TRAFFICKING OF WOMEN IN INDONESIA

YANI TAUFIK
09/AP0974
PRE-ACCESS CLASS
ANU COLLEGE-2010

The problems of human trafficking persist in countries within The Asia-Pacific region.
As proposed by many experts that, as a developing country Indonesia is also experiencing
the problem of women trafficking (for example, see Wright cited in Latifa and Noveria,
2010). Some of the reasons behind the increasing rate of human trafficking are economic

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opportunities, which come from cheap workers. Indraswari cited in Jakarta Post (2010),
that 2 to 4 million woman and children gets trafficked every year worldwide and it is
also, estimated that between 80,000 to 100,000 of them are from Indonesia and mostly
young women and children.

Tailby (2001) asserts that the terms smuggling and trafficking of human beings, often
became indistinguishable in practice. People smuggling may defined as people’s
mobilization across border of countries without legal documents, where as people
trafficking may be that of within one country. Moreover, according to United Nation
article 3a, human trafficking can be defined as, “The recruitment, transportation, transfer,
harboring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of
coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of
vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent
of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation”
Australian Institute of Criminology (2008;P.1).

This essay attempts to discuss several factors women trafficking affecting such as,
poverty, unemployment and lack of education, gender discrimination in workplace and
offer of better living. Furthermore, highlights some alternative suggestions to cut down
women trafficking such as, preventing, prosecuting and protecting vulnerable women
from trafficking.

One of the main factors contributing to women trafficking in Indonesia is the high level
of poverty. Poverty and the unpleasant situation in labor market push female workers to
work outside the village, or even work abroad. The number of women migrant is being
increase annually. Centre of Statistical Biro of Indonesia (2009) claims that due to the
economic crisis in 1997, poor people in Indonesia increased from 11.3% in 1996 to
14.2% in 1997. BPS, projected that is about 38 million people are lives under poverty line
with income less than US$ 1 per day. These conditions are more serious to women,
because of social construction, which believed that man as the breadwinner, and woman

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as a homemaker used to legitimate to pay women less than man does particularly in
agriculture sector. Women main tasks are to care the family and do the housework, they
are not considering productivity and received low pay.

Due to high level of unemployment is a major cause of unemployment. majority of

women are unemployed because of their low educational level and gender discrimination
in finding jobs and discrimination in the social environment. Disparity in education
among male and female in Indonesia mainly in rural area are strongly influence by the
cultural tradition disadvantaged. Illiteracy of women in rural area in 1996 was 33.63%
compare with men only 15.17% while in urban area was 15.10% and 4.77% for men.
There are several factors causing that man have better access to education may be
attributed to low grade of income, distance of school from home, and commonly only
primary school available in village (Suleman and Gasim, 1998).

These factors make women potential victims of trafficking. Increasing demand for cheap
workers in industrialized countries may also serve as a driving factor for women
trafficking. More specialized industries had built in one country would frequently means
supports that are more human needed. However, where the number of population is low,
the alternative for human resource supply would be from neighboring countries which
excessive number of population. Other factor has also aggravated the majority of
unemployed in Indonesia, young and inexperienced and has only 12 years of basic
education (Suryadarma, Suryahadi, Sumarto, 2007). Many of those who accept these
offers from what appear to be legitimate sources find themselves in situations where their
documents are destroy, their selves or their families threatened with harm, or they are
bonded by a debt that they have no chance of repaying. Lack of education and
information made matters worse, where according to Irkham (2006), in Indonesia only 1
in 43 Indonesians has access to newspaper, compares with Malaysia 1 out of 8 people and
Japan 1 out of 2 people. Furthermore, in 2005 approximately 14.8% population was
illiterate (Ministry National Education spoke in Irkham, 2006).

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Good salary seems like a magical escape for working abroad. In reality, the victims are
trappe in various ways. Traffickers promised vulnerable women a high payment for
working in a hotel or restaurant as a waiter or in the factory and in a plantation site. In
fact it is only a tricky strategy, and they trapped and being exploits. Sometimes employee
or the pimps take their passports so that they cannot escape. Furthermore, discrimination
to find job for a female is also influenced women to become vulnerable. Suryadarma,
Suryahadi, Sumarto, (2007), claim that women have only 37% of labor force and indicate
that it is more difficult for female workers to find employment compared to their male
counterparts.

Many studies have identified various methods to deal with human trafficking in
Indonesia, which, in general, consist of prevention, prosecution and protection of
vulnerable people from trafficking.

In terms of prevention, the government through Ministry of Women Empowerment has

undertaken a number in efforts including raising-awareness campaigns and extensions.
In some instances, it did these through productive collaboration with local and
international non-government organizations (NGOs). Some of the important outcomes of
government’s prevention strategies have been the establishment of national anti-
trafficking task force and 2009-2013 national plan of action on human trafficking.
Several provinces and districts have established local plan of action and anti trafficking
committees. Furthermore, in order to reduce illegal female migration the government
may increase opportunities for people to migrate legally by promoting simple procedure
for those intending to work overseas and provide basic skill training related with overseas
labor demand. Another strategy is arrange Indonesian police cooperate with some
countries provided anti trafficking training to Indonesia troops prior to made more
difficult for traffickers. It is to ensure that border controls are effective and by taking
measures to prevent the misuse of passport and other travel or identification documents.
In addition, Indonesian government may organize cooperation with some countries,
NGOs and other related organizations to support long-term strategies aimed to improve

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the economic and social condition of vulnerable groups. The programmed have to
involve parents, traditional chiefs and priest, villagers, and vulnerable women.

The second strategy is prosecuting. The Indonesian government has been prosecuting 129
women traffickers in 2008, an increase from 109 prosecuted in 2007. Nine of defendant
in 2008 was for labor trafficking offenses. The average punishment given to convict
trafficking offenders was 43 months. Indonesian officials and local NGOs often criticised
the police as too passive in combating trafficking. (United States Department, 2009). It is
mentioned explicitly in the Criminal Code and Law No. 39/1999 on Human Rights as
follows: article 297 of the Criminal Code asserts that “trafficking in females (age not
specified) and trafficking in underage males are threatened by a penalty of up to 6 years
in jail” (Rosenberg, R. 2003). The complexities of the human trafficking problem and its
global reach require a concerted effort by relevant entities at the local, national, regional
and international level. It is vitally important to form partnerships with intergovernmental
organisations, NGOs, international organization, legislators, community leaders and
families confronted with women trafficking. Police officers, borders guards and others
confronted with human trafficking on the ground also need training adequately to protect
the human rights of trafficked person.

Another strategy is protecting women that are vulnerable from trafficking. Government
of Indonesia has been operating 41 integrated service centers that deal with cases involve
trafficking, four of which are equipped with full medical recovery center. Since 2008, the
government had also set up 305 district-level women’s help desks to assist victim-of-
violence women. Indonesian migrants, both domestic and internationals are tends to
dominated by women. The number of Indonesian women migrating for work has
increased dramatically; women comprised nearly 70% of Indonesia migrant workers in
1999 and 2000 (Misra and Rosenberg, in Rosenberg, 2003; P-39). To protect them from
trafficking, the authorities at the Tanjung Priok seaport in Jakarta (capital city of
Indonesia) screened travelers in order to identify victims of trafficking and refer them to
appropriate shelters and medical care facilities. In mid-2008, the national agency for the

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placement and protection of overseas workers opened a new terminal at Jakarta
international airport-terminal 4 dedicated to receiving returning Indonesia workers where
most of them are women. Indonesia’s Foreign Ministry continued to operate shelters for
trafficking victim and migrant workers at some of Indonesia embassies and consulates
abroad. During the past year, these diplomatic establishments sheltered thousands of
Indonesian citizens, including trafficking victims (United States Department of State,
2009). However, Indonesian government needs to build cooperation with specialized
NGOs, building appropriate national structure and capacities for revitalization of victims,
including opportunities for reinsertion into the labor market, is necessary in order to
prevent victim from being re-trafficked.

Poverty, unemployment, lack of education, gender discrimination and offer better live are
factors, which influence women as victims of traffickers. They are vulnerable to false
promises and job opportunities in other countries. To overcome the problem Indonesian
Government is cooperation with the local and international NGOs to prevention through
campaigns, simplifies the procedure of immigration documents and tight control to
reduce document fraud and tightening controls along the border. Another strategy is
making laws and regulations for strict prosecution of trafficking of women. Then
performed various steps has protected women workers, by building centers and health
centers, conduct strict supervision of the main places of departure abroad.

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