T

he traditional setting of domestic workers in Indonesia, who live at home with their employers, may have contributed to the country’s poor standing in a recent global survey.

Traditionally, Indonesian domestic workers, as well as those working as housemaids abroad, live with their employers and can be prone to abuse, ranging from long work hours to violence and torture.

The 2016 Global Slavery Index released on Tuesday revealed that around 736,000 individuals are trapped in situations of modern slavery in Indonesia, putting the country in the index’s Top 10.

The ranking placed Indonesia among countries with the most enslaved people, including India, China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Uzbekistan and North Korea.

Collectively, the Top 10 countries account for 68 percent of people living in modern slavery worldwide, the report states.

Modern slavery takes many forms in Indonesia, affecting men, women and children. The survey tracks the number of people stuck in “situations of exploitation that [they] cannot refuse or leave because of threats, violence, coercion, abuse of power or deception”.

“In terms of absolute numbers, Indonesia is placed ninth in the Global Slavery Index,” Katherine Bryant, a research manager at the Walk Free Foundation and an author of the index, told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

Despite the relatively high ranking, the prevalence of modern slavery in Indonesia is still below that in many other countries, partly due to the population, a government official noted.

With a population of over 252 million, Indonesia has an estimated 0.3 percent of its population in modern slavery, putting it in the 39th place.

Survey data reveals that forced labor in agriculture and the construction industry is one of the most prevalent forms of modern slavery.

The data also found cases of forced labor of adults and children in the palm oil industry.

Indonesian migrant workers were found to be vulnerable to exploitation in Gulf countries, while commercial sexual exploitation of women and children also occurs throughout Indonesia.

The analysis gave the Indonesian government’s response a B rating. In its statement, the foundation commended the government’s efforts to address modern slavery.

Bryant said, however, that more could be done to eradicate modern slavery through comprehensive improvements in various sectors, both public and private.

She suggested strengthening regulations to protect citizens, including by ratifying and implementing the International Labor Organization’s Domestic Workers Convention to ensure compliance with international standards, ratifying the Protocol of 2014 to the ILO Forced Labour Convention, and passing the country’s domestic workers’ protection bill.

Bryant added that the government should increase public awareness of modern slavery to further support progress in the reduction and prevention of such treatment.

Meanwhile, Foreign Ministry spokesman Arrmanatha rejected the perceptions, saying the survey did not reflect the reality on the ground, including Indonesia’s progress in reducing the number of enslaved people.

“The methodology is at an early stage,” he said, citing the survey.

“[We] don’t see the report as scrutinizing our weaknesses. On the contrary, it praises the steps Indonesia has taken to reduce [the number of] those trapped in modern slavery.”

According to 2015 data from the Foreign Ministry, there has been a significant increase in cases of Indonesians becoming victims of trafficking overseas.

From 327 cases reported in 2014, the number jumped last year to 500 cases, more than half of which have been resolved.

The ministry’s director for the protection of Indonesian nationals and entities abroad, Lalu Muhammad Iqbal, said there had been significant progress among Gulf countries, where most trafficking cases involving Indonesians occurred.