RI to continue with battle against people trafficking

RI to continue with battle against people trafficking

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Encouraged by having made some progress, Indonesia will continue
with its battle against people trafficking to repair its poor
record as well as to avoid sanctions from the international
community, says a government official.

In its third annual "Trafficking in Persons Report" released
on Wednesday at www.state.gov, the U.S. Department of State moved
Indonesia out of the so-called "Tier 3" group of countries,
inclusion in which can lead to sanctions, into the "Tier 2"
group. The report said that Indonesia had made, to some extent,
improvements and progress in its battle against people
trafficking.

The report, however, also said that the Indonesian government
had not fully complied with the minimum standards for the
elimination of people trafficking.

"We are happy with the U.S. report as it reflects what we have
already done to correct our poor record on people trafficking.
But we still have a lot to do to eliminate rampant people
trafficking," Ratna Tjaja, the deputy in charge of the quality of
women's lives at the Office of the State Minister for Women's
Empowerment, told The Jakarta Post here on Thursday

According to the U.S. report, Indonesia has adopted a national
plan to combat the trafficking of women and children, but its
implementation is hindered by an overall lack of capacity and
resources.

Public campaigns had been conducted, but overall public
awareness of trafficking remained inadequate.

Regarding the prosecution of offenders, the report said that
Indonesia had not yet passed a comprehensive anti-trafficking
law, but a bill was currently being deliberated by the House of
Representatives.

The House, however, had already amended the Criminal Code to
provide for tougher penalties against traffickers, and had passed
a law on child protection.

Officials had made a number of arrests, but nationwide data
on convictions was not available and corruption remained a major
obstacle.

As for protection measures, the report said that the
Indonesian government had drawn up a national plan to ensure
proper treatment for the victims of trafficking, but
implementation varied widely. Some local officials continued to
treat victims as criminals and further abuse them.

Ratna said that the government and the House must now speed up
the deliberation of the bill on the trafficking of women and
children to provide a legal basis for the ongoing fight against
trafficking.

An estimated 230,000 Indonesian women and children have been
trafficked from their home villages in Java, Sumatra, West Nusa
Tenggara and Sulawesi to be employed as sex workers and cheap
labor in urban areas at home and the sex trade overseas.

The government has recently brought home more than 300 women
who were employed as sex workers in Saudi Arabia and Malaysia.

Ratna said that besides, the immigration office should also
strictly screen the documents of women and children departing for
overseas, especially for the well-known destination countries of
the traffickers.

"We know that the traffickers and their syndicates can
manipulate the personal identities of women and children. But
this manipulation could be detected if we wanted to," she said.

She warned that many women and children have been traded
because of economic problems. "Nobody would want to work as a sex
worker if poverty was eradicated: They are given jobs," she said

Meanwhile, International Labor Organization representative in
Jakarta Alan Boulton said that thousands of children were being
trafficked for prostitution in Indonesia, and parents and other
family members were often to blame.

More than 10,000 children aged under 18 work as prostitutes in
major cities in Indonesia, he said as quoted by AFP.

The real figure may be even higher considering that many
prostitutes work in concealed and unregistered places, he said.