Wayne Palmer

Trafficking within migrant smuggling operations: Are underage transporters ‘victims’ or ‘perpetrators’?:

This article looks at a case of a juvenile transporter, who ferried asylum seekers from Indonesia to Australia on several occasions, but was arrested and sentenced for his involvement on the last attempt. The reasons for exploring this case in detail are twofold. First, the use of Indonesian child labor in migrant smuggling operations is a prevalent practice. Evidence of this is particularly obvious in the large number of Indonesian children imprisoned or otherwise detained in Australia for their involvement in migrant smuggling. Second, we consider how these people fit into the smuggling-trafficking nexus before discussing the concepts of “victim” and “perpetrator” in a case where justice officials do not agree whether a juvenile transporter should be treated as an active perpetrator, and therefore punishable for migrant smuggling, or whether to treat him as a passive victim of trafficking who was deceived into carrying out the crime.

Indonesia’s Overseas Labour Migration Programme

In Indonesias Overseas Labour Migration Programme, 1969-2010, Wayne Palmer offers for the first time a detailed, critical analysis of the way in which Indonesias Overseas Labour Migration Programme is administered and how it fits with other developments within the Indonesian government.

Enforcing labour rights of irregular migrants in Indonesia

Abstract The multi-directional nature of labour migration flows has resulted in an increasing number of countries having become both senders and receivers of regular and irregular migrants. However, some countries continue to see themselves primarily as senders and so ignore their role as a receiving country, which can have negative implications for the rights of migrants in their territory. Using the example of Indonesia, which is State Party to the 1990 UN Convention on the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Their Families, this article demonstrates that irregular migrant workers in this country have the legal right to protection against labour exploitation even when they work despite the government’s prohibition on employment. The article discusses the ‘right to work’ and how international human rights law has translated it into the ‘right to protection from labour exploitation’ for irregular migrants in Indonesia. By way of two case studies about the Indonesian government’s handling of irregular migrants, it shows how it prioritises enforcement of the immigration law over labour and employment laws much like countries that have not ratified the ICRMW. It also draws attention to legal protection gaps that emerge for asylum seekers when they are recognised to be genuine refugees.