Introduction: Pseudo Progress
Human trafficking is still a dire problem in Indonesia. The number of victims of this crime generally remained high in the past two decades, while the numbers of successfully resolved cases and convictions of perpetrators remained low. Based on the “Trafficking in Persons 2020” report by the United States Department of State, the number of trafficked persons is estimated to be in the thousands in 2020, as with previous years. In contrast to this estimate, the number of victims reported by the Indonesian government was 761 in 2019. This meant an increase in cases than in 2018 (480 cases) and a decrease when compared to 2017 (1,271 cases). Similarly, the number of cases investigated by the National Police in 2019 was 102, an increase from 2018 (95 cases) and a decrease from 2017 (123 cases). The fluctuations in the number of cases in these three years demonstrate the persistence of this crime in Indonesia with little progress in efforts to eradicate it.
In fact, when viewed institutionally, there are enough policies that have been drafted and implemented by the Indonesian government to address human trafficking. Fairly early on, Indonesia has enacted the Law on the Eradication of the Crime of Trafficking in Persons (Law No. 21/2007) and established a Task Force for the Prevention and Management of Human Trafficking in 2008 (Presidential Regulation No. 69/2008). The task force was formed with the inclusion of various institutions ranging from the police, the Ministry of Law and Human Rights, the Ministry of Social Affairs, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection; spanning from central to district / city levels. Additionally, there is substantial budget prepared by the government to implement these policies. For the Witness and Victim Protection Agency (LPSK), the government provided IDR 54 billion (~USD 385,000) in 2019. Additionally, since 2018, the government made it mandatory for local governments to include anti-trafficking policies at their regional levels. These advancements have culminated Indonesia to be categorized as Tier-2 in the “Trafficking in Persons 2020” report.
Indonesia’s categorization as Tier-2 means that despite its progress in anti-trafficking policies, there are still numerous anti-trafficking agendas that have not been implemented by the Indonesian government. Practically, the implementation of current policies is also still not optimally implemented. In terms of institutional development, for example, the National Police has only developed task forces in 13 provinces. The task force at the regional level has also complained about the lack of funds to coordinate and implement policies at their level.
From this brief description, it is evident that there are contradictions in anti-trafficking policies in Indonesia, namely the gap between the vision and its misaligned strategy. Consequently, various polices and progress tended to be ineffective, while human trafficking is still rife based on the figures of victims and cases as presented by the government, foreign organizations and non-governmental organizations.
These contradictions are also reflected in the confusion by government agencies to interpret and operationalize anti-trafficking policies. In various areas with high trafficking cases such as West Kalimantan, East Nusa Tenggara and West Java, the police and immigration face difficulties in identifying perpetrators and stopping these acts of crime while they are being carried out. In most cases, the police and local governments only knew about the occurrence of such crime when victims self-reported the crimes, violence and losses they have experienced. Generally, the policy that is implemented in such cases is facilitating the return and rehabilitation of victims albeit on a small scale.
The government and police at the central and regional levels do not seem to have a clear and directed vision and strategy to reduce human trafficking in Indonesia. Confusion in the interpretation and operationalization of anti-trafficking policies must be resolved by understanding the problems that exist in practice that enables the continued occurrence of human trafficking and rendering policies to be ineffective.
Human Trafficking Operations Embedded in Social Structures and Exploits Social Networking Bias
The root problem in developing and implementing anti-trafficking policies in Indonesia stems from the characteristics of this crime itself, namely 1) being embedded in the social structure till it is difficult to identify and address the crime, and 2) the bias of social networks which sees labour migration as vertical mobility despite violating administrative procedures and protective measures, and disregarding the risks that labour migration could be a ploy for human trafficking when such violations are committed.
In Indonesia, human trafficking is operated by embedding itself into social structures. This makes it difficult to ascertain if a crime has been committed as human trafficking has integrated the people’s daily activities. Generally, perpetrators arrested for this crime were part of the social networks of their victims or the victims’ families. In many cases, the perpetrators who were reported to be involved in the recruitment process were even the victims’ family members, relatives or close friends. Many of the recruiters were themselves Indonesian migrants in the destination countries that the victims would be sent to and were socially connected with the victims. Their modus operandi for recruitment could be on the pretext of facilitating requests from their places of employment or their own initiatives whenever there is a job opening. Offering a job opportunity is often seen as a benevolent act and the potential for vertical mobility for family, relatives and members of the village.
The process of transporting and sheltering the victims is also embedded into the daily activities of the community. The transportation that was used in such crimes were generally not specifically set up to solely serve such organized crime networks. Instead, public transportation has been exploited for such heinous purposes. In some cases, victims get a lift in the private vehicles belonging to migrant workers commuting to the same destination countries.
In their villages, the victims’ families and communities generally encourage their children to become migrant works, including via illegal means, regardless of the possibility of becoming victims of human trafficking. Economic pressures and limited work and business opportunities in their hometowns are structural factors that encourage migration that bypasses procedures and protection. Collectively, by being embedded into the social structures and processes, on the one hand facilitates opportunities for human trafficking to occur while confounding efforts to identify and prevent it.
Social networking bias also plays an important role in facilitating human trafficking operations. Victims readily accept work offers due to their social connections with recruiters. By exploiting such trust, victims and victims’ families deem such migrations as opportunities, until they return home as human trafficking victims.
Behind Ineffective Policies: Lack of Basis on Knowledge and Institutionalization
Ineffective government policies are a result of weak basis on knowledge for policy formulation and implementation, as well as weak institutional development to lead and coordinate the prevention and managing human trafficking. The Law on the Eradication of the Crime of Trafficking in Persons is widely used to crack down on illegal migration – apart from cases of illegal local prostitution, however, there is no clear distinction between illegal migration and human trafficking. The report from the US DOS also reveals that data in Indonesia was not uniformed between the National Police, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of Law and Human Rights. The confusion generated from this lack of uniformity reduces the reliability of such data. This is confounded by the lack of basis on knowledge about the structures and processes involved in human trafficking operations in Indonesia. This affects the policy agendas to eradicate human trafficking consequently leading to ineffective measures.
The legal framework of anti-trafficking policies alone is insufficient in providing an operational definition of human trafficking, its processes and indicators. An understanding of the structures and processes based on ground realities is needed to design policies that are more precise and effective, both to address and mitigate human trafficking. Clear definitions, vision and strategy based on contextual knowledge are needed in this regard.
More detailed analyses of governance in the implementation of anti-trafficking policies also needs to be conducted and used as a basis for policy development. One such analysis discovered that the Task Forces for the Prevention and Management of Human Trafficking in districts do not work effectively throughout the year. The agencies only meet several times annually and are without any operating budget. Repatriating and rehabilitating victims generally leverage on local government funds which in itself is limited. Therefore, there is often a lack of funds to cater to all the victims. Additionally, investigations and trials have to often end abruptly due to the lack of funds to accommodate victims during investigations and trial processes, thus hampering the resolution of their cases.
Conclusion: The Need for Commitment, Policy Revision and Institutional Reforms
The aforementioned descriptions of Indonesia do not present a bright and optimistic forecast for the eradication of human trafficking in Indonesia. On one end, we see a grim outlook based on the ineffectiveness and seemingly flippant nature of government policies leading to an increase in the number of victims experiencing violence and losses in wealth and opportunities. Numerous victims even refused to return to their respective hometowns and chose to stay in transit regions due to the trauma they experienced.
The threes factors that must be emphasized to initiate improvements are 1) strengthening government and institutions’ commitment both nationally and locally, 2) revising policies, and 3) reforming institutions involved in the prevention and management of human trafficking. The government must also strengthen its vision and commitment to eradicate human trafficking to ensure its translation into a more effective strategy and policies. Beyond this, the institutions responsible for implementing these need to be improve their stewardships and inter-institution coordination.
