PPM helps human trafficking victims

PPM helps human trafficking victims

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Jana, not her real name, put her trust in the man. He offered her
paid work and she went with him, all the way from Tanjung Pinang,
near Batam Island, from Sumbawa in West Nusa Tenggara.
That was three years ago.

"I was intending to work in Tanjung Pinang but in the days
after my arrival I fell ill and fainted on several occasions
because I had to work until 11.30 p.m.," she recalled.

During her two-week training period, Jana had to wake up by 5
a.m. every day.

Exhausted, she decided to run away because nobody could quit
during training.

She found a mosque where she met a Muslim cleric who asked her
to stay with his family.

After five days, her energy returned and she set off to find
another job. Only she was cheated for a second time, this time by
a middleman who promised to find her a job, but sent her to a
brothel instead.

The woman, now 26, was a sex worker for a month, before a non-
governmental organization stepped in, taking her to the Rumah
Kita shelter in Jakarta.

Asked if she had ever reported her case to the police, she
said: "I hate the sight of police officers, I would never trust
them because they are not cooperative."

Even so, Jana was recently admitted to Kramat Jati Police
Hospital in Central Jakarta, the first free medical recovery
center (PPM) in the country, which opened on June 10.

Fifteen other women had already arrived at the center, which
was jointly established by the International Organization for
Migration (IOM) and the National Police.

IOM medical worker Lanny Harijanti said more victims of human
trafficking would undergo treatment at the hospital, which also
receives babies.

"So far, the hospital has not needed to heal (physical)
wounds, because the women received treatment at shelters before
their arrival here," Lanny said.

A psychologist who works at the center, Suryantini, said most
of the women had been so desperate to work they made easy prey
for human traffickers.

The women at the center come from villages where success is
measured by the value of one's house, Suryantini said.

Some of the human trafficking victims said they had been
prepared to work 20 hours a day abroad just so they could buy
building materials for their village homes, leaving their
children behind.

"Perhaps, village chiefs have not educated villagers on the
perils of working overseas, in order to protect them from
middlemen," she said.

IOM program assistance officer Anna Sakreti said her
institution had faced many barriers in bringing the victims home.

Prolonged investigations and court trials stopped them from
providing immediate assistance, she said.

Anna said NGO activists had often received threats from
certain people involved in human trafficking.

National Police data shows there were 650 cases of human
trafficking between 1999 and 2003, 430 of which were settled.

However, a study carried out in 2003 by the Women's Journal
Foundation (YJP) found that as many as 5,000 women and children
were trafficked to Batam island that year.

The IOM estimates between 800,000 and four million cases of
human trafficking occur worldwide every year. (004)