Batam leads antihuman-trafficking campaign

Batam leads antihuman-trafficking campaign

Fadli and
Ridwan Max Sijabat
Batam/Jakarta

The government and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) launched
on Tuesday an all-out campaign to put an end to the widespread
commercial sexual exploitation of children and women on Batam
island.

The campaign was kicked off during the opening ceremony of a
national conference here to identify commitments and ramp up
efforts by key government officials and activists to fight
against the problem both in Batam and the rest of Indonesia.

The two-day conference which was organized by the government
with the support of the International Organization of Migration
(IOM), was held as a follow up on the fight against transnational
crimes, which was recommended at the sixth East Asia and Pacific
Ministerial Meeting in Bali last May.

Indonesia hosted the conference in line with the important
role Indonesia has been expected to play in fighting against
human trafficking and other transnational crimes, which are
widespread here. According to UNICEF, human trafficking is
rampant in Indonesia, largely due to the tens of millions of
people mired in poverty.

Batam borders Singapore and has become a destination for
tourists and gamblers from that country, as well as Malaysians
and Thais, who come for weekend trips. It has also become a major
transit point for women being smuggled to the neighboring
countries and the Middle East.

An official from the women's empowerment ministry, Karlini
Kasri, who opened the conference, expressed confidence that Batam
could be at the forefront of the nationwide campaign.

"I'm confident that Batam will take the lead and will make
significant progress to put a stop to the intolerable practice of
trafficking children for the purpose of commercial sexual
exploitation," she said.

Local NGOs concurred, saying that Batam was now a full-blown
destination/transit point that involved well-organized networks
who "trade" some 300 women and children every week, some
overseas, but many more within Batam itself. According to their
modus operandi, the victims, mostly from Sumatra, Java and West
Nusa Tenggara, were officially given titles such as masseuses and
servants in star-rated hotels, entertainment centers, nightclubs
and gambling centers on the island.

Many workers have stayed and worked permanently because they
have found it easier to earn money than in the rest of Indonesia,
but many others, with the help of international gangs, moved to
Malaysia, Hong Kong and the Middle East to earn higher salaries.

Last year, Manpower and Transmigration Minister Jacob Nuwa Wea
escorted home over 100 Indonesian women employed as prostitutes
in Saudi Arabia and 150 others from East Malaysia.

Maya Manurung, an activist in Medan, North Sumatra, said over
the weekend that the government, in cooperation with NGOs, had to
take concrete measures to halt, or at least minimize, human
trafficking that has reached an alarming level since an average
of around 22,000 women and children were now being trafficked
annually for commercial sexual exploitation both at home and
overseas.

During the ceremony, Batam Mayor Nyat Kadir promised that his
administration would work "hand-in-hand" with local NGOs to
maximize efforts to give their own contribution to the campaign.

The police will check and recheck all people migrating to
Batam and those who were going overseas through the island, the
Court has to give harsher punishment against human traffickers
and NGOs should be active to disseminate information on the
crimes.

"We will also coordinate with eight provinces that have mostly
supplied the victims to the island and they must be ready to
bring re-accept them without any documentation," he said.

Nurlini said that after Batam, Bali would follow suit because
the trafficking of women and children for commercial sexual
exploitation to the island was no less serious than Batam.

"It's the government's commitment. And President Megawati
Soekarnoputri declared it as such last June that Batam and Bali
must be free from commercial sexual exploitation," she said.