East Nusa Tenggara. At the present we finalize our recent field researches in five selected districts of Kupang city, Kupang, West Sumba, East Sumba, Southern Central Timor and Sikka. We identify the main causes of hunger in the areas.
• We also produce video documentation, depicting the depth of the hunger problem and the local people’s efforts to resolve it.
• See our articles on malnutrition, famine and hunger in Indonesia, particularly East Nusa Tenggara.

On the acute diverse economical, social, political problems of the Jakarta metropolitan city, the capital of Indonesia, we focus on conducting participatory research to help define innovative measures to improve city poor people’s participation in making public decisions that directly affect their life. As we know the fast growing Jakarta yet not in a discrete fashion is yet to intervene for resolving acute city problems like traffic jam and inefficiency only with taking unpopular, short-cut policy like forceful evictions. There are two main objectives of this on-going research:

• To identify main reasons why public participation of the poor is very crucial to improve current sloppy city management,
• To identify possible concrete solutions to achieve public recognition of the poor people’s basic rights in their participation of any city policy making.

To have clearer idea on how basically we understand the economic, social and cultural rights, we suggest you to read an article about our knowledge framework entitled 'Participatory research and education of economic, social and cultural rights to help promote and enforce basic human rights in Indonesia.' Click here.

We recently publish book expounding the results of the research. You may see the introduction made by noted architect and 'culture man' Marco Kusumawijaya. You may also get the book by contacting us. Click here for post on the book.**