Omnibus law discriminates against people with disabilities

[Extract] Indonesia had made considerable progress in introducing policies that promote the inclusion of people with disabilities in public life in the past decade. The newly adopted omnibus Law on Job Creation, however, is a huge step backwards.

A decade ago, Indonesia ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), adopting the universal human rights principle of respecting the rights of people with disabilities.

Since then, Indonesia has introduced about 85 policies, laws (including the National Disability Law No. 8/2016), government regulations, presidential and ministerial decrees, and regulations at provincial and village level.

The omnibus law, however, puts efforts to bring about social change to almost 24 million Indonesians living with a disability in reverse by not inviting people with disabilities in the bill’s deliberation resulting in the law’s discriminatory provisions.