Dios Aristo Lumban Gaol

Dios Aristo Lumban Gaol (he/him) is a migrant worker governance specialist and lawyer based in Jakarta, currently serving as Coordinator for Legal, Policy Analysis, and Knowledge Management at Serikat Buruh Migran Indonesia (SBMI), the Indonesian Migrant Workers' Union. For the past six years, he has advanced the rights of Indonesian migrant workers – particularly seafarers and migrant fishers through litigation, policy advocacy, and socio-legal research, previously serving as SBMI's Advocacy Officer and Coordinator of the Maritime Department.

Dios has represented SBMI in international negotiations on labour standards for migrant fishers, including at Regular Sessions of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) and the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC), advocating for the integration of labour standards into the fisheries management frameworks of these regional fisheries management organizations (RFMOs).

Domestically, Dios has directed legal strategy to recover unpaid wages and secure compensation for trafficking victims and their families, and has won several court decisions on trafficking in persons carrying restitution rights. From 2023 to 2024, he served as legal counsel for the Tim Advokasi Pelaut Migran Indonesia before the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Indonesia, successfully defending the “Integrative Protection” doctrine and preserving unified state oversight for seafaring and migrant fishing workers against deregulation. In 2025, he served as an expert contributor to the Legislation Body (Baleg) of the Indonesian House of Representatives on the revision of Law No. 18/2017 Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers. In 2026, he represented the Tim Advokasi Pelaut Migran Gugat Penguasa (TAGP) in administrative court proceedings against the Indonesian Minister of Transportation regarding manning agency licensing requirements that impact the protection of Indonesian migrant fishers.

Alongside his advocacy and litigation work, Dios is an active researcher and writer. He is co-author of a book on disharmony in labor inspection regulations in the migrant fishers sector (Rajawali Pers, 2023) and of a UNDP–SBMI study evaluating gaps in the implementation of migrant worker protection policy, and has co-authored conference papers on placement fee waivers and on the role of Indonesia's migrant service centers (LTSA) in pre-employment protection. He has contributed further research on trafficking, wage models, and labor dispute resolution mechanisms for migrant fishing crews.

Before joining SBMI, Dios was active in human rights and anti-corruption advocacy in North Sumatra, including coordinating the monitoring of corruption trials for Indonesia's Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) from 2019 to 2021.

Dios holds a Bachelor of Laws from Universitas Sumatera Utara, with a specialization in Labour Law, and is certified in legislative drafting in Indonesia.

Dios is a participant in the 2026-27 Human Rights Advocates Program at the Institute for the Study of Human Rights at Columbia University.