Institute for Migrant Rights
Rice fields in Cianjur, 1975
Rice fields in Cianjur, 1975. Photo: Guus Gorter, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Cianjur, West Java · Indonesia

An initiative trying to be of some use to people who cross borders to work.

01Free · International Legal Clinic

Were your rights violated? Prepare a rights communication to a UN or regional human rights body.

Answer a few short questions. We tell you which bodies can hear your case, write a draft communication in the UN Human Rights Committee format, and an IMR lawyer reviews it with you.

Start your communication →

02About

Another path to protection for people who cross borders to work

The Institute for Migrant Rights is an academy-based initiative in Cianjur, West Java. It starts from a plain observation: advocacy for migrant workers in Indonesia has brought very limited protection in practice, and international human rights law may offer another path.

We do not claim to have found it. What we try to do is modest: to take the situation of migrant workers, especially women in domestic work and those who have been trafficked, to international forums; to learn from good practice under the UN Migrant Workers Convention, above all in the administration of justice; and to help human rights norms take root a little more widely in Indonesia.

How the Clinic works →

03Projects

Comparative research, openly shared

Explore our projects

Founded in Cianjur
2007
Open research projects
3
IMR Press books
8
Journal first published
2014

Projects

  1. Live · Project 1Migration Law AtlasGlobal, regional and national migration law in one comparative explorer, with farmworker law as a subset.Open →
  2. Live · Project 2Farmworker Norms AtlasInternational and regional farm-labor norms, ranked, with a timeline and a country-by-country ratification ranking.Open →
  3. Live · Project 3Government Hate SpeechStatistics, legal frameworks and a proposed crime for hateful speech by officials and politicians.Open →

Ideas from the fields

2024

Relational self and farmworker law reform: the case of Indonesia

Beth Lyon (Cornell Law School) and Pranoto Iskandar (Institute for Migrant Rights) · Legal Pluralism and Critical Social Analysis 56(3): 616–636

Drawing on fieldwork in two farmworker communities in rural West Java, the article argues that a "relational self" sits at the center of Indonesian legal consciousness, and proposes a model of farmworker law reform built on it to widen access to justice.

2018

Non-Citizen Rights in ASEAN: The Need to Chart a New Course

Pranoto Iskandar · Social & Legal Studies 27(2): 180–199

On the rights of non-citizens in Southeast Asia, and why ASEAN needs a new course to protect them.

Our work

Legal assistance and scholarship

I

International Legal Clinic

Non-citizens in Indonesia often have few places to turn. We offer free legal assistance so they can approach international human rights bodies, and we try, where we can, to bring international standards into the work of advocates here.

Prepare a rights communication online →

II

Scholarly publication

Through IMR Press and the Indonesian Journal of International & Comparative Law, we publish peer-reviewed work by others, in the hope of widening the conversation about law in Indonesia and the Global South.

Visit the journal at ijicl.org →

Partner

Cornell Farmworker Legal Assistance Clinic

Cornell Law School, Ithaca, New York.

Visit the Clinic →

IMR Press

International Law & Comparative Law series · IMR Perspectives series

  1. Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na’im, Muslim dan Keadilan Global, trans. Jawahir Thontowi.
  2. Pranoto Iskandar, Hukum HAM Internasional: Sebuah Pengantar Kontekstual.
  3. Pranoto Iskandar, Standar Internasional Migrasi Ketenagakerjaan Berbasis HAM, foreword by Robyn Iredale.
  4. Jagdish Bhagwati, Membela Globalisasi, trans. Pranoto Iskandar, foreword by Hal Hill.
  5. Peter Singer, Satu Bumi: Etika bagi Era Globalisasi.
  6. Ratno Lukito, Tradisi Hukum Indonesia.
  7. Nandang Sutrisno, Using World Trade Law to Promote the Interests of Global South.
  8. Yudi Junadi, Relasi Negara & Agama: Redefinisi Diskursus Konstitusionalisme di Indonesia.

All IMR Press books

General Editor: Pranoto Iskandar · Assistant Editor: Saru Arifin

In the news

Coverage of the Institute, its people and its publications

Journal cited by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth CircuitHawaii v. Trump, 859 F.3d 741 (9th Cir. 2017)Read the decision → Journal cited by the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New YorkUnited States v. Chin Chong, No. 13-CR-570 (E.D.N.Y. 2014)Read the decision →
Borgen Magazine · 9 October 2026How Indonesian migrant remittances help the economy“The Institute for Migrant Rights (IMR) in Indonesia seeks to establish an international consensus on migrant working rights…” Bangkok Post · 17 March 2018Farmworkers and migrant labor in AsiaAn op-ed from IMR and Cornell Law School on the exploitation of farmworkers and migrant workers across the region. Los Angeles Times · April 2014The archaeology paradox: more laws, less treasureAdam Wallwork’s op-ed, based on his article in the journal’s first issue, set off a public debate among archaeologists and lawyers. The Jakarta Post · August 2016Why low-skilled migration mattersIMR and migration scholar Nicola Piper argue that ASEAN’s focus on high-skilled migration leaves out most of the region’s migrant workers. The Jakarta Post · January 2016The overlooked soft power of migrantsWith François Crépeau, former UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, on Indonesia’s ratification of the Migrant Workers Convention. The Jakarta Post · November 2009Govt told to stop sending unskilled workersThe Institute calls for reform of Indonesia’s overseas placement system. United Nations · 30 January 2022Migrant workers on Indonesia’s palm oil plantationsA joint submission by the Institute and Cornell Law School’s Farmworker Legal Assistance Clinic to the UN Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, for her report on trafficking in the agricultural sector. McGill University · Centre for Human Rights and Legal PluralismLocal knowledge, Jokowi wroteAn essay on local knowledge and democratic renewal in Indonesia.

People

Leadership

Pranoto Iskandar, Founding Director
Saru Arifin, Executive Director
Dan Trevanion, Program Manager
Wallace Huang, Development Director
Michelle Tjugito, Operations Manager

Advisory Board

Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na’im
Jagdish Bhagwati
Hilary Charlesworth
Tom Ginsburg
Rhoda E. Howard-Hassmann
Beth Lyon

Legal Clinic

Chris Cason
Bambang Suryowidodo
Sudirman

Research & Publications

Nandang Sutrisno
Ratno Lukito
Sarah Ingle