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Migration Jurisprudence from the South › Indonesia

Decision 127/PUU-XXI/2023 (fishing crew under the migrant worker protection law)

Constitutional Court of Indonesia · Indonesia · 2024-11-29 · National court

Citation: Putusan Nomor 127/PUU-XXI/2023
Type of case: Constitutional and human rights
Outcome: Decided for the migrant side

Question

Should ship crew and fishers be taken out of Law 18/2017 on the Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers, as the petition asked?

What the court decided

The Court rejected the petition. Ship crew and fishers working abroad remain migrant workers covered by the protection law (Art. 4(1)(c)).

In plain language

Some groups asked the Constitutional Court to remove ship crew and fishers from Indonesia’s law protecting migrant workers. The Court said no. Indonesians who work on foreign fishing and merchant ships stay protected by that law.

Dalam bahasa sederhana

Sejumlah pihak meminta Mahkamah Konstitusi mengeluarkan awak kapal dan pelaut perikanan dari UU pelindungan pekerja migran. MK menolak. Warga Indonesia yang bekerja di kapal ikan dan kapal niaga asing tetap dilindungi undang-undang itu.

Pertanyaan: Apakah awak kapal dan pelaut perikanan harus dikeluarkan dari UU 18/2017 tentang Pelindungan Pekerja Migran Indonesia, seperti diminta pemohon?

What happened afterwards

  • 2023: Petition registered at the Constitutional Court.
  • 2024-11-29: Petition rejected; Art. 4(1)(c) stays.

Sources

Open this decision in the interactive collection (compare, filter, Indonesian view, downloads).

Cite as: Institute for Migrant Rights (2026), Migration Jurisprudence from the South, version 0.1, https://theimr.org/court-decisions/d/mk-127-2023/. This page summarizes a court decision for research and advocacy; it is not legal advice.

For researchers

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The coded variables support statistical analysis in law: cross-national comparison, regression and event-history designs, and law and economics questions such as how recruitment fees, wage protection and limits on changing employer affect migrant workers. The data can be downloaded for replication.

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