International labour migration has received increasing international attention in the past two decades as more
countries are aected by international migration and want to enhance the benets that can be derived from it as
well as the way labour migration ows are managed. Migration constitutes a challenge for destination countries
as they have to balance the needs of domestic business and labour markets with the views and needs of their
own citizens, as well as the rights and protection of labour migrants. These three aspects all have to be taken into
consideration in migration policy making. Likewise, countries of origin have to balance the interests of
governments, migrants and local communities when managing the out-migration of their citizens. There
are also rising concerns amongst countries of origin about the rights of their citizens abroad and how best
to protect them.
This section will set out the overall purpose of this report, and the terminology used. This will be followed by an
outline of the international context in which Indonesian labour migration takes place. Finally, it will describe the
methodology used in the report and provide an overview of the structure of the remaining parts of the report.