Precarious Workers and Peasants in Indonesia: Human Rights and the Job Creation Law.

This article explores the relationship between precarious work and peasants, using a human rights perspective. Precarious work and peasants are rarely linked, especially in the context of consolidating democracies. However, in the Global South, the two concepts are, in fact, interlinked with poverty, development and human rights issues. In Indonesia, informal workers, particularly those in precarious conditions, have long had no statutory protection, and the enactment of the controversial Omnibus Law on Job Creation in 2020 did not change this. This study uses fieldwork in two villages to investigate the conditions of precarious workers in the rural wetland area of Barito Kuala in South Kalimantan, Indonesia. A micro-perspective of this area showcases how peasants are routinely involved in precarious work. As a marginalised community, these landless, informal agricultural workers encounter constant threats from modern development. We conclude from our examination of the absence of constitutional rights for peasants and precarious workers that the extensive influence of 'modernisation' discourses and policies is a key barrier to workers' protection in Indonesia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]