"Chinese nickel workers file complaint to Indonesia's rights body over work conditions" 24 February 2023

Three Chinese workers at an Indonesian nickel industrial complex on Sulawesi island have filed a complaint with the country's human rights commission over poor workplace conditions, the law firm representing them said on Friday.

The workers at PT Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park (IMIP) in Central Sulawesi province said they "endured a lot of physical, psychological, financial damages to their reputation as human beings", according to a statement from the law firm. [...]

AMAR Law Firm & Public Interest Law Office said IMIP workers experienced poor workplace conditions including a lack of proper safety and respiratory gear, working long hours without breaks, and pay cuts.

Passports belonging to Chinese nationals were also withheld and there was a ban on unionising, the statement said.

Airlangga Julio from the law firm said the three Chinese workers who signed the complaint experienced such treatment between 2020 and 2022.

Uli Parulian Sihombing of the National Commission for Human Rights said the body, which has no punitive powers, is studying the complaint from the IMIP workers.

The workers urged the commission to "look into, probe, monitor" the "rights violations at the IMIP area, whether they be migrant workers or Indonesian workers."

IMIP did not immediately respond to a request for comment. [...]