Child trafficking still going strong in Aceh, Nias

Child trafficking still going strong in Aceh, Nias

Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan

A non-governmental organization (NGO) has reported that child
trafficking and illegal adoptions were continuing in the tsunami-
ravaged areas of Aceh and Nias.

Several children of the tsunami were found to have been sold
to irresponsible parties in Malaysia, while very young victims of
the earthquake in Nias had been illegally adopted by people in
Medan, Jakarta and Bandung, said an official with the Center for
Child Protection and Study (PKPA).

The executive director with PKPA, Achmad Sofian, said on
Saturday that child trafficking and illegal adoptions were
revealed by a study conducted by his NGO recently.

Sofian explained that they had found two cases of Acehnese
children sold to irresponsible people in Malaysia. The first case
concerned a girl child identified only as I.R., a Lhokseumawe
resident, who was locked up in Binjai, North Sumatra about two
months ago. The case became public after the child was able to
escape when members of the trafficking syndicate left the house
to arrange for her passport. The second case was of 16-year-old
identified as S., an Aceh Besar resident. The girl was able to
escape when the syndicated members were trying to get her out of
Aceh by bus.

At first, the victim did not suspect the syndicate members
because she apparently knew them before and they told her that
she would be employed as a domestic helper. But, later she
learned that the syndicate planned to sell her to their
colleagues in Malaysia. She managed to escape when the bus
stopped in Langsa, East Aceh.

Sofian said the first victim had been returned to her family
in Lhokseumawe while the second had been made adopted by a
government official in Langsa.

Based on the findings, members of the NGO went to Malaysia in
order to investigate child trafficking and they found that in
several places in the neighboring country, Acehnese teens who had
survived the tsunami were found working in restaurants.

The youngsters actually are not supposed to be working in
restaurants as they are below 21, the minimum age requirement in
Malaysia, said Sofian.

"After further investigation, we found that many of their
birth certificates had been forged to make them eligible. In the
passports, their ages were changed so that they could enter
Malaysia for work," said Sofian.

The NGO was studying whether the teens were also employed as
prostitutes in Malaysia.

Meanwhile, Sofian also said that besides child trafficking,
the NGO had also found that children in Nias had been adopted
illegally. Sofian said according to data gathered by the NGO
between March and November this year, 72 children from Nias
between the ages of four and 12, had been illegally adopted.

Sofian explained that the cases of illegal adoption began when
people claiming to be from an orphanage in Medan offered Nias
parents the "opportunity" to have their children adopted by rich
families in Medan. They also promised that the children would go
to good schools be treated well. But, later on, the parents found
out that it was all a scam and to this day have not seen their
children. The children had gone missing along with the people
claiming to represent the orphanage.

"We probed the cases and we found that some children had been
adopted by people in Medan, Jakarta and Bandung," said Sofian.

He said the child trafficking and illegal adoptions had been
reported to police.

Spokesman for the North Sumatra Police Sr. Comr. Bambang
Prihady said officers were investigating the cases.

Child trafficking, and allegations and rumors of it, began to
emerge after the tsunami last December, which left thousands
homeless and/or orphaned. The tsunami triggered by a monster
earthquake swept Aceh coastal areas on Dec. 26 and killed some
130,000 people in Aceh only. Four months later, another monster
earthquake rocked Nias island, killing thousands.