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Govt efforts to tackle human trafficking not enough, activists say
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Public exposure: Jambi Police present human trafficking suspects on July 24, 2023, during a press conference in the provincial capital Jambi. Over the last two months, the provincial police force has arrested 17 people in connection with human trafficking. (Antara/Wahdi Septiawan)
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ctivists and members of humanitarian organizations pointed out government shortcomings in tackling human trafficking during a seminar on Friday night, saying that more needs to be done.
The seminar, which was held in South Jakarta and was themed “Justice and Mercy: Uniting to Eradicate Human Trafficking”, was organized by the Rumah Hati Suci orphanage and the Women Gospel Community. There were three keynote speakers: Mia Marina from NGO Integritas Justitia Madani Indonesia, Irena Handayani from Talitha Kum Indonesia, an organization of Catholic nuns fighting against human trafficking and Chrisanctus Paschalis Saturnus, a priest and human rights activist in Batam, Riau Islands province who is better known as Romo Paschal.
Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection Minister I Gusti Ayu Bintang Darmawati, better known as Bintang Puspayoga, also participated in the event. She opened the seminar with a speech focusing on the current state of human trafficking in Indonesia.
“Indonesia has the greatest number of victims of human trafficking in Southeast Asia. And yet, when we look at the cases, we only see the tip of the iceberg. There are many other cases that likely go unreported,” she said.
The urgent need to act prompted the government, acting on President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s instructions, to overhaul a human trafficking task force in June to scale up its efforts to stop exploitation and to protect vulnerable job seekers. The changes include transferring the task force’s leadership from Bintang to the National Police’s Criminal Investigation Department (Bareskrim), because the Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection Ministry did not have the authority to conduct criminal investigations into human trafficking cases.
This reflected the government’s “strong commitment to ending human trafficking”, Bintang said. “But it cannot be done alone without the help of the public. These kinds of communities [like the one formed by the seminar] are important so that we can work together.”
Read also: Govt rescues nearly 2,000 human trafficking victims
