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RI faces uphill climb battling human trafficking
Indonesia faces difficulties combating human trafficking due to various factors, including the involvement of state officials and the fact that the illegal industry is second only to drug-trafficking in terms of profits generated for criminals, an organization has said
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ndonesia faces difficulties combating human trafficking due to various factors, including the involvement of state officials and the fact that the illegal industry is second only to drug-trafficking in terms of profits generated for criminals, an organization has said.
International Organization for Migration (IOM) Indonesia project manager Nurul Qoiriah said eradicating human trafficking was also hampered by limited funding from the state budget and its entanglement with international crime networks.
'[Human trafficking] is a lucrative business. According to data from the United Nations office on drugs and crime [UNODC], the rate is second only to the drug business," Nurul said in Denpasar on Tuesday.
[Those involved in the human trafficking] are also people in uniform [state officials]. Their numbers are many. We need to be brave, to get the facts and compile the evidence so that we can find the links between traffickers,' she added as quoted by Antara news agency.
Migrant workers often become victims of trafficking because they are mostly unskilled and uneducated, Nurul said, adding that only in Hong Kong did migrant workers receive protection from labor laws.
Meanwhile, the Pekanbaru Police in Riau stated on Tuesday they had arrested two human traffickers, RM and TS, in the Meredan red-light district of Pekanbaru.
Pekanbaru Police chief Comr. Robert Haryanto Watratan said police had rescued eight women aged between 16 and 30 who had been forced into the sex industry. He said they had come from the West Java cities of Banten, Bandung, Sukabumi and Lampung, among others.
RM allegedly operated his human trafficking operation in Banten, while TS was the owner of a bar in Pekanbaru. 'The women were promised work in the bar [that belongs to TS], but when they arrived in Pekanbaru they were forced to also work as sex workers without payment and barred from using communication devices,' Robert said.(++++)
