Law against human trafficking 'urgent'
Law against human trafficking 'urgent'
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The House of Representatives is being urged to immediately
deliberate on the much-waited bill against human trafficking, a
serious problem in the country, which mostly affects women and
children.
"We want the draft law on human trafficking discussed and
endorsed soon because our law enforcement people find it
difficult to arrest human traffickers under the current laws,"
said Syafira Hardani, an officer overseeing the counter-
trafficking program at the American Center for International
Labor Solidarity (ACILS).
The bill is intended to go beyond Article 297 of the Criminal
Code, which is meant to ban woman and child trafficking, but is
not applicable for international or transnational crimes, while
Article 324 on slavery is also inadequate.
Syafira said the bill was drafted to strengthen the commitment
and efforts to prevent human trafficking crimes.
Under the bill, investigators are allowed to tap conversations
by telephone or other types of communications devices suspected
of being used to prepare, plan or commit human trafficking.
The draft law stipulates that human trafficking carries a
minimum penalty of four years in prison, but if that crime causes
the death of a victim, a suspect is subject to life imprisonment
and fines ranging from Rp 60 million (US$6,315) to Rp 300
million.
The bill also includes articles on providing protection for
victims and witnesses.
Several House members gave support for the call to immediately
discuss the bill.
Latifah Iskandar, a member of the House's Commission VIII for
religious, social and women's affairs, said the legislature was
scheduled to begin deliberating on the bill later this year.
Asked why the plan for the deliberations was delayed, she
explained that it was because of the change of the country's
national leadership.
"We'll respond to it (the call) in a positive manner and urge
the government to finalize the human trafficking bill together
with the House," Latifah said, adding that lawmakers should take
the initiative and find faster ways to deliberate on draft laws,
especially very urgent ones such as these.
Anis Hamim, an activist from the International Catholic
Migration Commission (ICMC), said that existing Indonesian laws
had no legal foundation for the fight against human trafficking.
"A new law is therefore desperately needed to curb human
trafficking practices," he said.
In the year 2000, Indonesia signed the United Nations
Convention against transnational organized crime, the protocol to
prevent, suppress and human trafficking and punish its
perpetrators, as well as the protocol against people smuggling
via land, sea or air.
The United Nations defines human trafficking as the
recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of
persons, by means of threat or use of force or other forms of
coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, abuse of power or a
position, vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments
or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control
over another person.
Human trafficking, by that definition, is what many illegal or
undocumented migrants suffer. Data from non-governmental
organizations shows that currently between 1.4 million to 2.1
million of Indonesian female workers live abroad, including
illegal or undocumented migrants.
According to a 2002 report from the Ministry of Manpower and
Transmigration, there were only 500,000 Indonesians who have gone
overseas to work through legal channels.
In the same year, the Kramat Jati Police Hospital in Jakarta
reported the number of migrant workers, who were treated there
for mental illnesses and other diseases due to physical abuse,
reached 449 people.
In 2003, the number of victims decreased to 392 people.
However, in 2004 the number of victims increased again to 435.
(004)