'Refugees forced into sex slavery'

Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan, North Sumatra

At least 1,000 female Acehnese refugees, who fled to neighboring North Sumatra because of war in their homeland, have been forced to become sex workers but the police are doing nothing about it, activists say.

The women, allegedly being trafficked as prostitutes, are generally aged between 16 and 26, they added.

Ikhwaluddin Simatupang, who leads the Advocacy Forum for Acehnese Refugees, said the discovery came about after investigating a number of complaints by parents who reported their daughters had been forced to serve as sex workers.

They are part of some 12,000 refugees from the war-torn province of Aceh, who have been languishing in camps across North Sumatra.

"Many of them are trafficked to Riau, while in North Sumatra, the sex workers from Aceh are mostly found operating in cities like Medan, Langkat and Asahan," Ikhwaluddin told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.

He blamed the economic factor as one reason that the Acehnese refugees were easily trapped by commercial sex syndicates.

"How could they avert such a trap, while they don't have anything to survive on. Up to now, the government has yet to fulfill its promise of giving the refugees Rp 8,750,000 (US$1,029) per family in assistance," he said.

Arifany, coordinator of non-governmental organization Pusaka Indonesia, confirmed the trafficking involving Acehnese girls.

Most of the initial information came to light during a recent discussion on and women and children trafficking in Lankat regency, he added.

Speaking in Medan, he said most of the Acehnese sex workers were sent to the Riau towns of Dumai and Duri.

"Initially, they had been promised work in restaurants with good pay. But when they arrived at their destinations, they were trapped, locked up and forced to become sex slaves," Arifany said.

He said the women's specific whereabouts remain unknown, but they are believed to be locked up by the syndicate bosses.

Samirah, an Acehnese refugee and a mother, now in North Sumatra, complained that her 24-year old daughter, Nina, was taken by a man who promised her a job as a waitress in Duri in May, but she has not seen her since.

The man, identified only as Bo, met Nina on May 27, 2003, to offer her the job which he claimed had a good salary and she accepted it, Samirah said.

"Without any money and only two changes of clothes, Nina left for Duri along with Bo. However, to this point, I don't know where she is, although she once sent a letter to me," she added.

In the letter dated in July, Nina told her mother that she did not work at a restaurant as promised and that she was locked up and barred from going out of a house by her boss.

"The letter also says that she once sent me Rp 400,000 through Bo. But the man denied being entrusted with the money for me," Samirah said.

The mother said she had several times gone to the house of Bo's father-in-law to ask about her daughter's whereabouts, but family members there denied everything.

"I want to find Nina in Duri to bring her home, but I have no money," Samirah said, adding that her husband, who is still in Aceh, also does not know about the fate of his daughter.

Ikhwaluddin and Arifany urged police to take proactive measures by investigating the trafficking case involving the Acehnese refugees.

"We ask the police to immediately investigate these crimes and human rights violations," Ikhwaluddin said.