Regional ministers begin people smuggling conferense

Rita A. Widiadana, The Jakarta Post, Nusa Dua, Bali

The second Regional Ministerial Conference on People Smuggling, Trafficking in Persons and Related Transnational Crimes will open in Bali on Tuesday amid growing fears of a possible increase in the crimes following the war in Iraq.

The three-day event, which was preceded by a series of senior official meetings beginning Sunday morning, will focus on various contentious topics regarding irregular migration of people and cross-border crimes, which pose serious security, social and economic problems for the affected Asia-Pacific countries.

Indonesian foreign minister Hassan Wirayuda and his Australian counterpart Alexander Downer are scheduled to officially open the conference.

Since the first regional conference, also held here in February last year, a growing public awareness of subsequent activities have put the issues of people smuggling, trafficking and related transnational crimes on national and regional agendas.

In his statement read in Jakarta during the preparatory meeting for this year's conference, Hassan said the humanitarian tragedy in Iraq and its potential to generate a new, irregular flow of people would underline the urgency of this year's agenda.

In the last few years, hundreds of people from Afghanistan, Iraq and other Middle Eastern countries have emigrated to a number of Asia-Pacific countries, including Indonesia and Australia, to escape wars and other calamities in their countries of origin.

Many Iraqi people have already entered Indonesia illegally and have settled in a number of provinces, including West Nusa Tenggara, East Java and West Java.

The second Bali ministerial conference will review the progress of the follow-up measures that have been taken in combating people smuggling, trafficking in persons and related transnational crimes.

The meeting seeks to formulate and refine the considerations and notions that will become the substantive content of the Co- Chairs' statement, which is to be the main outcome of the conference. The statement is also expected to include recent global and regional developments.

"The full global impact of Iraq and other wars and the humanitarian disaster that it has brought about are yet to be fully gauged, but a number of dire consequences are already evident; refugees are streaming out of the country," Hassan said.

The outflow of refugees will not only strain the economies and environments of neighboring countries, but will also create lucrative hunting grounds for people smugglers and traffickers, who prey on women and children displaced by war, he added.

"All sorts of transnational criminal networks are bound to exploit the plight of the victims of such a massive conflict as the one we are witnessing in Iraq," he said.

Humanitarian crises and other causes of irregular migrations form the backdrop to the conference here, also referred to as "The Bali Process".

Last year's conference produced a Co-Chairs' Statement that established the foundation for bilateral and multilateral cooperation among participating countries in regards people smuggling and transnational crimes, including terrorism. The statement also covered policies, legal frameworks and law enforcement in dealing with the issues.

Hassan said after the conference, Indonesia would be revising Law No. 9/1992 on immigration, which will include an amendment categorizing people smuggling and trafficking in persons as crimes.

As to the trafficking in women and children, Indonesia has enacted Law No. 23/2002 on the protection of children. Further, several presidential decrees have been issued to protect the welfare of women and children through preventive measures and enforcement.

Hassan mentioned that the number of recorded occurrences of irregular migrations to Indonesia had declined steadily over the past year.

Since l999, a total of 1,222 irregular migrants in Indonesia have chosen to repatriate voluntarily or have settled in third countries. In 2002 alone, after the first ministerial conference, 298 Afghani irregular migrants to Indonesia chose to return to their homeland.

Thirty-nine countries from the Asia-Pacific region are participating in this year's conference, which will also host observers from 20 countries including delegates from Europe, the United States and South Africa, and 16 regional and international agencies such as the World Bank, ASEAN, the European Union, Asia Pol and Interpol.