The United States has highlighted Indonesia's role in fighting human trafficking in its annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report released Tuesday in Washington, crediting Elly Anita as one of the nine anti-trafficking heroes it named worldwide.
Elly, an Indonesian citizen, began working for Migrant Care to rescue victims of human trafficking after she escaped Iraq from an employment agent who had promised her a secretarial position in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, in 2006.
She said the agent beat her and starved her, kept her confined and even put a gun to her head. She fled with the help of the International Organization of Migration (IOM) after contacting the Indonesian Embassy in Amman, Jordan, and Migrant Care. Since returning to Indonesia, she has helped rescue six women who were also trafficked.
The TIP report said Indonesia had made significant efforts to meet the minimum standard to combat trafficking, giving Jakarta the middle-tier ranking for its efforts.
The report also said Indonesian trafficking victims were forced to work in the Middle East and other Asian countries. Saudi Arabia and Malaysia are the top destinations for trafficked workers, where victims are forced into domestic servitude and sexual exploitation.
The report said around 800,000 people were trafficked across international borders and millions more within their own national borders.
At a press conference, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the report shed a light on the face of modern-day slavery and on new facets of this global problem.
"The human trafficking phenomenon affects virtually every country, including the United States. In acknowledging America's own struggle with modern-day slavery and slavery-related practices, we offer partnership. We call on every government to join us in working to build consensus and leverage resources to eliminate all forms of human trafficking," she said.
The United States has funded 140 anti-trafficking programs in 70 countries to combat trafficking. The report underscored the root causes of human trafficking, which include poverty.
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