The election’s results appointed 47 countries from five regions (Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Western Europe and other Northern countries) as members of the Human Rights Council. Those countries are: Algeria, Cameroon, Djibouti, Gabon, Ghana, Mali, Mauritius, Morocco,Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Tunisia and Zambia (representing Africa), Bahrain, Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Jordan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, the Republic of Korea, Saudi Arabia and Sri Lanka (representing Asia), Azerbaijan, the Czech Republic, Poland, Romania, the Russian Federation and Ukraine (representing Eastern Europe), Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru and Uruguay (representing Latin America and the Caribbean) as well as Canada, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the United Kingdom (representing Western Europe and other Northern countries).

The Council’s composition is a significant challenge to efforts to uphold migrant workers’ rights. The election of Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia to the Human Rights Council is questionable, as these countries have a poor track record of exploiting migrant workers and denying migrant workers’ access to justice and the fulfilment of their rights. In fact, these countries still apply the death penalty to migrant workers. Neither are Jordan, Japan and South Korea the most hospitable places for migrant workers.

Migrant CARE responds positively to Indonesia’s election to the Human Rights Council. However, Indonesia must truly prove its worth through concrete measures to provide mechanisms that uphold migrant workers’ rights at the national and international level, as stated in the document entitled "Commitment and Voluntary Pledges of Indonesia in the Field of Human Rights", written on April 28, 2006 as part of its application to be nominated to membership in the Human Rights Council. Such concrete measures are the withdrawal of Law No. 39/2004 on the Placement and Protection of Indonesian Workers Overseas that lacks a human rights perspective, push for the submission and expedite the passing of the Bill on the Ratification of the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families, and reviewing all bilateral agreements related to migrant workers and replacing them with bilateral agreements with a human rights perspective (including the rights of women and children). These concrete steps should be part of a road map and be placed on the agenda as priority legislation from the very beginnings of Indonesia’s term on the Human Rights Council, and their progress may be monitored at the first session of the Human Rights Council on June 19, 2006. It is hoped that this legislation process will be completed in the lead up to September 14, 2006 when President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono attends the UN High Level Dialogue on International Migration and Development at the UN General Assembly in New York.

Other steps that can be taken within the Human Rights Council framework are the mobilization of Human Rights Council members that are labor sending countries (such as all member states from Africa, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and most member states from Latin America and the Caribbean) to put migrant worker protection on the table as one of the main agendas of the Human Rights Council, as well as urging all member states of the Human Rights Council to ratify the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families.

Jakarta, May 10, 2006

Anis Hidayah Wahyu Susilo

Director Policy Analyst