Violations of Religious Freedom of Indonesian Migrant Workers in Taiwan

Although Taiwan guarantee freedom of religion in the constitution, it si not applicable for foreigner, especially for migrant workers. This due to the exclusion under the labour standard law (IRFR 2016). Though the labour standard Act has been amended, the factual situation of freedom of religion for migrant workers is really worrying. These rights are under treat. Violations of religious freedom of migrant workers varying from forcing to eat pork (Huang 2010), exclusion form weekly rest day (IFRF 2016) and Preventing the workers from attending religious services (Lowther 2015).According to the Ministry of Labour of China-Taiwan, there are nearly 258.084 Indonesian migrant workers presumably lacks of religious freedom protection in Taiwan. In fact, religion is the key to unlocking some of the most fundamental components societal life (Grim & Finke, 2011). This article explores the issues of violations of religious freedom of Indonesian migrant workers in Taiwan by using theory of religious freedom and general principles of human rights recognized under the universal declarations of human rights where Taiwan is a signatory of it. The article purpose is to explore and to understand why do Taiwan government violate religious freedom of Indonesian migrant workers. The author uses mixed research methods to answer the problems. Taiwan government must out of religious discrimination and need better scrutiny and understanding of the importance of religious freedom for Indonesian migrant workers’life. Keyword : migrant workers, religious freedom, discriminatio