China Labor Watch reports systemic labour rights violations among overseas Chinese workers in Indonesia's nickel projects
Business & Human Rights Resource Centre
"Compounding Vulnerabilities: Chinese Workers In Indonesia" 22 December 2023
This report documents the findings of CLW’s investigation in China’s Belt and Road nickel production projects in Indonesia. It aims to amplify Chinese overseas workers’ voices through diving into their lived experiences in some of the largest nickel production industrial projects in Indonesia backed under ill-regulated Chinese capital...
CLW’s on-site research and correspondence with Chinese workers from 2021 to 2023 has found various egregious labor malpractices which were systematic and widespread:
- Passport confiscation
- Poor contracting practices
- Withholding payment of wages
- Workplace injuries and poor occupational safety
- Absence of Indonesian work permit
- Restriction of movement
- Physical violence against the breaching of workplace rules and regulations.
...some of these issues–such as the restriction of movement, the lack of work permit, and illegal contracting practices–vary before and after the pandemic or by employers. The report highlights how these practices systematically disempower workers, erode their rights and freedom, and transfer companies’ business risks to the bearing of individual workers...