Protection of domestic workers

Promoting decent work for Indonesian domestic workers: Stand-up Comic Deswin Faqih

Stand-up Comedian Deswin Faqih supports the promotion of decent work for Indonesian domestic workers through his jokes about the plight of domestic workers and their struggles to fight for their basic labour rights.

Article | Jakarta, Indonesia | 05 September 2017

Stand-up Comedian Deswin Faqih supports the promotion of decent work for Indonesian domestic workers through his jokes about the plight of domestic workers and their struggles to fight for their basic labour rights. During his performance in August 2017 before more than 200 people attending the book launch titled “We Will not Be Silent: 31 Stories of Domestic Workers behind the Domestic Walls”, his jokes give viewers something to think about the roles of domestic workers and their everyday lives.

The book is jointly developed and produced by the ILO, JALA PRT and the Jakarta’s Independent Journalist Alliance (AJI Jakarta). The participation of Deswin is part of the ILO constituents and partners’ advocacy campaign to promote decent work for domestic workers and the elimination of child domestic labour.

For me, this is new. I learned a lot about the plight of domestic workers when I was preparing my stand-up comedy materials. I support the promotion of decent work for Indonesian domestic workers and I hope that through my materials I can make people to think about their own domestic workers and how they can treat them better and fairer."

Deswin Faqih, Stand-up Comedian
“For me, this is new. I learned a lot about the plight of domestic workers when I was preparing my stand-up comedy materials. I support the promotion of decent work for Indonesian domestic workers and I hope that through my materials I can make people to think about their own domestic workers and how they can treat them better and fairer,” he said.

Deswin has started to be a stand-up comedian since three years ago. His career starts to blossom when he joined the Stand-Up Comedy Indonesia season 7 in 2017, a stand-up comedy competition organized and aired by Kompas TV, and reached the top four position.

The campaign is conducted by the ILO through its Promoting Decent Work for Domestic Workers to End Child Domestic Work (PROMOTE) Project. Funded by the United States Department of Labour (USDOL), ILO-PROMOTE Project aims at reducing child domestic workers significantly by building institutional capacities of partners to promote Decent Work for Domestic Workers effectively. The Project works to increase the knowledge, skills and expertise on reducing child domestic workers and promote decent work for domestic workers.