The Lifting of the Moratorium and Indonesia-Saudi Arabia Labor Migration Diplomacy: Efforts for Protection and Strategic Partnership

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6463-918-6_14How to use a DOI?

Keywords

labor migration diplomacy; Indonesia–Saudi Arabia relations; moratorium; migrant worker protection; bilateral cooperation; human security

Abstract

Labor migration has long been a central pillar in Indonesia–Saudi Arabia relations, particularly through the placement of Indonesian Migrant Workers (PMI) in the domestic sector. However, rising cases of exploitation and weak legal protection prompted the Indonesian government to impose a moratorium in 2015, which had both protective and economic consequences. This study examines the relevance of lifting the moratorium as a diplomatic instrument, both to safeguard PMI and to strengthen the bilateral strategic partnership. Employing a qualitative descriptive-analytical approach, the analysis draws on neoliberal institutionalism and human security frameworks to assess the policy shift. The findings indicate that the discourse on lifting the moratorium is primarily driven by economic interests through remittances, Saudi Arabia’s continuing demand for domestic labor, and political efforts to normalize labor relations. Thus, the lifting of the moratorium can only be deemed diplomatically legitimate if accompanied by consistent and effective implementation of migrant worker protection mechanisms.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Fatihah Jihan Syafrain
AU  - Mohammad Izdiyan Muttaqin
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/12/16
TI  - The Lifting of the Moratorium and Indonesia-Saudi Arabia Labor Migration Diplomacy: Efforts for Protection and Strategic Partnership
BT  - Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Strategic and Global Studies 2025 (ICSGS 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 229
EP  - 242
SN  - 2667-128X
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6463-918-6_14
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6463-918-6_14
ID  - Syafrain2025
ER  -