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ndonesia’s representative to the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR), Dinna Wisnu, plans to conduct a pilot project next year that would connect three aspects of dealing with human trafficking: prevention, prosecution and handling of victims.

The plan involves at least two regions in Indonesia and two ASEAN member states, she said at the opening ceremony of a two-day AICHR cross-sectoral consultation on human rights-based instruments related to the implementation of the ASEAN Convention Against Trafficking in Persons (ACTIP), especially women and children, held in Yogyakarta on Tuesday.

“What I have in my head is developing a model of a country ready for it, including Indonesia. I have been thinking about including Yogyakarta, Trenggalek in East Java and East Nusa Tenggara in the pilot project,” she said.

“With the full support of AICHR, we can try to cooperate with Malaysia or the Philippines to implement, for example, an early identification system.”

Dinna said Yogyakarta was the fifth largest port of departure for “problematic workers,” many of whom were indicated to be victims of human trafficking.

Dinna highlighted the urgency of cross-sectoral and crossborder cooperation with a human rights-based approach to fighting human trafficking in ASEAN.

“We gather here because we know we cannot work alone in our own cubicle of sectors, with only our expertise and experience, or in our area alone to combat trafficking in person, also known as human trafficking,” she said in her opening remarks.

Apart from the AICHR representatives from the 10 ASEAN member countries, the forum was also attended by representatives of relevant ASEAN bodies, government agencies, civil society organizations and other international bodies.

Dinna said the consultation had been planned since last year, following the first consultation between AICHR and senior officials meeting on transnational crime over a commitment to adopt a human rights-based approach to combat human trafficking.

She said a human rights-based approach was a commitment to combat human trafficking at the root causes by looking from the perspectives of the victims and perpetrators, and by understanding the surrounding vulnerabilities, the factors that made the crime dangerous because the victims and the recruiters took the risk of not saying anything to law enforcers.

Meanwhile, the Philippines’ representative to the AICHR, Zaldy B. Patron, on behalf of the AICHR chair, said that with crimes now being transnational in nature, especially trafficking in persons, the importance of regional cooperation is all the more evident.

“Educating our nationals on what to look out for as possible trafficking-in-persons red flags while being enticed with seemingly innocuous job offers will be the biggest challenge, especially for those living in urban areas,” he said.