A Brief Overview of Trafficking Problem in Indonesia

Background  

The development of trafficking has shifted into positioning human beings − women and children − in vulnerable and/or subordinated conditions. Trafficking in persons is one of the worst treatment forms of acts of violence that persons, especially women and children, experience; it is categorized as criminal acts and human rights violation.

Trafficking in human beings, particularly of women and children, has been loudly denounced by the international community as a human rights abuse, and  one violence against women. Governments are responsible for ensuring human rights on their territories, they have an obligation to protect individuals from such practices, prosecute violations, and provide effective remedies for victims.  Today, trafficking has improved into organized crime network and become more sophisticated as it is called as a transnational crime. The actors can be ranged from persons, groups, to corporations. Victims are treated as if they are goods that can be purchased, sold, transferred, and resold as commodity objects that are beneficial for the perpetrators.Human trafficking is a problem around the world, not just in Indonesia. It is difficult to predict the exact number of victims entrapped. Besides as a source and transit country for international trafficking, Indonesia also has an internal trafficking. On December 23, 2002 President Megawati announced her approval of the National Plan of Action for the Elimination of Trafficking in Persons and Children. Later, The Government of Indonesia has signed the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children in Palermo, Italia, in 2000, as the embodiment of Indonesia’s commitment in fighting against transnational organized crime, especially fighting against the crime of trafficking in women and children. In addition, this bill law is formulated with an intention to show the national and international commitments, realized under bilateral, regional or multilateral international cooperation, to carry out efforts to prevent and counter the crime of trafficking in persons (www.humantrafficking.org).  

The Concept of Trafficking  

The increasingly rampant problem of trafficking in persons in various countries, especially in developing countries, has come to the attention of the international community and organizations, especially the United Nations. The United Nations defines human trafficking as:  “the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation.” (2000 UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially women and children; Supplement to UN Convention on Transnational Crime)  In sum, there are two types of trafficking :

1. International or transnational trafficking. Here the activities and transaction cover across borders of countries. In this kind of trafficking, it relates at least two countries and more often more than two.
2. Domestic or internal trafficking. Trafficking here has function to fulfill the request or demand of trafficking object domestically. Internationally for the purposes of trafficking are sexual exploitation, forced labor, slavery, servitude or removal organs and even for brides.

Trafficking in persons is different from smuggling of persons. The smuggling of persons emphasizes more on sending persons illegally from one country to another that benefits the smugglers, meaning there is no exploitation against the smuggled persons (The Elimination of Trafficking in Persons in Indonesia 2004-2005)  

Trafficking in Indonesia

The NGO Migrant Care estimates that up to 1.2 million Indonesians (mostly women) migrate for work   abroad each year. At any time, there are approximately 4 million Indonesians working abroad sending home up to US$ 2.8 billion each year, which is the equivalent of about Rp 25.2 trillion. It is not known how many of them are trafficked. However, up to 2/3 of these migrants work abroad illegally – many of whom were deceived regarding the legal consequences of such work, making them vulnerable to abusive working conditions and threats of arrest and deportation. The fact that their hard work generates so much income for the Indonesian economy makes international migrant workers a prime target for human traffickers (Statistic in www.stoptrafficking.or.id).

Based on Article 1 Draft of Bill Anti Trafficking in Indonesia, definition of trafficking　is:”Trafficking in persons shall mean illegal acts of recruitment, transportation and transfer of persons for physical, sexual as well as labor exploitation purposes and which will produce both material and immaterial benefits”.   

A.      Routes
Trafficking occurs throughout Indonesia with different areas identified as sending, receiving and transit areas of regular migrant workers, as trafficking typically preys off of persons looking for work away from home.  There are some typical areas :  

Table 1  Indonesia Routes 

Typical Areas	Location
Sending Areas	Sending areas are those from which victims originate. Sending areas tend to be where job opportunities are least available and are typically rural and relatively poor. Sending communities are generally located on Java and North Sumatra, although Lombok, North Sulawesi, and Lampung are also notable sending areas.
Receiving Areas	Receiving areas are those to which victims are sent. Certain destinations have typical forms of traffickingFor example : 1.        Forced Sex Work: Batam, Jakarta, Bali, Surabaya, Papua and other areas where the sex and tourism industries are found within Indonesia. Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and South Korea are known international receiving areas. 2.        Domestic Work: All major urban areas within Indonesia as well as Hong Kong, Malaysia, the Middle East, Singapore, and Taiwan. 3.    Mail Order Brides: Taiwan 4.   Cultural Dancers: Japan
Indonesia as Receiving Country	There is some evidence that women are trafficked to Indonesian from Asia and Europe for sex work
Transit Areas:	Transit areas are those through which victims pass en route to a receiving area. Most transit areas are those with major seaports, airports, land-based transportation hub, and international border areas. These include Jakarta, Batam, Belawan, Deli Serdang, Riau Province, Surabaya, East Kalimantan, West Kalimantan, and Lampung

Sources : Data Processing from www.stoptrafficking.or.id and Coordinating Ministry for People’s Welfare, 2005, The Elimination of Trafficking in Persons in Indonesia 2004-2005, Jakarta. 

In Indonesia as a transnational place for transit and destination country for human trafficking, Indonesian victims are trafficked to Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore. To a minimal extent, Indonesia is a destination for women from the People’s Republic of China (P.R.C.), Thailand, Taiwan, Uzbekistan, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Venezuela, Spain, and Ukraine who are trafficked for sexual exploitation (http://gvnet.com).

  
B. The Problem 

The crime of trafficking is a crime that seriously damages and jeopardizes the public, nation, and state and also considered as degrading the nation’s dignity. Hence, it is necessary to have special law, which regulates on crime of the community and suit with international law. It is also important to have formal law on inquiries, prosecution, and court proceedings that deviates from provisions of the applicable Criminal Code Procedures.Traffickers target people who are looking for jobs, so they are most vulnerable when they migrate away from home searching for employment. Although not all such workers have been trafficked into abusive and exploitative conditions, the potential number of trafficking victims is very large, especially traffickers have also forced many women into prostitution.

Table 2 Trafficking Cases 

No.	Year	Number of Cases	Submitted to Prosecutor Office	Percentage
1	1999	173	134	77.46
2	2000	24	16	66.67
3	2001	179	129	72.07
4	2002	155	90	58.06
5	2003	125	67	53.60
6	2004	43	23	53.48

Source : Criminal Investigation Body of the National Police Headquarter (2005) in The Elimination of Trafficking in Persons in Indonesia 2004-2005, 

A significant number of Indonesian women who go overseas each year to work as domestic servants are subjected to exploitation and conditions of involuntary servitude. An unknown number of child domestic workers also face conditions of forced child labor, a severe form of trafficking in persons. Some Indonesian women who travel legally to Japan as “cultural performers” are trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation.The extensive trafficking location within Indonesia is from rural to urban metropolitan areas particularly for sexual exploitation and involuntary domestic servitude. The several factors that all contribute to Indonesia’s trafficking problem are :

1.  Endemic poverty,
2. A high unemployment rate,
3. Corruption and a weak rule-of-law environment

Women and children so far has been put as a vulnerable object of trafficking. The object of trafficking can be :

1. Women
2.  Men
3. Teenagers
4. Children
5. Babies
6. Human organs

The causes of trafficking are related one to another. Tradition aspects also of fostering that children are to be sent to live and work in an urban center with a member of the extended family in exchange for a promise of education or working. Observation on trafficking in persons relates also with global market, worker-labor-people demands, and abusive employers and sexual exploitation explain that there is a high demand. On the other side, clients for the forced labor can be seen as a part of need fulfilling process, they are neglected from the matters of involvement on trafficking. There kind of some important logical targets for awareness process in the human trafficking. To emphasize in this matter, poverty is one important factor, followed by the attraction of perceived higher standards of living elsewhere, lack of employment opportunities, organized crime, violence against women and children, discrimination against women, government corruption, political instability, and armed conflict. Trafficking is also driven by the global demand for cheap, vulnerable, and illegal labor.  

C. Legal Regulation Using in the Trafficking in Indonesian

The legal responses of a legal system differ in countries of destination as opposed to countries of origin. However, the point here is the legal response must be comprehensive to address all forms of trafficking. Indonesia does not have a comprehensive anti-trafficking law, but as of April 2005, a draft bill was currently pending before Parliament. Although Indonesian law criminalizes trafficking, it lacks a comprehensive definition of the crime. In 2004, the government reported 141 trafficking-related investigations, 51 prosecutions, and 45 convictions. The number of convictions reflected an 80 per cent increase over the previous year’s performance (www.humantrafficking.org).

In Indonesia punishment for trafficking is imprisonment up to 6 years.Several other regulations related with trafficking in Indonesia are :

• Law 23/2004 concerning the Elimination of Domestic Violence.
• Law 23/2002 concerning Children Protection
• Law 1/2000 concerning the Elimination of Any Worst Works for Children
• Law 5/1998 concerning Ratification of Convention on Anti Torture
• Law 20/1999 concerning Minimum Age to Work
• Law 19/1999 concerning the Elimination of Forced Work
• Law 39/2004 concerning Relocation and Protection of Indonesia Worker Abroad
• Presidential Decree 87/2002 concerning the Elimination of Children Commercial Sexual Exploitation
• Presidential Decree 77/2003 concerning Indonesia Commission on Children Protection
• Presidential Decree 88/2002 concerning National Plan of Action for the Elimination of the Crime of  Trafficking in Persons

Starting from last year, as the follow up of International Law on Anti Trafficking, Indonesia House of Representative is processing Presidential Decree 88/2002 concerning National Plan of Action for the Elimination of the Crime of  Trafficking in Persons to be passed as the Law concerning Anti Trafficking, therefore the enforcement of anti trafficking can be improved and legally stronger.Legitimacy of the international human rights framework is based upon the universal acceptance of legal norms. Indonesia ratified the United National convention against transnational organized crime. Some United Legal Instruments concerning about trafficking[1] are :

1. Convention on The Rights of Child New York 1999
2. Optional Protocol of the Convention  of The Rights of the Child of the Sale of The Children, Children Prostitution and Children Prostitution, 2000
3. C.182 “Worst forms of child labor convention, Geneva 1999
4. United Nation Convention on Transnational Organized Crime , New York 2000
5. Protocol to Prevent, suppress and punish trafficking in persons especially women and children, supplementing the United Nation Convention against Transnational Organized Crime
6. Convention for suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of The Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others 1949
7. Convention on The Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against women 1979
8. Optional Protocol of the convention The Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against women, 1999
9. Supplementary Convention on Abolition of the Slaver, Slave Trade and Institutions and Practices Similar To Slaver, 1956
10. International Convention on Protection of the Rights of All the Migrants workers and members of their families, 1990  

INTERNATIONAL CONVENTIONS 1. UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS, 1948 Adopted and proclaimed by United Nations General Assembly Resolution 217A(II) on 10 December, 1948. Article 4 No one shall be held a slavery on Servitude : Slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.  2. CONVENTION ON THE ELIMINATION OF ALL FORMS OF DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN, 1979 Adopted and opened for signature, ratification, and accession by United National General Assembly resolution 34/180 on 18 December 1979. Entered into force on 3 September 1981 n accordance with article 27(1). Article 6 States Parties shall take all appropriate measures, including legislation, to suppress all forms of traffic in women and exploitation of prostitution of women. 3. THE CONVENTION OF THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD, 1989. Adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 20 November 1989. Entered into force on 2 September 190 in accordance with article 49(1). Article 11 1. States Parties shall take measures to combat the illicit transfer and non-return of children abroad. 2. To this end, States Parties shall promote the conclusion of bilateral or multilateral agreements of accession to existing agreements.  Article 34State Parties undertake to protect the child from all forms of sexual exploitation and sexual abuse. For these purposes States Parties shall in particular take all appropriate national, bilateral and multilateral measures to prevent. a) the inducement or coercion of a child to engage in any unlawful sexual activity. b) the exploitative use of children in prostitution or other unlawful sexual practices; c) the exploitative use of children in pornographic performances and materials.  Article 35States parties shall take all appropriate national, bilateral and multilateral measures to prevent the abduction, the sale of or traffic in children for any purpose or in any form.  4. INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANISATION FORCED LABOUR CONVENTION. Article 1 Each Member of the International Labour Organization which ratifies this Convention undertakes to suppress the use of forced or compulsory labour in all its forms within the shortest possible period.  Article 4 The competent authority shall not impose or permit the imposition of forced or compulsory labour for the benefit of private individuals, companies or associations.  5. CONVENTION FOR THE SUPPRESSION OF THE TRAFFIC IN PERSONS AND OF THE EXPLOITATION OF THE PROSTITUTION OF OTHERS  Article 1 The parties to the present Convention agree to punish any person who, to gratify the passions of another: 1. Procure, entices or leads away, for purposes of prostitution, another person, even with the consent of that person: 2. Exploits the prostitution of another person, even with the consent of that person.  Article 17The Parties to the present Convention undertake, in connection with immigration and emigration, to adopt or maintain such measures as are required, … to check the traffic in persons of either sex for the purpose of prostitution.  In particular they undertake. 1. To make such regulations as are necessary for the protection of immigrants or emigrants … in particular, women and children, both at the place of arrival and departure and while en route….  Article 19 The Parties … undertake … 1. Pending the completion of arrangements for the repatriation of destitute victims of international traffic in persons for the purpose of prostitution, to make suitable provisions for their temporary care and maintenance… 6. SUPPLEMENTARY CONVENTION ON THE ABOLITION OF SLAVERY, THE SLAVE TRADE, AND INSTITUTIONS AND PRACTICES SIMILAR TO SLAVERY  Article 1Each of the State Parties to this Convention shall take all practicable and necessary legislative and other measures to bring abut .. the complete abolition or abandonment of the following institutions and practices …. a) Debt bondage… b) Serfdom … c) Any institution or practice whereby: (I) A woman, without the right to refuse, is promised or given in marriage on payment of a consideration in money or in kind to her parents, guardian, family or any other person or group….  There are many other international conventions which obligate the governments involved to take affirmative actions against traffickers and to protect the victims. These include the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or degrading Treatment or Punishment; Convention on the Rights of the Child and others. In spite of these numerous international instruments, human rights violations continue unabated and trafficking has reached alarming proportions.

Source : http://www.hsph.harvard.edu 

In 2004, the Indonesian Government showed progress in applying greater law enforcement efforts to fighting trafficking and assisting Indonesian victims abroad, including migrant workers who had been trafficked. The government significantly increased its convictions of traffickers and adopted standard operating procedures for the protection of victims. Some local governments drafted and enacted laws and budgeted resources for anti-trafficking programs. Following the tsunami that devastated Aceh province, the Indonesian Government rapidly responded with appropriate measures to reduce the potential for trafficking of children from the region. While local governments gave greater priority to trafficking, translating national commitment to local action remained a problem (www.humantrafficking.org). In addition to the Criminal Code, a provision on prohibition of trafficking in persons, particularly in order to combat all forms of trafficking in women and exploitation of prostitution, has been established in Article 6 of Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), which has been ratified by Law No. 7 Year 1984 on the Ratification of Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. Also, protection against trafficking in persons has also been regulated in Law Number 39 Year 1999 on Human Rights. The law is the umbrella act for all legislation whose substance regulates on human rights protection. Because of its umbrella nature, the Law Number 39 Year 1999 cannot be applied directly that it is necessary to have an implementing law that regulates on prevention and countering of the crime of trafficking in persons. 

E. Government Efforts

The recent condition now is national and local victim assistance efforts are increased, however it remained small in comparison to the scope of the problem. The Indonesian Government’s efforts are :  

1. Providing shelters for Indonesian victims of involuntary servitude and commercial sexual exploitation for example in Indonesia embassies and consulates in Singapore, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait.
2. Providing domestic crisis centers
3. Cooperating with domestic NGOs and civil society organizations that concern with trafficking issue.
4. Providing training for officials and law enforcement officers in the handling of witnesses and victims.
5. The Women’s Ministry also finalized standard operating procedures used to assist trafficking victims in 2004. Although Indonesia’s national action plan calls for proper treatment of trafficking victims, implementation varies widely at the local level.

Government agencies or department concern with trafficking issue are :

• Department of Justice – Directorate of Immigration
• Indonesian National Police
• Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• Ministry of Justice and Human Rights
• Ministry of Manpower
• Ministry of Women’s Empowerment (MOWE)

The problem is the government has a limited ability to fund prevention programs. The Government then welcomed international assistance and continued to work with NGOs on anti-trafficking and education initiatives. The Government at various levels and to varying degrees assisted victims of trafficking, both domestically and abroad. Over the year, the Government and community groups established a number of new shelters for trafficking victims, including shelters in Batam, Riau Islands. The police increased the number of police women’s desks, units established to help women and children who fall victim to violence including trafficking. The women’s desks provided temporary shelter, special police handling, and some level of legal services for victims. The women’s desks often cooperated with local NGOs to provide medical and psychological services and longer term shelter.  

Non Governmental and  International Organizations’ Efforts

Domestic NGOs, with international support, led efforts to monitor and prevent trafficking, frequently in coordination with government agencies. These NGOs included, among many others, the Consortium for Indonesian Migrant Workers Advocacy, LBH-Apik, Women’s Aid and Protection Group, Women’s Coalition (Koalisi Perempuan), and Solidaritas Perempuan. The government cooperates with NGOs have been doing the campaign to spread the information about trafficking. However, it still faces the culture and human obstacles. It becomes the reason for the stakeholders in the anti trafficking actions, that they must reach the grass root of society to overcome this problem. The elements come from trafficking that this is a multi aspects problem. We cannot neglect both the domestic and international aspects, since trafficking covers a transnational characteristic. The program cannot be applied to only one side. Furthermore, there have to be an international cooperation among countries. Regional, transnational or even international working actions must be conducted while, domestically the national stakeholder strengthen their actions. The Indonesian Government cooperated with ASEAN countries tries to overcome this trafficking problem. This is important, since trafficking is one transnational crime exist. The Government of Indonesia cooperates with the Malaysian Government in arresting and prosecuting a major network that trafficked Indonesians into Malaysia for commercial sexual exploitation. In 2003, the Government cooperated with Australia in investigating a trafficking ring sending Indonesian women into sexual servitude in Australia. Bilateral police cooperation led to the trial of at least one trafficker in Australia and the arrest of others in Indonesia. The Government also cooperated with Malaysia to investigate trafficking.  

Conclusion

Legitimacy of the international human rights framework is based upon the universal acceptance of legal norms. In general, Indonesia has ratified the international convention on trafficking and done some progress but still far from reaching the goal. Government assistance was focused on citizens trafficked abroad, but on the other hand there is still a lack of domestic assistance. Although law enforcement efforts increased in Indonesia during 2004, convictions for trafficking-related offenses often carried light sentences, with an average sentence of just over three years’ imprisonment. Corruption and a weak judiciary remain serious impediments to the effective prosecution of traffickers. The government has to recognize that action must be taken against officials involved in trafficking, but has provided not enough information concerning actions it has taken against corrupt officials who may be complicit in trafficking. It is important to prevent, combat and punish perpetrators of the crime of trafficking in persons through a comprehensive law that combat or against trafficking. Hence, many efforts should be done from reforming existing laws, or providing for preventative campaigns to helping trafficking victims with the appropriate protective measures.   

References 

Coordinating Ministry for People’s Welfare, 2005, The Elimination of Trafficking in Persons in Indonesia 2004-2005, Jakarta.  

Draft of Law of The Republic Of Indonesia On The Combat Against The Crime Of Trafficking In Persons  

Tamburini, Elisa, 2001-2002, Trafficking in Children and Women in Africa : The International Legal Framework in www.unipv.it 

United Nation Protocol to Prevent, 2000, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children; Supplement to UN Convention on Transnational Crime   

http://www.humantrafficking.org 

http://www.stoptrafficking.or.id 

http://gvnet.com 

http://www.hsph.harvard.edu

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[1] Tamburini, 2001-2002