UNDERSTANDING HUMAN TRAFFICKERS IN INDONESIA: CHARACTERISTICS, PERSPECTIVES, AND PATHWAYS TO PREVENTION A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Yuniar Aristia Paramita Sari BA (Universitas Jember), MA (Nagoya University) School of Global, Urban and Social Studies College of Design and Social Context Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) September 2021
Welcome message from author
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Transcript
UNDERSTANDING HUMAN TRAFFICKERS IN INDONESIA: CHARACTERISTICS, PERSPECTIVES, AND PATHWAYS TO
PREVENTION
A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy
Yuniar Aristia Paramita Sari BA (Universitas Jember), MA (Nagoya University)
School of Global, Urban and Social Studies
College of Design and Social Context
Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT)
September 2021
i
Declaration
I certify that except where due acknowledgement has been made, the work is that of the author
alone; the work has not been submitted previously, in whole or in part, to qualify for any other
academic award; the content of the thesis is the result of work which has been carried out since
the official commencement date of the approved research program; any editorial work, paid or
unpaid, carried out by a third party is acknowledged; and, ethics, procedures and guidelines
have been followed.
I acknowledge the support I have received for my research through the provision of the
Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship.
Yuniar A Paramita Sari
16 September 2021
ii
Acknowledgement
This thesis has benefited from the support and contributions of many people and institutions,
to whom I am forever grateful and remain indebted. I am thankful for RMIT University and
the funding to do this Ph.D. program under the Research Training Program (RTP) scholarship
and other research funding. Without this support, this study would not have been feasible.
My heartfelt thanks go out to the two members of my supervision team who tirelessly and
compassionately guided me during this Ph.D. program. To Associate Professor Julian Lee, you
are not only very helpful and understanding, but you have become my example on how to treat
others especially students. Your willingness to understand me and my thoughts have
encouraged me to keep working on this thesis. Thank you for always come with solutions and
motivations that make this process easier. I am grateful I ever met you and being under your
supervision to complete this project. And to Dr Kaye Quek, your trust, support, and patience
motivated me to keep this research going. Thank you for your priceless advice for my thesis
and the time you gave to me, Kaye. Thank you for helping me to make my arguments clearer
and deeper. It is been a great learning process with you. As with Julian, you have also inspired
me a lot with your personality and professionalism.
I am also indebted to Professor Douglas Lewis for being a key component of my milestone
panels from the beginning. Thank you for your supports, feedbacks, and helping me to see the
gaps in my research, and also for sharing some of your Indonesian experience. I also would
like to thank Associate Professor Georgina Heydon for helping me a lot during this program.
Thank you for your helping hands whenever I encountered some challenges since the beginning
of my study.
This research also benefitted greatly from the advice of Dr Larissa Sandy and Dr Vandra Harris
in the early stages of my Ph.D. candidature. Thank you for your guidance during my first year
as a Ph.D. student as I navigate this research. I have learned a lot about how to develop and
plan the research from you.
iii
I thankfully acknowledge Lee Miller, Principal Editor at Edit Mode who has been copy-edited
and proof-read this thesis, whose services are consistent with those outlined in Standards D
and E of the Australian Standards for Editing Practice (ASEP).
I also wish to acknowledge the immense supports and friendship from my Ph.D. colleagues:
Mercy, Hanna, Seregious, Faith, Luan, Bess, Joshi, Leul, Antung, Alex, Sumayyah, Nana,
Dian, Stef, and Diba. Thank you for making this journey easier and not lonely. In particular, I
would like to thank to Mercy who always being there during this journey as we become
housemates. I also thanks to Dulcie, Theresa in Canberra, and Vinicius in Japan for their
encouragements in every aspect during the completion of my study.
I am also thankful to the research participants I met during my fieldwork in West Java, East
Java, and DKI Jakarta provinces. I am indebted for the hospitality and support from the
representatives from NGOs and CSOs, and from the lawyers amidst their busy time. Although
I cannot thank them by name, I am most grateful to my informants who share with me their
stories passionately and make me believe that this research is worth doing. Their heart to
eliminate slavery and human trafficking have inspired me.
I see that this Ph.D. journey is never complete without the presence, prayers, supports, and love
from my family in Christ in Melbourne and in Depok, Indonesia. Very special thanks to
Natasya, Susan, Gerrard, Kevin, Emanuel, Vina, Maureen, Mey, Vanya, Perry, Janice, and
Sharon from Melbourne. Thank you for being a home for me in this far away land. I also thank
to BS family, Diana, Joy, Kristin, and Putri in Indonesia who always supported me in prayer
and love although we are separated by time and distance. I thank to Joy, Kristin, also Juwita
who helped me with technical issues during my fieldwork in Indonesia.
I wish to express a very special thanks to my family. For my parents, and my sister and her
beautiful family for their unconditional love and supports. I am grateful to my parent's ultimate
trust for every path I choose in this life. Terima kasih buat kasih sayang dan dukungan mama
dan papa selalu, untuk aku bisa menyelesaikan ini.
Finally and above all, I thank God, Jesus Christ, who started a good work within me and
remained with me unto completion. Under His grace and providence, I live and I am firm. To
Him be all the glory.
iv
Table of Contents
Declaration ......................................................................................................................................................i
Acknowledgement .......................................................................................................................................... ii
Table of Contents .......................................................................................................................................... iv
List of Figures and Tables ........................................................................................................................... viii
List of Acronyms ........................................................................................................................................... ix
Abstract ..........................................................................................................................................................1
Chapter 1: Introduction .................................................................................................................................3
1.1. Background and Statement of Problem .................................................................................................... 3
1.2. Why Focus on Indonesia and on Human Trafficking for Domestic Labour and the Sex Industry ....... 5
1.3. Research Objectives and Research Questions ........................................................................................... 7
1.4. Definition of Key Concepts Used in This Thesis: Human Trafficking and Human Traffickers ............ 8 1.4.1. Human Trafficking ........................................................................................................................... 8 1.4.2. Human Traffickers ............................................................................................................................ 9
1.5. Significance of the Research ................................................................................................................... 10
1.6. Scope and Limitations of the Research ................................................................................................... 13
1.7. Organisation of the Thesis ....................................................................................................................... 15
Chapter 2: Development of International Anti-Trafficking Policy ............................................................. 19
2.1. Introduction.............................................................................................................................................. 19
2.2. History and Evolution of International Anti-Trafficking Legislation ................................................... 20 2.2.1. Attempts to Abolish Slavery ........................................................................................................... 20 2.2.2. White Slave Traffic and Preventing Trafficking in Women and Children ................................ 23 2.2.3. The Birth of the Trafficking Protocol ............................................................................................ 26
2.3. Policy Approaches to Counter Human Trafficking ................................................................................ 29 2.3.1. Migration and Border Control Management Approach ............................................................ 30 2.3.2. Criminal Justice Approach ............................................................................................................ 32 2.3.3. Human Rights-based Approach ..................................................................................................... 35
2.4. What Went Missing? ................................................................................................................................ 38
2.5. Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................... 39
Chapter 3: Studies of Individuals Involved in Human Trafficking as Human Traffickers ........................ 41
3.1. Introduction.............................................................................................................................................. 41
3.2. Organised Crime Networks ...................................................................................................................... 42
3.3. The ‘Ordinary People’ ............................................................................................................................. 46
3.4. The Role of Women and Girls ................................................................................................................. 49
3.5. Motives and Reasons for Involvement..................................................................................................... 53
3.6. Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................... 57
Chapter 4: Human Trafficking in Indonesia: Nature, Extent and Current Responses .............................. 58
v
4.1. Introduction.............................................................................................................................................. 58
4.2. Slavery and Human Trafficking during Indonesia’s Colonial Period ................................................... 59
4.3. Contemporary Human Trafficking in Indonesia .................................................................................... 63 4.3.1. Human Trafficking for Domestic Labour ..................................................................................... 64 4.3.2. Human Trafficking for the Sex Industry ...................................................................................... 66 4.3.3. Other Forms of Human Trafficking .............................................................................................. 69
4.4. Responses to Human Trafficking in Indonesia ...................................................................................... 73 4.4.1. Indonesia’s Anti-Trafficking Regulations and the National Anti-Trafficking Task Force ...... 73 4.4.2. Implementation of the 3Ps (Prevention, Prosecution, and Protection) in Indonesia ................. 76 4.4.3. Other Responses by Civil Society Organisations and Non-Governmental Organisations ........ 85
4.5. Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................... 88
Chapter 5: Methodology .............................................................................................................................. 89
5.1. Introduction.............................................................................................................................................. 89
5.2. Complexity in Researching Human Trafficking ..................................................................................... 89
5.3. Research Design ....................................................................................................................................... 91
5.4. Data Collection Methods ......................................................................................................................... 92 5.4.1. Semi-Structured Interviews ........................................................................................................... 93 5.4.2. Court Documents ............................................................................................................................ 96
5.5. Fieldwork Locations ................................................................................................................................ 98
5.6. Fieldwork Experience and Positionality ............................................................................................... 100
5.7. Coding and Data Analysis ..................................................................................................................... 104 5.7.1. Analysing the Interviews .............................................................................................................. 105 5.7.2. Analysing the Court Documents .................................................................................................. 106
5.8. Ethical Considerations ........................................................................................................................... 106
5.9. Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................. 107
Chapter 6: Characteristics of Human Traffickers in the Sex Industry and Domestic Labour in Indonesia
(Socio-Demographic Background and Modus Operandi) ......................................................................... 109
6.1. Introduction............................................................................................................................................ 109
6.2. Socio-Demographics of Traffickers ...................................................................................................... 110 6.2.1. Age .................................................................................................................................................. 110 6.2.2. Gender ............................................................................................................................................ 112 6.2.3. Occupation ..................................................................................................................................... 113 6.2.4. Origin and Place of Residence ...................................................................................................... 116 6.2.5. Religious Affiliation ...................................................................................................................... 121 6.2.6. Education ....................................................................................................................................... 123 6.2.7. From Victim to Perpetrator ......................................................................................................... 123 6.2.8. Relationship between Trafficker and Victim .............................................................................. 126 6.2.9. Close Relationships among Perpetrators .................................................................................... 130
6.3. Modus Operandi ..................................................................................................................................... 131 6.3.1. Methods of Recruitment ............................................................................................................... 131 6.3.2. Transport and Trafficking Routes ............................................................................................... 138
6.4. Organisational Structure ....................................................................................................................... 140 6.4.1. Group Characteristics and Division of Labour .......................................................................... 141
6.5. Traffickers’ Profit .................................................................................................................................. 146
6.6. Conclusions ............................................................................................................................................ 148
vi
7.1. Introduction............................................................................................................................................ 151
7.2. Economic Benefit ................................................................................................................................... 153 7.2.1. Maintaining Lifestyle .................................................................................................................... 154 7.2.2. Lack of Job Opportunities ............................................................................................................ 155 7.2.3. Easy Way to Make Money Quickly ............................................................................................. 157 7.2.4. Big Profits ...................................................................................................................................... 158
7.3. Socio-Cultural Influences ...................................................................................................................... 160 7.3.1. Lack of Legal Awareness .............................................................................................................. 160 7.3.2. Helping Others .............................................................................................................................. 166 7.3.3. Seen as a Champion ...................................................................................................................... 169 7.3.4. Daughter as a Breadwinner and Source of Family Pride in West Java ................................... 172
7.4. Victim’s Behaviour ................................................................................................................................ 176
7.5. Inadvertently Involved in Trafficking ................................................................................................... 180
7.6. Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................. 181
Chapter 8: Improving the Response: Preventing Human Trafficking by Understanding Traffickers .... 184
8.1. Introduction............................................................................................................................................ 184
8.2. Current Efforts to Deter Human Traffickers ........................................................................................ 186 8.2.1. Global Efforts ................................................................................................................................ 186 8.2.2. Indonesia’s Efforts ........................................................................................................................ 189 8.2.3. Improving Indonesia’s Efforts ..................................................................................................... 192
8.3. Recommendations to Prevent People Becoming Traffickers ................................................................ 194 8.3.1. Primary Prevention ....................................................................................................................... 194
8.3.1.1. Improving the Understanding of Human Trafficking and Increasing the Awareness in
Society of the Risks of Becoming Perpertrators .............................................................................. 194 8.3.1.2. Increase the Role of the Village ............................................................................................ 197 8.3.1.3. Improve Job Opportunities by Creating and Supporting Local Business ....................... 201 8.3.1.4. Planting the Seed (Human Trafficking Education at School) ........................................... 203 8.3.1.5. Women’s Empowerment and Participation in Anti-Trafficking Efforts.......................... 205 8.3.1.6. Recruitment Agencies dealing with Labour Supply Abroad ............................................. 207 8.3.1.7. Approaches to Small Cafes, Spa Business, and Brothels ................................................... 210
8.3.2. Secondary Prevention ................................................................................................................... 211 8.3.2.1. Face to Face Dialogue Between Traffickers and Community Representatives ................ 211 8.3.2.2. Focus on the Areas where Traffickers Reside and Operate .............................................. 214 8.3.2.3. Approaches to Police and Immigration Institutions ........................................................... 216
8.3.3. Tertiary Prevention ....................................................................................................................... 219 8.3.3.1. Rehabilitation in Prison ........................................................................................................ 219 8.3.3.2. Restorative Justice in addition to Criminal Justice ............................................................ 221 8.3.3.3. Reintegration Support........................................................................................................... 224 8.3.3.4. From Perpetrators to Facilitators ........................................................................................ 226
8.4. Proposed Improvements to Indonesian and International Law ........................................................... 228 8.4.1. Provisions to Acknowledge the Factors That Make People Vulnerable to Being Involved in
Human Trafficking as Perpetrators. ..................................................................................................... 228 8.4.2 Provisions to Acknowledge the Rights of the Accused and the Convicted During Criminal
Justice Process ......................................................................................................................................... 229 8.4.3. Provisions Related to Efforts to Prevent Reoffending ............................................................... 230 8.4.4. Provisions to Prevent Human Trafficking Based on the Form of Trafficking ........................ 231
8.5. Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................. 232
Chapter 9: Conclusions .............................................................................................................................. 233
9.1. Introduction............................................................................................................................................ 233
vii
9.2. Research Contributions ......................................................................................................................... 234 9.2.1. Theoretical Contributions ............................................................................................................ 234 9.2.2. Practical Contributions................................................................................................................. 235 9.2.3. Methodological Contributions ..................................................................................................... 236
9.3. Research Findings ................................................................................................................................. 237
9.4. Limitations and Avenues for Future Research ..................................................................................... 241
References ................................................................................................................................................... 244
Appendices.................................................................................................................................................. 274
viii
List of Figures and Tables
Table 1: Development of International Legislation on Human Trafficking ............................ 27
Table 2: Convicted Offenders by Age at time of Human Trafficking Offense ..................... 111
Table 3: Origin and Place of Residence at time of offense of Human Trafficking Offenders
in Domestic Labour (by province) ......................................................................................... 116
Table 4: Origin and Place of Residence at time of offense of Human Trafficking Offenders in
the Sex Industry (by province) ............................................................................................... 119
Figure 1: DKI Jakarta, West Java and East Java Provinces ................................................... 100
Figure 2: Interview sites in DKI Jakarta, West Java, and East Java Provinces ..................... 100
Figure 3: Convicted offenders by occupation ........................................................................ 114
Figure 4: Origin and Place of Residence at time of offense of Human Trafficking Offenders
in Domestic Labour................................................................................................................ 117
Figure 5: Origin and Place of Residence at time of offense of Human Trafficking Offenders
in Sex Industry ....................................................................................................................... 120
Figure 6: Religious Affiliation of Offenders in Human Trafficking for Domestic Labour ... 122
Figure 7: Religious Affiliation of Offenders in Human Trafficking in the Sex Industry ...... 122
Figure 8: Victims’ Relationship with Offenders (Trafficking in Domestic Labour) ............. 127
Figure 9: Victims’ Relationship with Offenders (Trafficking in the Sex Industry) .............. 129
Figure 10: Methods of Recruitment for Human Trafficking in Domestic Labour ................ 133
Figure 11: Amount of Money given to Victims during Recruitment .................................... 134
Figure 12: Methods of Recruitment for Human Trafficking in the Sex Industry .................. 136
Figure 13: Forms of Trafficking in the Sex Industry in Indonesia ........................................ 146
ix
List of Acronyms
3Ps Prevention, Prosecution, and Protection
ACTIP ASEAN Convention Against Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women
and Children
ASEAN Association of Southeast Asian Nations
BNP2TKI Badan Nasional Penempatan dan Perlindungan Tenaga Kerja
Indonesia (National Agency for Placement and Protection of Indonesian
Migrant Workers)
BNPT Badan National Penanggulangan Terorisme (National Counter
Terrorism Agency)
CSO Civil Society Organisation
DESBUMI Desa Peduli Buruh Migran (Village that Cares for Migrant Workers)
DESMIGRATIF Desa Migran Produktif (Productive Migrant Village program)
DKI Jakarta Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta (Special Capital Region of Jakarta)
EU European Union
HT Human Trafficking
ICCPR International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
IDR Indonesia Rupiah
INP Indonesia National Police
IOM International Organisation for Migration
KPK Komisi Pemberantasan Korupsi (Corruption Eradication Commission)
MOFA Ministry of Foreign Affairs
MoU Memorandum of understanding
MYR Malaysian Ringgit
NGO Non-Governmental Organisation
NTT Nusa Tenggara Timur (East Nusa Tenggara)
PJTKI Perusahaan Jasa Tenaga Kerja Indonesia (Indonesian Labor Providers
Organisation)
POSBAKUM Pos Bantuan Hukum (Legal Aid Centre / Post)
x
PPATK Pusat Pelaporan Analisis Transaksi Keuangan (Indonesian Financial
Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre)
TIP Trafficking in Persons
TKI Tenaga Kerja Indonesia (Indonesian Migrant Worker)
TPPO Tindak Pidana Perdagangan Orang (Human Trafficking)
US DOS United States Department of State
US United States
UK United Kingdom
UN United Nations
UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund
UNODC United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
UNTOC United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime
USD United States Dollar
USSR Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
VOC: Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie (United East India Company)
1
Abstract
The human rights-based approach to human trafficking emphasises the principle that, instead
of focusing on the prosecution of traffickers, the victims of trafficking should be the foremost
focus of attention. However, although human rights-based approach is considered as a
comprehensive approach to address human trafficking, I argue that there is a limitation found
in this approach. Using human rights-based approach and implementing the 3Ps framework of
the prevention of trafficking, prosecution of traffickers, and protection of the victims – there is
a neglect of the prevention trafficking by discouraging individuals from committing human
trafficking. The human rights-based approach that focus more on victims does not place a
significant enough effort to understanding the causes or the reasons why people commit
trafficking, and to prevent them from becoming perpetrators.
This research, therefore, sets out to understand the characteristics of people involved in human
trafficking, such as socio-demographic background, methods of operation, and organisational
structure, and the underlying factors, such as the motivations and the perspectives, that lead
people to participate in human trafficking. It does this by focusing on people who traffic for
the sex industry and for domestic labour in Indonesia. To gain insight into traffickers in
Indonesia, this study conducted 27 semi-structured interviews with lawyers and the
representatives of organisations who deal with traffickers, and an analysis of 60 court
documents of trafficking cases from between 2018-2019.
The analysis shows that there are differences in characteristics of people involved in human
trafficking for domestic labour compared to the sex industry. The differences of characteristics
between sex industry traffickers and domestic labour traffickers lie in the socio-demographics,
the methods of operation, organisational structure and the motivations of the traffickers.
Traffickers for domestic labour were motivated by larger financial gains, whereas traffickers
for the sex industry received much less financial gain. The people involved in domestic labour
trafficking were also more motivated to help others to find a job, whereas this was much less
common amongst traffickers for the sex industry. Other differences were discovered and
described in this study, including cultural factors in specific locations in Indonesia. The
differences between kinds of traffickers means that, to be effective, it is important to develop
nuanced deterrence and mitigation strategies that recognise these differences. This thesis
2
concludes with recommendations for changes in strategy and policy at the national and
international levels to counter human trafficking by understanding the perpetrators.
Keywords: human trafficking, human trafficking perpetrators, human trafficking in Indonesia,
sex trafficking, domestic labour trafficking.
3
Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1. Background and Statement of Problem
Human trafficking is a phenomenon that uncovers the worst human situations (Lasocik 2010;
Bales 2005) and it is a situation that defies humanity (Lasocik 2010, p. 18). Human trafficking
and human exploitation have become a direct threat to human rights and human dignity (Shin
2018, p. 1). The victims of human trafficking are often subjected to threats, and physical and
sexual abuse (Bales 2005, p. 129). However, over the past decades, the international
community has discussed the need for a human rights-based approach to human trafficking
(Haddadin & Klímova-Alexander 2013, p. 22) whose foremost characteristic should be a focus
on the victims of trafficking (Fitzpatrick 2002; Farrokhzad 2017; Sigmon 2008; Vandenberg
2016; Dalrymple 2005). By using this approach, measures to counter trafficking should be
taken in other fields than solely in criminal law, with the goal to prevent the violation of human
rights of the victims (Rijken & De Volder 2009, p. 50).
The human rights-based approach emphasises the principle that instead of focusing on
prosecution of traffickers, human trafficking victims are the ones whose rights have been
violated and therefore they are the ones who should be given appropriate assistance and human
rights protection (Fitzpatrick 2002; Farrokhzad 2017; Sigmon 2008; Vandenberg 2016;
Dalrymple 2005). The human rights-based approach also aims to look at the broader socio-
cultural problems that make an individual vulnerable to being trafficked (Obokata 2006; Brysk
& Choi-Fitzpatrick 2012; Shin 2017; Chuang 2006; Rijken 2009). In the implementation of
this approach, three policy areas are used to deal with human trafficking issues, the 3Ps:
prevention of trafficking, prosecution of traffickers, and protection of the victim (Cho 2015;
Chuang 2006; Obokata; 2006; UNODC 2008).
Although the human rights-based approach is considered a comprehensive approach to
addressing human trafficking (UNODC 2009; McAdam 2013), in this thesis, I argue that there
is a limitation in this approach. Using the human rights-based approach and implementing the
3Ps framework means there is a limited discussion on how to prevent trafficking by
discouraging individuals from committing human trafficking. The human rights-based
approach focuses more on the victims and so does not put any significant effort into
understanding the causes or reasons why people commit trafficking.
4
So far, there has been little effort made by countries to figure out what makes people traffic
and what are the ways to prevent individuals trafficking other persons. As noted by Choi-
Fitzpatrick (2016), traffickers and slaveholders are generally overlooked in the efforts to
understand human trafficking (Choi-Fitzpatrick 2016, p. 3). There is a very limited research on
perpetrators (those who get direct and indirect benefits from human trafficking). As he said,
scholars tend to focus on particular issues related to slavery and trafficking, such as migration,
prostitution, forced labour, slavery, criminal, and human rights and this shapes the thinking
about perpetrators. These perpetrators are often easily categorised as criminals, perverts, or
predators, and rarely seen as people or social actors that have different combinations of
motives. Greed and moral failing are often the only motives that are claimed for them.
However, the reality is more complex and need to be researched further (Choi-Fitzpatrick 2016,
p. 5).
Hence, it is important to start to look at the people who commit and are involved in human
trafficking and identify what are their motivations and the factors underlying their decision to
traffic. As noted by Broad (2013), the failure to understand the people involved in trafficking
will lead to a misconception of who these people are and the nature of their action more broadly
(Broad 2013, p. 13). I argue that this will also impact on how policy on human trafficking is
made. In doing so, I draw on the observation of Surtees (2008), who argues that the human
trafficking problem cannot be solved merely by looking at the behaviour of the victims, but
also by understanding the traffickers (Surtees 2008, p. 42).
Therefore, this study examines the individuals involved in human trafficking and their
characteristics, and the motivations or other factors that influence their criminal behaviour.
This study aims to advance our understanding of the strategies needed to prevent individuals
from committing this offense and to provide recommendations on improvements to current
anti-trafficking policies and regulations. In seeking to better understand the perpetrators of
human trafficking, the thesis will focus on Indonesia as the context for its research. Indonesia
ratified the UN Trafficking Protocol in 2009 after becoming a signatory in 2000, and the
ASEAN Convention against Trafficking in Persons (ACTIP) in 2017. As a part of its effort to
adopt a human rights-based approach, in 2007 Indonesia enacted the Law of the Republic of
Indonesia number 21/ 2007 on the Eradication of the Criminal Act of Trafficking in Persons.
The legislation was created to meet national and international commitments to undertake
5
efforts to prevent human trafficking, prosecute the perpetrators, protect the victims, and
enhance collaborations (Law 21 the Year 2007, preamble).
This research has shown that there are distinct characteristics in the people involved in human
trafficking for domestic labour and the sex industry in Indonesia in terms of their socio-cultural
demographics and methods of operation, as well as a range of different factors and motives as
to why people participate in human trafficking for domestic labour and the sex industry. I also
argue that although there is the involvement of organised crime networks, the majority of
perpetrators of human trafficking for the sex industry and domestic labour are not professional
criminals. Instead, they commit trafficking because the opportunity arises to recruit other
people. Most human trafficking operations are carried out by groups of people who knew each
other before or by individuals or family members or loosely structured groups rather than by
organised criminal groups, although in some cases tight vertical hierarcichal groups with
permanent affiliation and using violence, secrecy and corruption may also take part. Moreover,
some of the strategies and recommendations to prevent people becoming involved in
trafficking in Indonesia need to be specifically tailored based on the form of human trafficking.
Hence, a trafficker-centred approach to addressing human trafficking is proposed in this
research. This approach not only aims to have the perpetrators of trafficking prosecuted and
made accountable for their behaviour, but more importantly its purpose is to prevent people
committing human trafficking or becoming a human trafficker by understanding the various
socio-cultural contexts and underlying reasons why people become involved in this crime.
1.2. Why Focus on Indonesia and on Human Trafficking for Domestic
Labour and the Sex Industry
There are a number of important justifications for why this thesis focuses first on Indonesia,
and second on human trafficking for domestic labour and the sex industry. Firstly, this thesis
focuses on Indonesia because each of the 34 provinces in Indonesia is both a source and a
destination of people subject to trafficking in Southeast Asia (US DOS 2017, p. 210). Many of
the Indonesians working abroad are women, and they are undocumented or have overstayed
their visas which increases their vulnerability to being trafficked (US DOS, p. 242). Larsen,
Andrevski & Lyneham (2013) note that Indonesia has been identified as the main source of
people trafficked in Southeast Asia and these people are trafficked both domestically and
transnationally (Larsen, Andrevski & Lyneham 2013, p. 2).
6
Secondly, this thesis focuses on human trafficking specifically for domestic labour and the sex
industry because they are the predominant forms of human trafficking in Indonesia (US DOS
2017, p. 211). The data I collected from district court websites in Indonesia on cases of
trafficking from January 2016 to May 2019 indicated that trafficking for the sex industry and
domestic labour were the most common forms of human trafficking (see Appendix 1). A
significant number of women have been exploited as domestic workers, with Indonesia as a
the key source country due to the high number of Indonesian women migrated abroad (Derks
2000; Larsen, Andrevski & Lyneham 2013). Over half the Indonesians who had been trafficked
abroad worked as domestic workers in the destination countries (Larsen, Andrevski &
Lyneham 2013, p. 4). Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and the Middle East are the common
destination countries for Indonesian migrant workers who work there as domestic workers with
no protection under the local laws and so they experience various kinds of exploitation, such
as excessive working hours and unpaid wages (US DOS 2020, p. 261). The data from district
courts in Indonesia recorded that majority of human trafficking cases within Indonesia were
for the sex industry. Sex traffickers usually deceived the victims with job offers in restaurants,
factories or as domestic workers only for them to end up being exploited in the commercial sex
industry across Indonesia, but particularly in Batam and Jakarta. Other common destinations
for those trafficked to be exploited for sex were the mining districts in Maluku, Papua, and
Jambi provinces. The data from the district courts also shows that child sex tourism is prevalent
in the Riau Islands and Bali (US DOS 2020, p. 261).
It is also worth providing justification why certain sites in Indonesia were chosen for data
gathering and not others. In collecting the fieldwork data for this study, the three provinces on
Java Island, East Java, West Java, and DKI Jakarta, were selected as the data collection sites.
This decision emerged from a search of district court websites (Appendix 1), which showed
that most cases of trafficking for the sex industry recorded there are found in West Java or East
Java, while a reasonable number of cases of trafficking for domestic labour related to locations
in West Java and DKI Jakarta. Although a large amount of the trafficking for domestic labour
in Indonesia happens in East Nusa Tenggara province, there was no attempt to collect interview
data from that province due to security and safety reasons, as the number of human trafficking
crimes is quite high.
7
1.3. Research Objectives and Research Questions
In response to the recognised need to counter trafficking by preventing people from committing
human trafficking, my dissertation aims to provide a comprehensive analysis and develop
explanations on the characteristics and factors that influence people to commit or participate
in human trafficking in Indonesia, particularly for domestic labour and the sex industry. To
achieve this aim, the objectives of this research are as follows:
1. To understand the characteristics, such as socio-demographic backgrounds and
methods of operation, of people involved in human trafficking in Indonesia for the sex
industry and domestic labour;
2. To understand the motivations, perspectives and other underlying factors of that make
people become involved in human trafficking offenses in Indonesia, for domestic
labour and the sex industry;
3. To examine the current policies established by the Indonesian and international
governments to prevent human trafficking by preventing people becoming involved in
the crime;
4. To identify the best practices needed to prevent individuals from committing and
participating in human trafficking in Indonesia, based on case studies of human
trafficking for domestic labour and the sex industry;
5. To provide recommendations to improve the Indonesian and international regulations
to counter trafficking.
To achieve those objectives, several specific research questions were set to guide the research:
1. What are the socio-demographic characteristics and the operational methods of
individuals involved in human trafficking for the sex industry and domestic labour in
Indonesia?
2. What are the motivations, perspectives, and key factors influencing individuals'
involvement in human trafficking for the sex industry and domestic labour in
Indonesia?
3. In what ways do Indonesian and international human trafficking policies need to be
improved, based on an increased understanding of people involved in human
trafficking for domestic labour and the sex industry in Indonesia?
8
3.1.What are the current practices implemented in Indonesia to counter human
trafficking? Are there any measures to prevent individuals from becoming
traffickers?
3.2.What are the best practices needed to prevent individuals becoming involved in
human trafficking in Indonesia?
3.3.In view of existing research and the findings of this thesis, in what ways should
international and Indonesian anti-trafficking regulations be improved?
1.4. Definition of Key Concepts Used in This Thesis: Human Trafficking and
Human Traffickers
This section of the chapter explains the definitions of human trafficking and human traffickers
that will be used in the thesis.
1.4.1. Human Trafficking
The Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons Especially Women and
Children, commonly called the UN Trafficking Protocol, was adopted in 2000 as one of the
Palermo Protocols. It sets out the agreed international definition of human trafficking and
provides a policy framework to act against human trafficking (Segrave 2009; Ezeilo 2015).
When this thesis uses the term human trafficking it is using the definition of trafficking in
persons as outlined in the UN Trafficking Protocol:
Trafficking in persons shall mean the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring, 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. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution
of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour and service, slavery or practices similar
to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs. (Trafficking Protocol 2000, art. 3).
Article 3 (b) of the Protocol stipulates that the consent of the trafficked victims shall be
irrelevant where any of the means defined in this article have been used to exploit the victims.
The same article of the protocol sets out slightly different conditions regarding trafficking in
children. A child is defined as any person under 18 years of age. The protocol stipulates that
the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of a child for the purpose of
exploitation is considered as trafficking in persons or human trafficking, even if it does not
9
involve any means, such as threat, use of force, abduction, coercion, etc (Trafficking Protocol
2000, art. 3).
1.4.2. Human Traffickers
Surtees (2014) notes that the research on human traffickers and their behaviours needs a clear
definition of who fits this category. The current research has often been vague in defining who
is considered a human trafficker. Nor does the research always make sufficient distinction
between the specific roles in the process, the brokers, recruiters, transporters, controllers, and
other supporting roles. There is also a lack of attention to how these roles differ from one
context to another which makes a universal definition unclear (Surtees 2014, p. 25). She also
added that the issue of definition becomes more complicated when considering intent and
whether the actors know that the activity they participated in is trafficking. Hence, clear
definition and set parameters of what constitutes a human trafficker are important to collect
meaningful and reliable data (Surtees 2014, p. 27).
The UN Trafficking Protocol does not give an exact definition of a human trafficker. However,
in Article 5 of the protocol, the states who are party to the protocol are advised to establish a
criminal offense for anyone who intentionally commits human trafficking as defined in Article
3 of the protocol (UN Trafficking Protocol 2000, art. 5(1)). Also, criminal offenses need to be
established by the states for those who attempt to commit an offense (art. 5(2a)); participate as
an accomplice (art. 5(2a)); or organise or lead or direct other persons to commit an offense (art.
5(2a)).
Schloenhardt (1999) explains that the criminal organisations involved in trafficking enterprise
cover a spectrum ranging from individual actors to large enterprises. Those organisations can
be categorised as amateur traffickers, small criminal organisations, and international trafficking
networks (Schloenhardt 1999, p. 214). Amateur traffickers include individuals who provide a
single service to the victims or migrants, such as transport to cross the border. In many cases,
those amateur traffickers also work with large trafficking organisations that operate on an
international level. The second category, a small criminal organised group, normally possesses
a higher level of specialisation and sophistication than amateur traffickers and operates on a
more permanent basis. However, they are less complex than the international trafficking
networks. Lastly, the category of international trafficking networks consists of large criminal
organisations that work on the whole process of trafficking including arranging fraudulent
10
documents, transportation, and accommodation. These complex international organisation
networks are well developed and able to respond faster to new legislation and law enforcement
activities (Schloenhardt 1999, p. 215).
For Siskin and Wyler (2012) human traffickers include recruiters, transporters, exploiters, and
others who enable or participate in the trade and exploitation of other people (Siskin &Wyler
2012, p. 7). They consist of a wide range of criminals that organise, implement, and make a
profit from committing trafficking to people. In their operations the traffickers often rely on
other persons to conduct the crime, as well as individuals and entities (illegal or legal) to
support the exploiters with goods and services (Human Rights First 2014). Therefore, human
traffickers can be described as a group of people who commit trafficking in human beings and
whose roles may be that of the main actor or just as a supporter or accomplice. Nevertheless,
some traffickers also operate individually. Similarly, Shelley (2010) also states that the actors
participating in human trafficking are diverse, ranging from diplomats and employees of
multinational organisations to small-scale entrepreneurs, and to members of large criminal
networks (Shelley 2010, p. 83).
One lawyer whom I interviewed gave some information on how people can be convicted in
human trafficking in Indonesia, and under what conditions it can be claimed that they are guilty
of committing a human trafficking offense. He explains that as long as the persons know or are
aware that they are participating in the process (by carrying out recruitment, for instance), and
get a benefit from that, and know that their actions are illegitimate, they will be considered as
'understanding' that they are participating in trafficking and they will be found guilty (Lawyer
#7). Therefore, this research includes (but is not limited to) people involved in human
trafficking not only as the main actors but also as accomplices who understand that their
participation is illegal/illegitimate, and who gain benefit (normally money) from that
involvement.
1.5. Significance of the Research
This study is significant because of the way it addresses the lack of research on the
characteristics and factors that make people become involved in human trafficking in
Indonesia. As noted by Surtees (2014), research on human traffickers is generally under-
developed. While there is a wide range of research on the victims of trafficking, there is not
11
much known about the people carrying out the exploitation. However understanding the
behaviours and motivations of the traffickers is important in any efforts to prevent and counter
human trafficking, and this is increasingly recognised by scholars and researchers working in
the field of human trafficking (e.g. Surtees 2014; Broad 2013). A clear picture on how
traffickers operate can be used to develop the responses or interventions of criminal justice and
social welfare (Surtees 2014, p. 11).
As described in detail in the methodology chapter (Chapter 5 below), this study is based on
data gathered from court records, on interviews with lawyers who have represented convicted
traffickers, and on interviews with representatives from organisations working on human
trafficking issues. Analysis of the data enables this study to make a significant contribution to
understand some key factors such as the motivations and perspectives that lead people to
participate in human trafficking. Although currently there are a growing body of research on
the people who commit or participate in human trafficking (e.g. Leman & Janssens 2011; Keo
2011; Broad 2013; Jones 2014; Carpinteri et al. 2017; Rijken, Muraszkiewicz & Van de Ven
2015; Asbill 2017; Surtees 2008; Broad 2015; McCarthy 2019; Campana 2016; Bouche &
Shady 2017; Molland 2011; Siegel & De Blank 2010; Serie et al. 2018; Baxter 2019; Viuhko
2018; Shively et al. 2017; Levenkron 2007; Wijkman & Kleemans 2019; Shen 2016;
Antonopoulos & Winterdyk 2005; Warren 2012; Troshynski & Blank 2007; Busch-
Armendariz et al. 2009; Constantinou 2019; Davy 2016), most of them focus on the
characteristics and the operation methods of the trafficking perpetrators. Only a few of them
(e.g. Rijken, Muraszkiewicz & Van de Ven 2015; Asbill 2017) outline the factors and the
motivations that lead to people becoming traffickers. Moreover, there is a lack of studies on
human traffickers in the Indonesian context.
As will be described in detail in this thesis, a major finding and contribution of this thesis is
the discovery of significant differences between the people who commit trafficking for
domestic labour and those who commit trafficking for the sex industry in Indonesia. In terms
of socio-demographic variables of traffickers, the data shows that people involved in human
trafficking for the sex industry were relatively young compared to those trafficking for
domestic labour. Overall my research indicates that traffickers involved in trafficking for both
the sex industry and domestic labour are predominantly female. The analysis also finds that
people committing human trafficking in the sex industry normally already work in the cafés,
brothels, and spa centres associated with the sex industry. However the interviews with
12
organisation representatives indicated that people from the public sector, such as immigration
officers, police officers, local government officials (mayors or regents, community leaders, and
village leaders) are often mentioned for their involvement in human trafficking for domestic
labour. Faith leaders too have been found to be involved in trafficking for domestic labour. In
many cases the offenders of human trafficking for domestic labour came from and at the time
of the trafficking lived in East Nusa Tenggara or West Nusa Tenggara provinces. Meanwhile,
the data from court documents shows that the majority of human trafficking offenders in the
sex industry were born and live in West Java. A number of trafficking offenders in Indonesia
were also victims before participating in the offense, although this varies according to the type
of trafficking. As opposed to trafficking for the sex industry where most of the victims had
never had any relationship with the traffickers beforehand, most of the victims of trafficking
for domestic labour knew or had a previous relationship with the perpetrators.
This research also shows that in trafficking for domestic labour, the majority of victims were
trafficked through “iming – iming”, by inducement. In contrast, in the case of the sex industry,
beside inducement, the offenders also used deception at the beginning of recruitment, force or
coercion, and sometimes abduction. The majority of victims of human trafficking for domestic
labour from Indonesia were sent overseas, while the victims of sex trafficking were sent to
other areas or provinces inside the country. The data also shows that traffickers in domestic
labour tended to work in bigger groups with more complex division of roles than trafficking
for the sex industry where smaller groups or sole perpetrators were more common.
The interviews in Indonesia found that the factors influencing people to commit human
trafficking for the sex industry and domestic labour could be classified into four categories -
economic benefit, socio-cultural influence, victim’s behaviour, and becoming inadvertently
involved in trafficking. People who committed trafficking for the sex industry tended to
participate in the crime to maintain their lifestyle, to survive economically, and to gain money
easily. Meanwhile, the desire to earn a big profit was found only in human trafficking for
domestic labour. Some of the socio-cultural factors leading people to commit trafficking
applies to both forms of trafficking. These factors include a lack of legal awareness in that
many people are not aware that their actions constitute human trafficking and are therefore
illegal, helping others to get a job, and wanting to be seen as a champion. There is also a special
case which only applies in West Java where the daughter is seen as a source of pride to the
family if she takes work in the sex industry. Also in West Java daughters are seen as potential
13
breadwinners for the family and this leads parents to be involved in trafficking their own
children for the sex industry and domestic labour. The attitude of the victims has also led
perpetrators to traffic others for domestic labour and the sex industry. In other cases, people
have become inadvertently trapped into trafficking without realising that their action was
considered a human trafficking offense.
As has been pointed out by scholars working in the field of human trafficking, understanding
traffickers is vital to developing appropriate responses and policies (e.g. Surtees 2014). In light
of the understanding of traffickers in Indonesia that this thesis develops, this study concludes
with recommendations on what government and non-government actors should be taking into
consideration to reduce the likelihood of people becoming human traffickers in Indonesia. This
study also offers suggestions for amendments to current international and Indonesian law on
human trafficking based on a better understanding of the perpetrator’s characteristics and the
factors that lead them to commit the offense. As such, this research can be used by
policymakers working in the anti-trafficking field to create sustainable prevention measures by
preventing people from committing human trafficking.
1.6. Scope and Limitations of the Research
This study explores the characteristics of human trafficking perpetrators in Indonesia, as well
as the motivations and the key factors that influence them to commit human trafficking. This
is a significant contribution to the current literature on people committing or participating in
human trafficking globally.
However, there are some limitations to this study to be noted. First, as explained above, this
study focuses on two forms of human trafficking, human trafficking for the sex industry and
for domestic labour. Although in Indonesia various forms of human trafficking, such as forced
labour in fishing and plantation industries, marriage trafficking, or organ trafficking, can be
found, the majority of human trafficking there is for domestic labour and the sex industry. This
can be seen from the data collected from district courts in Indonesia (Appendix 1). Therefore,
this study focuses only on these two types of trafficking as it aims to discover if there are any
differences in the characteristics of people committing the two types of trafficking, as well as
in the motivations and the key factors that make them commit the offense.
14
Second, in conducting a study on people committing human trafficking for the sex industry
and domestic labour in Indonesia, this thesis studies those accused and convicted of human
trafficking. However, the limited number of court documents and interviews might skew the
data, as there may be other traffickers out there who have not been caught or convicted, which
may affect the findings. The analysis of court documents used in this thesis explains the
information about convicted human traffickers in the country. In addition to that, the interviews
with lawyers also deal with the characteristics and the motivations of convicted trafficking
offenders. To complement the information provided by the court documents and the lawyers,
and especially to better understand the motivations of the human traffickers, I also interviewed
representatives from organisation in Indonesia to gain more information on the background
and motivations of those accused of human trafficking. The methodological procedures for the
data collection are described in detail in Chapter 5.
Third, after considering the ethical and practical issues from attempting to interview the human
traffickers themselves for this research, issues such as the safety of the researcher and of the
respondents, as well as the possible distress caused to the respondents from this research
(Hearn, Andersson & Cowburn 2007, p. 8), I decided against interviewing the traffickers
directly. So the information gathered for this thesis comes from data that is one step removed
from the traffickers themselves, in the sense that the discussion draws on analysis of court
documents and interviews with lawyers and organisation representatives who have dealt with
human trafficking cases. The use of court documents is common in research on human
traffickers (e.g. Siegel & De Blank 2010; Warren 2012; Huang 2017; Levenkron 2007; Leman
& Janssens 2010; Rijken, Muraszkiewicz & Van den Ven 2015; Viuhko 2018; Wijkman &
Kleemans 2019). The court documents reveal a great deal about the individuals involved and
the case itself. Also they can potentially yield explanations on traffickers’ lives, motives, and
actions (Surtees 2014, p. 16).
The concern in this thesis is not the legitimacy of these broader industries (the sex industry and
domestic labour), nor on determining when and where trafficking occurs. I recognise that not
all instances of domestic labour involve trafficking, and the same applies for the sex industry,
although in many cases both industries frequently overlap with trafficking. However the thesis
is not trying to determine when and where that happens. Rather this thesis relies on the state to
make these judgments, which are then added to by the information and clarifications from the
interview participants.
15
1.7. Organisation of the Thesis
This section outlines the structure of the thesis. Overall, this thesis is divided into two main
sections. The first part of the thesis, Chapters 2, 3 and 4, establishes the contextual background
which includes the conceptual foundations of the thesis and a review of the relevant literature
while the second half focuses on the research findings.
Following the introduction in Chapter 1, Chapter 2 explains international policy on human
trafficking. The chapter summarises the history and evolution of anti-trafficking legislation.
This chapter sets the study in a global context, and provides important information on the
approaches that have been adopted to counter trafficking and addresses the limitations and
advantages of those approaches. It helps to identify the challenges existing in the current human
rights-based approach, which has become the foundation for the recommendations found in
current international policies and regulations. The chapter talks about the drawbacks of the
human rights-based approach. Although it is reasonable that more attention be given to the
victims, this approach does not consider traffickers as a group that also needs attention. In the
victim-focused human rights approach, just as in previous conventional approaches that relied
on migration management and criminal justice, the only way to deter traffickers is by
prosecution.
Chapter 3 summarises the literature on individuals involved in human trafficking globally. This
chapter provides some important information on the categories of people involved in human
trafficking. The first category is those involved in organised crime networks, and earning big
profits, whereas the second category of those involved in trafficking are the ‘ordinary people’
who commit the offense for modest rewards or out of economic necessity. The chapter also
addresses the role of women in trafficking, including those who have themselves been victims
of trafficking. This chapter finds some important variables associated with people participating
in human trafficking that help to develop a framework to identify people involved in human
trafficking in Indonesia. To date it has been difficult to find a study on the people who commit
human trafficking in Indonesia. The thesis also aims to figure out the motivations and
perspective of people committing human trafficking in Indonesia, and describes in this chapter
some ways in which the motivations or perspectives of people committing human trafficking
in Indonesia differ from those found in the current literature.
16
Whereas Chapters 2 and 3 address research and issues from an international perspective,
Chapter 4 examines the nature and extent of human trafficking in Indonesia and the current
government responses. The chapter provides some information on the history of trafficking
and slavery in Indonesia, and an overview of contemporary human trafficking there. It
examines some of the forms of human trafficking that exist in the country. This chapter also
answers the third research question (RQ 3.1.) on the current practices implemented in Indonesia
to counter trafficking and looks at whether there are any measures to prevent trafficking by
understanding the perpetrators. This chapter outlines the current state of research on human
trafficking in Indonesia, as well as indicating the gaps in knowledge, to which this study makes
a contribution.
Chapter 5 explains the methodological approach used to answer the research questions of this
thesis. It outlines the data sets used for the study. It also provides details of the fieldwork
process to collect the data in Indonesia and any ethical considerations. Some complexities in
researching human trafficking are explained in this chapter to give an understanding of the
challenges that might come in doing this research. The qualitative research methods used
include analysis of court documents and semi-structured interviews with lawyers and
representatives of organisations, which then generated data on the characteristics of the
traffickers and the key factors and motivations influencing people to participate in human
trafficking for domestic labour and the sex industry.
Chapters 6 to 8 form the main body of this thesis and provide the key findings from the analysis.
Chapter 6 describes the characteristics of people involved in human trafficking in Indonesia,
with particular attention to their socio-demographic background and modus operandi in order
to answer the first research question (RQ1) of this thesis. This chapter highlights the
differences in characteristics between those carrying out human trafficking for domestic labour
and for the sex industry in Indonesia which leads to the understanding that prevention efforts
to deter human trafficking perpetrators need to be designed in light of the specific context in
which the human trafficking occurs. People involved in human trafficking for the sex industry
usually commit their actions in person or in a small group of at most three people. By contrast
people involved in human trafficking for domestic labour normally commit the crime in a
medium to large group of six to ten people. Although it is still difficult to find evidence for the
involvement of hierarchical types of organised crime groups in trafficking for domestic labour
17
and the sex industry in Indonesia, some cases of trafficking in domestic labour may involve
loosely structured transnational association.
Chapter 7 deals with the motivations, perspectives and other key factors influencing an
individual’s involvement in human trafficking in Indonesia. It provides some analysis to
answer the second research question of this thesis, which relates to the motivations,
perspectives, and key factors influencing individuals’ involvement in human trafficking for the
sex industry and domestic labour in Indonesia. It explains some factors that correlate with an
individuals’ involvement in human trafficking, such as economic benefit (maintaining lifestyle,
lack of job opportunities, easy way to make money quickly, and the temptation of big money);
socio-cultural influence (lack of legal awareness, helping others, to be seen as a champion, and
a daughter as a breadwinner and a source of pride); victim's behaviour; and external influence.
As expected, some differences between the motivations and factors leading people to commit
trafficking in the sex industry and for domestic labour are noted in this chapter. The people
involved in trafficking for domestic labour are more likely to be inclined to do that due to the
temptation of the large amounts of money they might earn. This is different from trafficking
for the sex industry, where the people are involved from poverty and the need to earn a little
money for a living. Second, another unique distinction can be seen among the people who
committed trafficking for the sex industry in West Java. There the family members trafficked
their own daughters due to pride in their beauty and the resulting prestige that they would gain
in the community.
Chapter 8 answers some parts of the third research question which relates to the way that
Indonesian and international human trafficking policies could be improved based on this
increased understanding of people involved in human trafficking for domestic labour and sex
industry in Indonesia. It provides some recommendations on the best practices needed to
prevent individuals becoming involved in human trafficking in Indonesia, and some
recommendations to improve the current international and Indonesian regulations to counter
human trafficking. These recommendations are based on the findings of this study of human
trafficking in Indonesia, together with information from existing research. As this thesis finds
there are significant differences between those who traffic people into domestic labour and
those who traffic people into the sex industry, understanding these differences is important in
developing successful responses to human trafficking in Indonesia.
18
Finally, Chapter 9 concludes the thesis with the key findings of this research and how they
relate to each research question. This chapter also discusses the study’s contribution to the
literature and its implications for policy, suggests areas for future research, and brings the thesis
to its conclusion.
19
Chapter 2: Development of International Anti-Trafficking Policy
2.1. Introduction
The global effort to counter human trafficking has arisen in the last few decades and involves
a number of organisational actors working locally, internationally, and transnationally
(Limoncelli 2017, p. 814). Those organisations started to address human trafficking in the
period from the 1980s through to the early 2000s, and since then, thousands of local, national,
and international organisations along with national governments have become key actors in the
anti-trafficking efforts (Limoncelli 2017, p. 815). As outlined in the introduction in Chapter 1,
one of the aims of this thesis is to provide recommendations to improve current international
policies on human trafficking. Thus, this chapter explores the development of anti-trafficking
legislation and policies from their beginnings in the 1980s until now. It is expected that by
discussing the history and development of anti-trafficking legislation and approaches the
limitations and strengths of the existing approaches can be understood. As this chapter will
show, the approaches to counter trafficking thus far have paid very limited attention to the
perpetrators of trafficking. Other than prosecution, there are no measures aimed at
understanding the traffickers and preventing them from committing trafficking. This chapter
explains the international efforts to counter trafficking, while a description of Indonesia’s
efforts is to be found in Chapter 4.
This chapter begins with the history and evolution of international anti-trafficking legislation.
Starting with attempts to abolish the slave trade in the 1800s and the legal prostitution of
women in Europe in the early 1900s, human trafficking finally found its definition in the UN
Trafficking Protocol of 2000. The Protocol has also expanded the narrow concept of human
trafficking that was initially focused on prostitution and sexual exploitation by recognising
wider aspects of exploitation, including labour exploitation. Section 2.3. of this chapter
discusses policy approaches to counter human trafficking such as the migration management
approach, the criminal justice approach, and eventually the human rights-based approach. It is
widely understood that there is a clear link between human rights and human trafficking
(OHCHR 2014, p. 7). The previous approaches through migration management and criminal
justice failed to identify multiple instances of trafficked victims and their needs. Thus, an
international consensus developed of the need for a rights-based approach to trafficking.
Section 2.4. argues that although the human rights-based approach puts greater attention on the
20
victims, it does not address factors relating to the perpetrators and so existing approaches are
not looking into possible ways to prevent people from committing the offense. In fact,
understanding the traffickers is important in any effort to counter trafficking.
2.2. History and Evolution of International Anti-Trafficking Legislation
Human trafficking and slavery are often equated and are also often used synonymously as
umbrella terms to define various kinds of human exploitation (Allain 2017, p. 3). Slavery has
been known to exist since the earliest records of humanity. However, the Atlantic slave trade
that enslaved approximately eleven million Africans between 1492 and 1870 (Thomas 1997)
has become the centre of the history of slavery and human trafficking due to its intensity,
duration, and scale. After the African slave trade was brought to an end, "white slavery" came
to the fore. The issue of white slave traffic made it a concern of the international community
to further eliminate trafficking in women and children. This part of the chapter narrates the
history of global slavery and human trafficking and the development of anti-trafficking
legislation aimed at ending human exploitation, starting from the time of the Atlantic slave
trade up until the present day. This part of the chapter also situates the thesis and my work
within the wider and historical efforts to address trafficking in humans. Analysis of the
transatlantic slave trade and white slavery brings a more substantial understanding of human
trafficking and allows for more effective policy to eliminate trafficking (Bravo 2011, p. 556).
2.2.1. Attempts to Abolish Slavery
Understanding human trafficking as a contemporary form of slavery has promoted the most
important developments in trafficking policy. In the nineteenth century, no issue of
international law took more time, effort, and involved more countries than the problem of the
Atlantic slave trade (Allain 2015, p. 6). It is estimated that the European slavers sent millions
of Africans to the Americas, Europe, and the Atlantic islands during the whole period of
European involvement in the slave trade (Lovejoy 1989, p. 367). In response to the situation,
a large number of agreements were adopted and implemented during the period from 1815 to
1957 to prohibit slavery in times of war and peace, but none of them were really effective
(Weissbrodt et al. 2002, p. 3). The 1815 Declaration Relative to the Universal Abolition of the
Slave Trade or the so-called "1815 Declaration" became the first instrument developed against
the practice globally (Weissbrodt et al. 2002, p. 3).
21
In the mid 1820s, the big influence of the British over the Atlantic slave trade had come to an
end. The British West Indies had completed their activities to African imports. The
intracolonial movement of slaves came to a standstill around that time, and the British
government attempted to create bilateral treaties to end the slave system. However, until the
treaties were completed and effectively implemented, the slave trade continued (Drescher
2009, p. 248). To realise its plan, the UK created a web of bilateral treaties with thirty-one
different nations which successfully ended the slave trade across the Atlantic Ocean (Allain
2017, p. 4). The 1890 Brussels Conference that proclaimed its goals as being to abolish the
slave trade, prohibit the sale of arms, and regulate liquor exports to African countries (Mulligan
2013, p. 149), acknowledged this by creating a marine exclusion zone in the Indian Ocean to
prevent the trade in slaves distributed through Zanzibar and shipped north to many parts of the
Arabian peninsula (Allain 2017, p. 4). While generally the Brussels Conference dealt with the
termination of the African slave trade in the countries of destination, it also established an arms
agreement and sought to counter the traffic in spirits. However, the suppression of the slave
trade at sea had become the most important point (Allain 2015, p. 90).
Since the early 2000’s the Atlantic slave trade has been used as the fundamental example of
the anti-trafficking movement. The great historical event of the Atlantic slave trade has given
campaigns against human trafficking and modern slavery evocative power. Indeed these
campaigns have played a significant role in shaping public and political discourse on human
trafficking issues. In addition, the use of text and images recalling the transatlantic slave era
during these campaigns has testified to the seriousness of human trafficking as a violation of
human rights. Therefore, nowadays trafficking is often called modern slavery or the modern-
day slave trade, which is the process of enslaving a person (Davidson 2017). As Bravo (2011)
mentions, the use of the transatlantic slave trade analogy has focused attention on human
trafficking as an insult to human dignity, since it is a fundamental principle of international law
(jus cogen) that the status of slave violates international law, and it has strengthened the efforts
to counter this modern manifestation of slavery under international law (Bravo 2011, p. 570).
After the First World War, the League of Nations worked actively to eliminate slavery and
sought international attention to end slavery-related practices. This activity was continued by
the United Nations who worked on this problem after the Second World War to bring the
prohibition against slavery and slavery-related practices to the level of customary international
law so it achieved ‘jus cogens’ status (Weissbrodt et al. 2002, p. 3).
22
In 1926, the Slavery Convention was introduced by the League of Nations with the aim of
criminalising enslavement and putting an end to slavery as soon as possible (Allain 2017, p.
4). Following article 1 of the Slavery Convention 1926, there is a distinction between slavery
and slave trade that has become important in the context of anti-trafficking legislation.
According to the Slavery Convention, the definition of slavery is:
the status or condition of a person over whom any or all of the powers attaching to the right of
ownership are exercised (Slavery Convention, art. 1 (1))
Meanwhile, the definition of slave trade:
All acts involved in the capture, acquisition or disposal of a person with intent to reduce him to
slavery; all acts involved in the acquisition of a slave with a view to selling or exchanging him; all
acts of disposal by sale or exchange of a slave acquired with a view to being sold or exchanged,
and, in general, every act of trade or transport in slaves (Slavery Convention, art. 1 (2)).
In 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights stated that any form of slavery should be
prohibited (Allain 2017, p. 4). It was not until 1953 that the United Nations’ Protocol amending
the Slavery Convention was adopted. This Protocol expanded upon the 1926 Convention's
definition of slavery to encompass international cooperation to address the socioeconomic
factors that have triggered the growth of contemporary slavery (Bell, p. 36).
A few years after that, in the Supplementary Convention adopted in 1956, the United Nations
required all states to end any forms of slavery immediately (Allain 2017, p. 4). This
Supplementary Convention also retained the definition of slavery as it was previously defined
in the 1926 Convention, but also introduced the concept of practices similar to slavery which
include debt bondage, serfdom, servile forms of marriage, and the sale of children for
exploitation (McAdam 2018, p. 20-21). In 1966, the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights reinforced the statement that slavery is not only abolished internationally but
also prohibited worldwide (Allain 2017, p. 4).
The understanding of human trafficking as a contemporary form of slavery has promoted the
most important recent development in trafficking policy, the adoption of the UN Trafficking
Protocol as one of the Palermo Protocols (Obokata 2006, p. 18). In 2000, the United Nations
Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) introduced the Convention against Transnational
Organised Crime (UNTOC) to facilitate a criminal justice response to organised criminal
activities. The Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially
23
Women and Children, commonly called the UN Trafficking Protocol, came out as a
supplementary document of the Convention and legally defined ‘trafficking in persons’ (Siller
2017, p. 408). There is some evidence that the definition of slavery as set out in the 1926
Slavery Convention and that of institutions and practices similar to slavery set out in 1956
Supplementary Convention have been accommodated in the discussions of (slavery) terms in
the Trafficking Protocol (Allain 2012, p. 40).
2.2.2. White Slave Traffic and Preventing Trafficking in Women and Children
While the example of the transatlantic slave trade has often been used to frame human
trafficking discourse, the efforts to eradicate white slavery in the late nineteenth and early
twentieth centuries are the predecessors of the conceptual and legal frameworks now applied
to trafficking in humans. The government and intergovernmental reactions to human
trafficking have evolved from US legislative reactions to alarms about the emergence of white
slavery (Bravo 2011, p. 572 – 573). While slavery and the slave trade involved the transport of
people from Africa to Europe and the United States for various purposes, the term ‘White Slave
Traffic’ was defined for female factory labor in England (Obokata 2006, p. 13). It focuses on
the exploitation of women and children that was accompanied by sexual mistreatment. 'White
slavery' continues to be used to imply juvenile labour exploitation that sometimes involves
illicit traffic and prostitution (Attwood 2021, p. 10). From there it evolved to describe the
slavery of white women for prostitution inside Europe (Obokata 2006, p. 13). As Gallagher
(2010) explains, this concept was initially developed by activists intent on abolishing regulated
prostitution in Europe. It aimed to distinguish female sex exploitation from the enslavement of
African people, while at the same time drawing a moral comparison between the two forms of
slavery. In the second half of the nineteenth century, this concept referred to recruitment for
prostitution by force or fraud. The image of young white women being forced into prostitution
in foreign countries played a part in the abolitionist movement worldwide (Gallagher 2010, p.
55).
Four international norms addressing White Slave Traffic were published between 1904 and
1933 (McAdam 2018, p. 19). The desire to eliminate White Slave Traffic had poured out into
the International Agreement for the Suppression of the White Slave Traffic in 1904 and the
International Convention for the Suppression of the White Slave Traffic in 1910. For example,
it was stated at the preamble of the 1904 Agreement, that:
24
“…being desirous of securing to women of full age who have suffered abuse or compulsion, as also
to women and girls under age, effective protection against the criminal traffic known as the “White
Slave Traffic”, have decided to conclude an Agreement with a view to concerting measures
calculated to attain this object...” (International Agreement for the Suppression of the White Slave
Traffic 1904, Preamble.)
The first international legislation against the slavery of white women adopted in 1904 defined
trafficking as a coercive procuring of women and girls abroad for an immoral purpose (Morcom
& Schloenhardt 2011, p, 13). This convention was supported by 22 participating states
(Lammasniemi 2020, p. 69). However, it did not stipulate criminalisation or create an offense
of trafficking in humans. The agreement created some administrative measures and focused on
the returning of foreign women suspected of working as prostitutes. It made provisions that
enabled cooperation between states by exchanging and sharing information regarding domestic
convictions (Lammasniemi 2020, p. 71). Since the beginning of international legislation to
address trafficking, there have been no measures to address the traffickers. Efforts to stop the
action of traffickers occurs only by criminal prosecution, which was initiated by the 1910
convention.
In 1910, six years after the original Agreement, the International Convention for the
Suppression of the White Slave was ratified by the majority of European countries. The
convention made a significant difference by creating a basis for criminal prosecution, which
thereby created the first international definition of a human trafficking offense (Lammasniemi
2020, p. 72). It established a duty to prohibit, prosecute and punish as mentioned in the Articles
I, II, III, V and in the closing of the protocol (Bassiouni et al. 2010, p. 437). However, the scope
remained unchanged from the 1904 Agreement that maintains a link between trafficking and
the commercial sex exploitation of Caucasian females (Morcom & Schloenhardt 2011, p, 13).
Article 1 of the convention states:
Whoever in order to gratify the passions of another person, has procured, enticed, or led away, even
with the consent, a woman or girl under age, for immoral purposes, shall be punished,
notwithstanding that the various acts constituting the offense may have been committed in different
countries (International Convention for the Suppression of the White Slave Traffic 1910, art. 1).
In the definition under Article 1 above, the Convention contains the elements of human
trafficking as defined today, the act, the means, and the purpose (Lammasniemi 2020, p. 72).
The convention also broadens the definition by including trafficking within national borders
(Morcom & Schloenhardt 2011, p. 13), which is maintained in the current international legal
approaches to trafficking. The 1904 Agreement and the 1910 Convention however are
25
considered as gender- and race-biased as they are not applied to any males at any age or to non-
Caucasian women and girls (Morcom & Schloenhardt 2011, p.13).
Finally, in 1921, the League of Nations concluded the International Convention for the
Suppression of Traffic in Women and Children and replaced the term 'white slavery' with
'traffic in women and children’ (McAdam 2018, p. 19). By omitting any reference to 'white
slave trade' the 1921 Convention acknowledges that women and children from any race can be
the subject of trafficking (Morcom & Schloenhardt 2011, p, 13). This Convention and the
following 1933 International Convention for the Suppression of Traffic in Women of Full Age
put their focus on women and children abroad (McAdam 2018, p. 19). The 1921 Convention
focuses on countering trafficking by prosecuting the procurers, licensing and monitoring the
employment agencies, and protecting immigration women and children (Bassiouni et al. 2010,
p. 438). The 1933 Convention later expanded the definition of exploitation beyond the
prostitution context and includes any form of sexual exploitation (McAdam 2018, p. 19). The
convention also broadened the definition of traffickers by including all parties involved in the
process including those who made the preparations, carried out the enticement, and helped in
transporting from the country (Bassiouni et al. 2010, p. 440). Until 1933, the efforts to counter
trafficking were still confined to migration and criminal justice approaches.
In 1949 the Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and the Exploitation of
the Prostitution of Others was adopted. This convention established an explicit relation
between trafficking and prostitution and recognised that males can also become the victims of
sexual trafficking (Obokata 2006, p. 16). It aims to prohibit and control trafficking practices,
procurement, and exploitation, whether internal or cross border, regardless of the victim’s age.
It expresses the view that human trafficking and prostitution violate the dignity of human
beings and threaten the welfare of the individual, family, and the community. The Convention
sets itself apart from previous legislative measures by broadening its scope beyond movement
issues and addresses prostitution and forced prostitution as subjects of international law
(Gallagher 2010, p. 59).
While the instruments related to White Slave Traffic and human trafficking and the 1949
Convention focused particularly on women and children and sought to address people working
as prostitutes, the UN Trafficking Protocol has expanded the scope outside enforced
prostitution to any forms of trafficking including labour exploitation and any other forms that
26
a country might identify. It broadens the scope from the narrow concept of human trafficking
that is based on prostitution and sexual exploitation and addresses the cross border movement
of any persons for exploitation (Allain 2017, p. 10). The Protocol is the centrepiece of
international efforts to address trafficking today.
2.2.3. The Birth of the Trafficking Protocol
After a difficult process of negotiation by states, intergovernmental organisations, and NGOs,
the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and
Children, the UN Trafficking Protocol, was adopted as one of the Palermo Protocols. The
negotiation around the definition of trafficking in persons in the context of prostitution had
dominated the legal drafting for more than a half-century (Obokata 2006, p. 25). The UN
Trafficking Protocol which came into force three years after its adoption in 2000 has provided
a common definition of trafficking and becomes a tool that enables the international
community to combat trafficking (Shoaps 2014, p. 932) The definition of trafficking in persons
is given in Article 3 of the UN Trafficking Protocol as follows:
Trafficking in persons" shall mean the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of
persons, using the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of
deception, of the abuse of power or a position of vulnerability or the giving or receiving of payments
or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for exploitation.
Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms
of sexual exploitation, forced labor or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or
the removal of organs (Trafficking Protocol 2000, art. 3).
Under the new protocol, the understanding of trafficking has been expanded in different ways
(Obokata 2006). Since the adoption of the Protocol, 90% of states in the world have enacted
domestic legislation to criminalise human trafficking (Siller 2017, p. 48).
The Protocol identifies three core approaches, the 3Ps, for dealing with human trafficking: the
prevention of human trafficking (crime prevention), the prosecution of the traffickers (criminal
justice), and the protection of the victims. These approaches aim not only to reduce the spread
of human trafficking but also to protect the human rights of the victims (Cho 2015, p. 87). This
framework has given a way to emphasise the focus on victim protection (Chuang 2020, p.
1027). It has been used as a fundamental framework to counter human trafficking worldwide
(US DOS 2021). This framework assists the states party to the Protocol to identify the gaps
and take the additional measures needed to conform with international standards (UNODC
2009, p. 3).
27
Nevertheless, the core of this Protocol is management of human trafficking through border
control, criminal law, prosecution, and punishment of traffickers that stresses countering
transnational crime (Milivojevic & Segrave 2011, p. 236). The language and the design of the
Protocol focus on the criminal justice approach. For example, the first chapter of the Protocol
focuses on the state's responsibility to build a criminal justice infrastructure to counter
trafficking. The Protocol also addresses broader issues such as assistance and support for the
victims, and the role of migration. However, the language of the provisions related to these
issues is less prescriptive (Milivojevic & Segrave 2011, p. 237). Two years after the adoption
of the Protocol, the 'Recommended Principles and Guidelines on Human Rights and Human
Trafficking' was developed. These principles and guidelines are the result of series of informal
consultations that involved individual experts, representatives of various United Nations
agencies, and intergovernmental organisations working on anti-trafficking efforts (OHCHR
2011, p. 15).
These principles and guidelines are not alternatives to the Protocol, rather they help to graft
human rights onto the skeleton that the Protocol has provided (Gallagher 2015, p. 20). While
it is considered as an imperfect instrument, the Protocol has provided the framework and
impetus for the growth of international law on human trafficking that provides greater clarity
than ever before and the obligations of the signatory states to end the impunity of the
perpetrators and provide support, protection, and justice to the victims. It has been seen as an
achievement along the journey to address the many challenges of human trafficking (Gallagher
2015, p. 32).
The table below summarises the development of international legislation to counter slavery
and human trafficking.
Table 1: Development of International Legislation on Human Trafficking
Year Instrument Key points
1904 International Agreement for
the Suppression of the White
Slave Traffic
Directed at the protection of the victims rather
than the punishment of the procurers.
28
1910 International Convention for
the Suppression of the White
Slave Traffic
Created a basis for criminal prosecution, and
established a duty to prohibit, prosecute and
punish.
1921 International Convention for
the Suppression of the Traffic
Women and Children
Focuses on countering trafficking by
prosecuting the procurers, licensing and
supervising the employment agencies, and
protecting immigrant women and children.
1926 International Slavery
Convention
Defined the term of slavery to acknowledge
modern forms of slavery.
1933 International Convention for
Suppression of Traffic in
Women of Full Age
Expanded the definition of exploitation
beyond prostitution to include any form of
sexual exploitation, and broadened the
definition of trafficker.
1948 Universal Declaration of
Human Rights
Requires states to prohibit any form of
slavery.
1949 International Convention for
the Suppression of the Traffic
in Persons and the
Exploitation of the
Prostitution of Others.
Established an explicit relation between
trafficking and prostitution and recognised
that males can also become the victims of
sexual trafficking.
1953 Protocol Amending the
Slavery Convention
Includes international cooperation to address
socio-economic factors that trigger the growth
of contemporary slavery
1956 Supplementary Convention on
the Abolition of Slavery, the
Slave Trade and Practices
Similar to Slavery
Introduced the concept of practices similar to
slavery which include: debt bondage,
serfdom, servile forms of marriage, sale of
children for exploitation.
1966 International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights
Reinforced the statement that slavery is not
only abolished internationally but also
prohibited worldwide.
29
2000 Protocol to Prevent, Suppress
and Punish Trafficking in
Persons, especially Women
and Children
Expanded the scope outside enforced
prostitution to any form of trafficking,
including labour exploitation and other forms
that a country might identify. Provides a
common definition of trafficking and becomes
a tool that enables the international
community to combat trafficking
The new approach to human trafficking represented by the UN Trafficking Protocol has
provided an opportunity for national and international governments around the world to
develop new legislation. For example, the European Union (EU) in 2011 adopted EU Directive
on Preventing and Combating Trafficking in Human Beings and Protecting its Victims
(2011/36/EU). The Protocol has also inspired the member states of the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN) to establish and adopt the ASEAN Convention Against Trafficking
in Persons, Especially Women and Children (ACTIP) in 2015.
The genealogy of human trafficking prior to 2000 has shown us that the daunting task to
eliminate slavery and human trafficking fell within the realm of human rights law with very
limited effect. Although international instruments have recognised the rights of human beings
to be free from slavery, not much success has been achieved from the efforts to eradicate this
form of human exploitation. Thus, until 2000 human rights approaches had been seen as
lethargic in dealing with this violation of human rights. The adoption of the UN Trafficking
Protocol has given an opportunity for efforts to confront human trafficking based on
international criminal law and human rights law. This global movement is usually reflected in
domestic law as a crime and immigration control approach but also with a focus on protection
of the rights of trafficked victims (Pati 2018, p. 282-283). The section below will explain
further the international approaches that have been implemented to counter human trafficking
after the adoption of the UN Trafficking Protocol.
2.3. Policy Approaches to Counter Human Trafficking
The Trafficking Protocol was the first international instrument to stipulate that human
trafficking is a criminal offense. Therefore, the Protocol requires states to criminalise
trafficking and any attempts to commit trafficking, and participation as an accomplice, or
30
directing others to commit the crime (UNODC 2010, p. 12). On the other hand, the Protocol
also fully supports states strengthening border controls to prevent and identify human
trafficking, as mentioned in Article 11 of the Protocol (Miller & Baumeister 2013, p. 18).
Therefore, criminal justice and border control have become the focus of the protocol (Gallagher
2015, p. 14). However, upon adoption of the Recommended Principles and Guidelines on
Human Rights and Human Trafficking in 2002, human rights principles were grafted into the
protocol's framework (Gallagher 2015, p. 17) so that it incorporated a human rights approach
into the efforts to counter trafficking.
This section of the chapter therefore explains the operation, limitations, and strengths of a
migration and border control management approach, a criminal justice approach, and a human
rights-based approach to counter human trafficking. The remainder of the chapter will also
discuss what has been missing from the existing approaches in dealing with the problems of
human trafficking. This section is important as it will enable us to see the extent to which the
international approaches are effective in countering human trafficking. It also shows us the
challenges or limitations of each approach in reducing cases of trafficking case, and in what
ways they need to be improved to increase their effectiveness. In particular, it will let us
understand that in these approaches there are few measures to prevent people from becoming
perpetrators or involved in human trafficking, which therefore needs to be and will be
addressed in this thesis.
2.3.1. Migration and Border Control Management Approach
Over the last decades, globalisation and security issues such as transnational crime have raised
concern among policymakers and made migration policies a top priority of governments
(Miller & Baumeister 2013, p. 15). Rapid control and increased border management was
established as a way to limit unexpected and high-risk migrants coming to potential target
countries. This has made human trafficking and migrant smuggling a bigger issue and one
strongly defined as a border security problem (Miller & Baumeister 2013, p. 15).
The discourse of human trafficking as an immigration problem and issue that requires
transnational law enforcement was consolidated through the UN Trafficking Protocol, and at
the present resides at the very essence of current legislation and international anti-trafficking
discourse (Lee 2013, p. 130). The UN Trafficking Protocol contains some provisions related
31
to efforts on immigration and border control. Examples can be found in Article 10 on
information exchange and training (for example, by strengthening training for law
enforcement, immigration, and relevant officials to prevent trafficking in persons); Article 11
on border measures (for example, by taking measures that permit the denial of entry or
cancellation of the visa of persons involved in the operation of offenses); Article 12 on security
control of documents (for example, by ensuring the integrity and security of identity and travel
documents to prevent unlawful issuance and use); and Article 13 on the legitimacy and validity
of the documents (for example by verifying the legitimacy and validity of travel documents
suspected of being used for human trafficking).
The desired outcome of strengthening border control is to make it hard for traffickers to enter
countries by conventional means of transportation. Strengthening the measures includes efforts
to make border control effective, prevent the misuse of passports and identification documents,
and enhancing cross border cooperation (UNODC 2008, p. 216). A description of migration
management has been provided by Lori and Schilde (2021), in which migration management
includes a great array of mechanisms that involve the actual logistics of human movement.
These include state-issued identity documents, state criminalisation of movement, state
facilities to check ID at the border, control over the logistics and transportation industry, and
the capacity to deport people, including the role of the private sectors in the deportation process
(Lori & Schilde 2021, p. 3). Ford and Lyons (2012) assert that the establishment of legal
frameworks aimed to restrict immigration and prosecute illegal entries has become a common
policy. Measures include increasing punitive immigration and border management regimes,
developing laws to punish traffickers and migrant smugglers, and deporting illegal migrants
and repatriating trafficked victims to their home countries (Ford & Lyons 2012, p. 439).
However, although trafficking had thrived as the result of lax controls at the border (Avdan
2012, p. 172), increased security at the border has also escalated the development of the
irregular migration market (Kapur 2002; Pickering 2010). As explained by Vayrynen (2003),
the more strict the immigration law is against illegal migrants, the more threatening are the
ways of criminality used in trafficking offenses to overcome the challenges that are needed to
traffic people. In other words, the higher the barrier imposed by the target country, the more
complex become the methods and tactics of people smuggling and trafficking (Vayrynen 2003,
p. 6).
32
The increase of security levels at the border that support the development of the irregular
migrant market has also created opportunities for human trafficking to thrive. Rusev (2013)
notes that stricter border regimes have also motivated potential migrants to seek out
intermediaries to ensure their entry into the destination countries. The intermediaries are
needed to assist with harbouring and protection from authorities (Rusev 2013, p. 5-6). This
situation potentially increases the risk of human trafficking, and weakens anti-trafficking
efforts. Migrants often look to a third party in their search for help (David, Bryant & Larsen
2019, p. 10).
Therefore, preventing trafficking through tightening border and migration control is not only
considered a short term prevention measure but it also increases the demand and opportunity
for human trafficking and people smuggling. Nanu (2011) gives as an example the fact that the
border of the UK is tightened does not address the human trafficking problem at its very heart,
which is the inequality, poverty, conflict, gender discrimination, etc. On the other hand,
although stringent border control does not solve the problem, an open border also does not
offer a viable solution (Nanu 2011, p. 107).
Border control and migration management play a certain role in human trafficking policy.
However, it should be seen only as a part of a multi-faceted and comprehensive approach in
the anti-trafficking response (Miller & Baumeister 2013, p. 30). The 3Ps paradigm found in
the UN Trafficking Protocol, the prosecution of traffickers, prevention of trafficking, and
protection of the victims, that serves as a fundamental framework for combatting trafficking,
requires states to protect the victims to the same extent as prosecuting the traffickers and
preventing trafficking. However, by focusing so strongly on border and migration
management, the anti-trafficking efforts do not put enough consideration into the protection
aspects of the policy, and instead count heavily on prosecution. Focusing on this approach
means that addressing the socio-economic causes of trafficking is also not a priority.
2.3.2. Criminal Justice Approach
Another traditional response to counter trafficking is through a criminal justice approach. It is
because trafficking is conceptualised as a crime that is committed by a person, and
consequently, states need to address it as a crime (Gerasimov 2019, p. 2). Obokata (2005)
asserts that human trafficking undoubtedly is a criminal justice issue. This crime has affected
33
the territorial integrity of the states through violations of criminal and immigration laws. It
diminishes the rule of law and the states' political foundations, as the traffickers use violence
and corruption to enhance their business (Obokata 2005, p. 445). Simmons, Lloyd and Stewart
(2018) agree that from the lens of transnational organised crime, traffickers are seen as a
challenge to the state authority and societal security. Hence, it puts human trafficking in the
broader problem of criminal networks (Simmons, Lloyd & Stewart 2018, p. 255).
The UN Trafficking Protocol, therefore, aims to strengthen the criminal justice response and
was designed to support effective prevention and the suppression of crime (Obokata 2005, p.
445). Being regarded as a crime control instrument, the protocol's main goal is to arrest,
investigate, and prosecute the crime (Pati 2018, p. 284). The UN Trafficking Protocol has
provided an impetus for states to enact national legislation to criminalise human trafficking
(McSherry & Cullen 2007; Pati 2018). States party to the protocol are required to criminalise
the practice either as a single offense or a combination of offenses. States are obligated to
criminalise human trafficking in accordance with the internationally agreed definition of
human trafficking in Article 3 (Kangaspunta 2015, p. 82).
As the UN Trafficking Protocol supplements UNTOC, which is a crime treaty, the
improvement of international cooperation to prevent and combat transnational crime has
become the main objective. The ratification of UNTOC is a precondition for ratification of the
Protocol, which promotes the Protocol as part of the criminal law framework (Kangaspunta
2015, p. 82-83). The United States has been the major supporter of the criminal justice
approach and enthusiastically promotes it through the US State Department’s Trafficking in
Persons (TIP) annual report, which powerfully shapes the global approach to combatting
human trafficking (Goehrung 2021, p. 55). The annual reports are used as a foundation for
determining sanctions against those states that do not meet the specific standards in prosecuting
and countering human trafficking (Gallagher 2010, p. 384).
The obligation to criminalise human trafficking includes criminalisation of organising,
directing, or being an accomplice in trafficking activity, and attempting to commit a trafficking
offense (Gallagher 2010, p. 375). Through national and international agreements, many
countries have established a range of means to facilitate cooperation across borders in criminal
matters. These measures include developing mutual legal assistance between countries and
extradition (David, David & Gallagher 2012; Chuang 2005). Some countries, such as the
34
Southeast Asian countries, for example, have some combination or subset of the key elements
of an effective criminal justice response to human trafficking. These include strong and
comprehensive legal frameworks; strong capacity to investigate human trafficking; front line
capacity to identify human trafficking; well informed prosecutorial and judicial capacity to
deal with human trafficking cases; strong victim identification and support; special support to
victims as witnesses; and effective international cooperation (David et al. 2011, p. 6).
Despite the growing efforts to counter human trafficking through enhancement of the criminal
justice system and the increasing in domestic and international laws, the evidence that global
rates of human trafficking have decreased is still not clear (Todres 2011; Smith 2011; Goehrung
2021). Research also note some challenges in the criminal justice approach to countering
human trafficking, such as a failure to identify victims (Villacampa & Torres 2017; Van der
Watt & Van der Westhuizen 2017; Kaye, Winterdyk & Quarterman 2014). This is because
many of the trafficking cases are hidden in activities such as migrant smuggling and
prostitution. Criminal justice officers are also often confronted by situations when women
prostitute themselves voluntarily but also experience exploitation, or cases of trafficked victims
who were forced into prostitution. The complexity is also often added to by cultural and
language barriers, and by the diverse and complex operations of organised crime networks,
with diversity of actors, and complexity of routes and modus operandi (Van der Watt & Van
der Westhuizen 2017, pp. 219-220).
An effective criminal justice system needs a more comprehensive understanding of how the
components of the human trafficking system contribute to the activity of the whole system
(Van der Watt & Van der Westhuizen 2017, p. 225). Kaye, Winterdyk and Quarterman (2014)
in their study of human trafficking in Canada mention that relying on a criminal approach may
disregard the various experiences of the victims. As a result, the victims may be hindered from
access the services that actually do exist, especially those that are tied explicitly to some form
of criminal investigation (Kaye, Winterdyk & Quarterman 2014, p. 34). Therefore, while the
criminal justice system remains an important aspect of the anti-human trafficking model, it is
necessary to move beyond a strict criminal justice approach when responding to this crime
(Kaye, Winterdyk & Quarterman 2014, p. 36).
Undoubtedly, the criminal justice response is an integral component when responding to
human trafficking. In specific cases, trafficking convictions provide a measurable result and
35
may also deter others from committing trafficking. The success of prosecution also has a
symbolic value that creates greater public awareness of the human trafficking issue generally.
However, because of the complexity of the causes of human trafficking, the response should
be multifaceted and not merely rely on criminal procedures. International cooperation and
initiatives should be supported by consideration of the various issues behind trafficking
(McSherry & Cullen 2007, p. 220).
As with the border control and migration management approach, this approach does not give
enough consideration to the victims’ protection and needs, because its focus is on prosecuting
the criminals. It also does not take into account the complex aspects that cause human
trafficking. It also does not fulfil the whole 3Ps paradigm as it only stresses prosecution.
2.3.3. Human Rights-based Approach
It is generally agreed that the victims of trafficking are particularly vulnerable, and the ordinary
protection given victims and witnesses during criminal proceedings cannot provide them with
adequate protection. These protection mechanisms normally cannot be accessed by the victims
as illegal immigrants even if they are willing to cooperate with judicial authorities during
criminal proceedings. Therefore, as this approach is not satisfactory, a more proper form to
protect trafficked victims, namely human rights-based approach to human trafficking, has been
adopted (Rijken 2009, p. 212).
The main approaches in the criminal justice and migration control regimes are inefficient for
addressing the complex and diverse phenomenon of human trafficking victims and fail to
address the multiple instances of human rights violations faced by the victims (Shin 2018, p.
2). Also, relying heavily on criminalising the offender and strengthening border control
management rather than giving attention to the victims has seriously weakened the
effectiveness of anti-trafficking initiatives and undermines the rights of the victims (Teshome
2011, p. 14). An approach that is based on human rights has been seen by the United Nations
High Commissioner on Human Rights as the only way to maintain the focus on the trafficked
persons and to prevent the problems that arise by simply relying on a migration, organised
crime, or public order approach (Rijken 2009, p. 215).
36
A human rights-based approach can be best explained as a conceptual framework that is
normatively based on international human rights standards and technically refers to promotion
and protection of human rights. This approach requires detailed attention and consideration of
the ways in which human rights discrimination comes up along the trafficking cycle. The
approach seeks to identify and redress discriminatory acts and the unfair power distributions
that cause trafficking and which sustain the impunity of the traffickers and abrogate justice to
the victims (Gallagher 2012, p. 173).
The human rights-based approach to trafficking means putting the victims of trafficking at the
centre of anti-trafficking policies by prioritising the protection of their rights. Therefore, taking
that approach, the victim's rights are protected regardless of the reasons why they have been
trafficked. An essential foundation of the human rights approach is ensuring that all victims of
trafficking are equally protected. All victims are entitled to equal and just access to aid services,
justice, and protection, and their choice of what they want to access. The response also needs
to take into consideration the gendered nature of trafficking and compensate for any gender-
based discrimination. To actively ensure the rights of the victims, anti-trafficking policies that
require criminal prosecution and migration regulations must not compromise the rights of the
victims during the process (Pescinski 2015). In many cases, the criminal justice system fails to
recognise persons as the victims of trafficking, treats them as criminals, or only treats them as
a source of evidence (UNODC 2009, p. 2).
It is generally recognised that human trafficking is the cause and also the consequence of
human rights violations toward a person (Obokata 2006; Busch-Armendariz et al. 2018; Rijken
2009; Lee 2011). Various violations of human rights against a person happen in human
trafficking cases, particularly, a violation of personal and physical dignity, of the right to
freedom, of the right to security, and of the principles of non-discrimination (Rijken 2009, p.
215). Therefore, attention has to be paid from various angles in order to curb the occurrence of
these violations. This means that a multi-disciplinary approach whose main goal is to prevent
the violation of victims’ rights should be applied. Without such a holistic approach, the interests
and position of the victims are not adequately taken into account (Rijken 2009, p. 215). A
human rights-based approach brings a normative and conceptual framework into the efforts to
counter trafficking. It prioritises the human rights of an individual who is trafficked as well as
of those who are at risk of being trafficked and puts their best interests first in any anti-
trafficking mechanisms (Dottridge 2007, p. 13).
37
A human rights-based approach should be based on the core human rights principles -
universality and inalienability; indivisibility; inter-dependence and inter-relatedness; equality
and non-discrimination; participation and inclusion; accountability and the rule of law. These
principles need to be the foundation of a human rights-based approach to trafficking (Rijken
2009, p. 215). The human rights instruments place an obligation on states to take into account
the rights of the victims in every action to counter trafficking (Rijken 2009, p. 215). This
approach offers a framework to monitor and evaluate anti-trafficking policies and practices to
figure out the real and potential impact on victims of trafficking (Dottridge 2007, p. 13).
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) (2014)
notes that experiences from applying the human rights-based approach in other fields can
provide insights into the features of a human rights-based approach to human trafficking. The
important points that can be taken from those experiences include:
1. As policies and programs are made, the main goal should be grounded in promoting
and protecting the rights of individuals;
2. A human rights-based approach promotes and identifies the rights holders, such as the
rights of trafficked persons, individuals at risk of being trafficked, and the accused and
convicted offenders. This approach aims to strengthen the capacities of rights holders
to protect their rights and of duty-bearers to meet their obligations;
3. The core principles and standards in applying a human rights-based approach should
be based on human rights law (for example, equality and non-discrimination). The
human rights law should guide all actions in response to human trafficking at any level
(OHCHR 2014, p. 8).
Implementing a human rights-based approach imposes obligations for the states to fulfil: (1) to
prohibit trafficking and related acts; (2) to investigate, prosecute and punish the offenders; (3)
to protect the victims; (4) to address the causes and consequences of the crime (Obokata 2006,
p. 387). The prohibition of trafficking through national law is an obligation that states should
carry under international human rights law. Some current human rights instruments have
required states to prohibit the act (Obokata 2006, p. 387-388). As stated by Obokata (2006),
the investigation and prosecution process should be done according to international human
rights standards. In addition to implementing the protection measures to the victims, the
obligations should also be extended to the perpetrators of crime. It means that the states should
38
also respect and protect the rights of the traffickers at the same time (Obokata 2006, p. 390).
The perpetrator of crimes are entitled to the rights that must be honoured during the judgement
process as set out in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
However, as Obokata (2015) mentioned, the United Nations Convention against Transnational
Crime (UNTOC) does not contain specific provisions on the rights of the perpetrators, and
therefore must be supplemented by international human rights law (Obokata 2015, p. 53).
The protection of the victims includes accurate identification of victims, non-criminalisation
of the victims, provision of fast protection and support, legal assistance and the rights to stay,
and special attention to the rights of the victims (Gallagher 2010, p. 276). Adequate support
and assistance to the victims is also needed to reduce the possibility of re-victimisation or being
re-trafficked (Adams 2001; Jobe 2010; Lyneham 2014). Lastly, addressing the socioeconomic
causes of trafficking is a fundamental principle of a human rights-based approach (Todres
2011, p. 55).
2.4. What Went Missing?
The sections above have explained some characteristics of the existing approaches to counter
human trafficking. The discussion noted that migration and criminal justice approaches are not
enough to address the complexity of human trafficking. Increased security at the border has
increased the development of the irregular migration market, which results in increased
vulnerability and threats of violence for would-be migrants, and leads to human trafficking. On
the other hand, the criminal justice approach has faced many challenges in identifying the
victims of human trafficking. Relying on a criminal justice approach also means ignoring
human rights violations as experienced by the victims. This can result in a lack of support and
access to the services that are available for them. Therefore, it is suggested that due to the
complexity of the causes of human trafficking, the response should be multifaceted and not
merely rely on criminal procedures.
The human rights-based approach, therefore, came as a solution to improve protection and
support for the victims, and to help countries address the issues that make people vulnerable to
being trafficked. However, an awareness of the need to protect the rights of the victims, by
preventing re-trafficking for instance, and initiatives to address the factors that can encourage
trafficking overlook the necessity to also identify the factors that make people commit
39
trafficking. While prevention of human trafficking is one of the vital elements in the anti-
trafficking process, there are very few prevention initiatives that have been implemented so far
by any state to discourage or prevent a person from committing trafficking.
Article 9 (4) of the UN Trafficking Protocol clearly asserts that “States Parties shall take or
strengthen measures, including through bilateral or multilateral cooperation, to alleviate the
factors that make persons, especially women and children, vulnerable to trafficking, such as
poverty, underdevelopment, and lack of equal opportunity.” Further, Article 9 (5) states that
"States parties shall adopt or strengthen legislative or other measures, such as educational,
social or cultural measures, including through bilateral and multilateral cooperation, to
discourage the demand that fosters all forms of exploitation of persons, especially women and
children, that leads to trafficking." However, despite its many recommendations to prevent
trafficking and to address the factors that lead to trafficking, the Protocol refrains from giving
the states parties instructions to address the factors that can make people commit or participate
in human trafficking. As pointed out in the previous section, also absent from the Protocol is
any acknowledgement of the rights of the offenders. The Protocol and its parent instrument
(UNTOC) do not have provisions on the rights of the offenders which therefore have to be
supplemented by human rights law.
Other than through prosecution of traffickers or other criminal justice measures (asset freezing,
restitution to the victims, etc), the current approach does not look into possible measures to
prevent people from committing the offense. It is important to look at the people who are
involved in trafficking offenses and to identify their motivations, perceptions, and other key
factors underlying their decision to traffic others. To prevent human trafficking, we should also
understand the reasons behind the phenomenon from the side of the offenders. As Surtees
(2014) states, understanding the behaviours, motivations, and actions of traffickers is essential
in any efforts to prevent and combat human trafficking (Surtees 2014, p. 11). It is in response
to this need that the research presented in this thesis was carried out.
2.5. Conclusion
This chapter has shown the history and development of anti-trafficking policies and
approaches. Starting from 1890 with the Final Act of the Brussels Conference through the
efforts to abolish White Slave Traffic in 1904, the international law on human trafficking has
40
finally come up with a definition of human trafficking and set up international standards for
efforts to counter trafficking by the adoption of the UN Trafficking Protocol in 2000. Although
it has come with a strong criminal justice perspective, the UN Trafficking Protocol also gives
recommendations regarding the protection of victims. The Recommended Principles and
Guidelines on Human Rights and Human Trafficking has grafted human rights principles into
the protocol's framework to create comprehensive international legislation for human
trafficking that integrates human rights and transnational criminal law (Gallagher 2015, p. 17).
Compared to the traditional approaches of criminal justice and border and migration
management, a human rights-based approach helps to understand the problem as experienced
by the victims and to address the causes and the consequences of the crime. However, this
research has noted a drawback of the human rights-based approach in its efforts to counter
trafficking. A large amount of attention is given to the victims, but this approach does not
consider traffickers as a group that also needs some attention. As in the previous conventional
approaches to human trafficking that rely on migration management and criminal justice, the
only way to deter traffickers in the current approach is by prosecution.
Addressing the root causes of human trafficking cannot be done without understanding the
motivations of the people who commit the crime. The failure to understand the people involved
in trafficking will lead to a misconception of who these people are and the nature of their
actions more broadly (Broad 2013, p. 13). Therefore, it is the aim of this thesis to understand
the people who are involved in human trafficking and draw up recommendations to improve
the existing anti-trafficking laws and approach by including some aspects from the perpetrator's
side.
41
Chapter 3: Studies of Individuals Involved in Human Trafficking
as Human Traffickers
3.1. Introduction
Chapter 2 of this thesis has sought to demonstrate that in seeking to eradicate human trafficking
the current policies on human trafficking, which are based on a criminal justice and human
rights approach, have overlooked the role of the traffickers. Other than seeking the prosecution
of the traffickers, the current international policies have made little attempt to understand the
human traffickers or the people involved in human trafficking. Surtees (2008) argues that the
human trafficking problem cannot be solved merely by looking at the behaviour of the victims,
but it also requires an understanding of the traffickers (Surtees 2008, p. 42). As noted by Broad
(2013), the failure to understand the people involved in trafficking will lead to a misconception
of who these people are and the nature of their actions more broadly (Broad 2013, p. 13). I
argue that this also impacts on how policy on human trafficking is made, and how effective
this policy is in addressing the root causes of trafficking in order to prevent further instances
in the future. Though limited in number, studies on the people involved in human trafficking
have been carried out as a way to improve our understanding of the elements needed for
developing appropriate services for the victims and enhancing community awareness (Busch-
Armendariz, Nsonwu & Heffron 2009, p. 5).
As outlined in the introduction, this thesis aims to contribute new knowledge about human
trafficking in Indonesia through identifying the characteristics and key factors that make people
in Indonesia become involved in human trafficking. As a starting point for analysing the people
involved, this chapter examines the current literature on the phenomenon of human traffickers.
As has been explained in Chapter 1, human traffickers are by definition both the main actors
who carry out the trafficking and also those people who provide support for their actions. This
chapter begins by exploring the literature on the involvement of organised crime networks in
human trafficking, which has been the popular narrative on human trafficking. In contrast to
the prevalent portrait of the involvement of organised crime in human trafficking, there is also
some literature on the involvement of 'ordinary people' with no affiliation with organised crime
in human trafficking and this too will be discussed in this chapter. However the issue of human
trafficking cannot be separated from the involvement of women as traffickers. Hence, this
42
chapter also shows what the literature says on women's involvement as human traffickers.
Lastly, the phenomenon of victims who become traffickers is also explored in this chapter.
This chapter aims to outline how research to date has described people involved in human
trafficking. It also helps to clarify the contribution that this thesis makes to the existing
literature on traffickers through the new knowledge it provides about human traffickers in
Indonesia, particularly those involved with domestic labour and the sex industry. This chapter
focuses on the key literature about human traffickers in general, whereas Chapter 4 examines
in more detail the research on human trafficking in Indonesia more specifically.
3.2. Organised Crime Networks
The idea that human trafficking is a distinct form of crime that requires law enforcement action
is commonly accepted, as described in particular in the 2000 UN Convention against
Transnational Organised Crime (UNTOC) and its Trafficking Protocol (Lee 2011, p. 83). It is
generally assumed that human trafficking means that organised crime networks are involved
(David 2012; Viuhko 2018; Shelley 2010; Lee 2011). Public debate, policy statements, and
international instruments often focus on the inseparable connection between human trafficking
and organised crime (Viuhko 2018, p. 177).
According to the UN Convention against Transnational Organised Crime (UNTOC) in 2010,
an organised criminal group shall mean:
a structured group of three or more persons, existing for a period of time and acting in concert with
the aim of committing one or more serious crimes or offences established in accordance with this
Convention, in order to obtain, directly or indirectly, a financial or other material benefit. (UNTOC
2010, art. 2 (a))
Then a structured group is defined as:
a group that is not randomly formed for the immediate commission of an offence and that does not
need to have formally defined roles for its members, continuity of its membership or a developed
structure (UNTOC 2010, art. 2 (c)).
Therefore, according to the expectations expressed in these definitions, an organised crime
group in Article 2(a) consists of following aspects:
1. A group of three of more persons that was not randomly created;
2. Existing for a period of time;
43
3. Acting together with the intention of committing one or more serious crimes punishable
by at least for years of incarceration;
4. Aim to achieve directly or indirectly financial and other material benefits (UNODC
2021).
According to UNODC, the seriousness of the crimes committed by the groups and the profit
motive are defining elements (UNODC 2018). It is common for organised crime groups to
utilise corruption, money laundering, and obstruction of justice to protect themselves from
discovery by law enforcement (UNODC 2018).
There are two types of organised crime group involved in human trafficking according to the
United Nations (UN). The first one is a group in which human trafficking is the main activity.
This group consists of individuals within a tight structure surrounded by a loose network of
associates. They rarely have a social or ethnic identity. These “core groups” are also normally
opportunistic and profit oriented, and pursue illegal activities on the basis of where the greatest
profits can be produced. The second group is a hierarchical group which is normally associated
with the trafficking of other illicit commodities such as narcotics or arms. These groups
maintain control and discipline under single leadership, and have strong social or ethnic bonds.
However, they use violence as essential means in carrying out their activities (Makarenko
2009; UNODC 2006). Shelley asserts that those who run trafficking syndicates include both
economically motivated criminals and politically motivated transnational crime actors such as
insurgents or terrorists. These traffickers often have links with bigger transnational crime
networks (Shelley 2007, p. 133).
Research shows that the involvement of organised crime networks in human trafficking does
indeed happen in various places: in European countries (Lee 2011; Viuhko & Jokinen 2009;
Surtees 2008; Asbill 2017; Shelley 2011), in Australia (David 2012; Langhorn 2018), in Asia
(Shelley 2011; Shelley 2003; Shelley 2010; Guth 2010; Munro 2011; Samarasinghe 2008; Farr
2005), and in Africa (Ellis & Akpala 2011; Wannenburg 2005). However, the size and the
structure of the syndicates vary. For example, Viuhko and Jokinen (2009) estimate that in
Finland in 2005 there were almost 1000 members across 79 organised criminal groups. The
majority of group members were Finnish but some were foreigners from countries such as
Estonia and Russia. Many of the trafficking groups in Finland maintained contacts and worked
in cooperation with criminal groups from overseas. In fact the establishment of cross-border
44
relations was essential for criminal groups in Finland (Viuhko & Jokinen 2009, p. 29).
Likewise Shelley (2003) asserts that there are various kinds of organised crime groups
operating to and from the former USSR countries. According to Shelley there are big
differences between the Russian-speaking and Asian organised crime groups. The Russian-
speaking organised crime groups were not family based and consisted of small units working
through a network structure. On the other hand, the Asian groups such as the Vietnamese and
Chinese crime groups were more mafia-type groups that stressed family and community ties
(Shelley 2003, p. 242). Trafficking networks in Australia also have different structures and
sizes, but under the UNTOC definition they too fit the criteria of an organised crime group
(Langhorn 2018, p. 19). Those examples show that organised crime groups operating in human
trafficking around the world vary in characteristics, size and structure. Some of them consist
of people from similar ethnic backgrounds, others stress family ties, and others have members
from foreign countries. These examples also show the various ways that organised crime
groups operate in committing their crimes.
The literature also shows that the groups or networks involved in human trafficking often
engage in other criminal activities apart from human trafficking as their main focus. In many
cases, human trafficking is also accompanied by drug smuggling (e.g. Korsell, Vesterhav &
Skinnari 2011; Shelley 2011; Gerry & Sherwill 2016; Cornell 2009). For example, in
Afghanistan human trafficking is related to the drug trade in the border areas (Shelley 2011, p.
143). David (2012) notes that according to the Australian Crime Commission (ACC), organised
crime groups in Australia that are involved in crimes such as illicit drugs and credit card and
identity fraud are also possibly involved in human trafficking for the sex industry (David 2012,
p. 6). The groups operating in Australia recruit women as commodities (David 2012, p. 6). In
addition Cornell (2009) has found that terrorist and insurgent groups from Latin America over
Morocco through to Central Asia are involved in drug trafficking. These same groups however
are also involved in human trafficking and people smuggling (Cornell 2009, p. 48).
Some highly developed methods have been used by organised criminal networks to traffic
people. As in other forms of organised crime, human trafficking also uses corruption and bribes
government officials to expedite their activities. Often the police and security apparatus
actually plays a role in the human trafficking syndicates. This situation can be found in many
countries in Asia and Eurasia (Shelley 2010, p. 111). A sophisticated communication system
has promoted the growth of human trafficking. For example, organised crime groups in Russia
45
and India utilise the internet as a means to buy and sell women. In the former USSR countries,
hundreds of websites promote the sale of women for sexual services and as mail-order brides.
This also happened in Europe where the crime groups from Southeast Asia and Latin America
are using the internet to sell women to Europe (Shelley 2011, p. 138). In Indonesia, the forced
recruitment of fishermen to work on boats in Indonesian waters has involved a high degree of
organisation with mass recruitment of victims in neighbouring countries such as Cambodia,
Myanmar, Laos, and Thailand (Chapsos & Hamilton 2018, p. 263). The intensified measures
to control human trafficking have resulted in organised crime in Nigeria using more
complicated means and routes (Ellis & Akpala 2011, p. 27). The human trafficking networks
in Nigeria also have specific organisational hierarchies that interact with key players locally
and internationally in a complex way (Ellis & Akpala 2011, p. 25). In line with other forms of
organised crime, the criminal networks that play a role in human trafficking also use
intimidation and violence. As also occurs in drug trafficking, in many cases the violence is
directed at the family of the victims, which makes the victims bound to stay in their trafficked
situation, even when they have a chance to escape. Like other businesses, organised crime
focuses on making profit, on ensuring supply, and on meeting demand. What makes organised
crime different is that violence and corruption are essential to its business operations (Shelley
2010, p. 112).
A core component of an organised crime group’s involvement in human trafficking is an
established organisational structure. Some examples can be seen in South-Eastern Europe, East
and Southeast Asia. Organised crime networks operating in human trafficking in South-Eastern
Europe have a clear well-established organisational structure. They operate in defined areas
and used defined route options for trafficking. They have a managerial approach to their
operations and collaborate with other criminal groups as well as with other parties, such as
government, financial services experts, and other public supporters who may or may not be
aware that the nature of their activities is trafficking in human beings (Surtees 2008, p. 46-47).
The involvement of organised criminal groups in human trafficking was inevitable in Southeast
Asia (Shelley 2010; Samarasinghe 2008; Farr 2005). It is not possible to separate these
organised crime networks from the role of large and notorious criminal organisations such as
the Chinese Triads and Japanese Yakuza. The involvement of organised crime such as the
Japanese Yakuza and Chinese Triads in human trafficking for prostitution is evident in
Thailand (Shelley 2010, p. 162). Similarly, traffickers in the Philippines too are associated with
organised crime groups such as the Yakuza and the Triads. The Triads traffic women from the
46
Philippines for commercial sex in Macau and Hong Kong where many casinos are located
(Guth 2010, p. 150). Munro (2011) claims that the size of the organised crime groups has
increased in Southeast Asia to support the sex industry and sex tourism (Munro 2012, p. 129).
In fact, although there are many studies on how human trafficking has been affected by the
involvement of organised crime networks that generate a big profit, some of the people who
commit human trafficking are outside the organised crime networks. Thus it is important for
this thesis to understand the character of organised crime networks in order to consider whether
in Indonesia the trafficking of humans for the sex industry and domestic labour is carried out
by organised crime networks or not. While this thesis does not seek to rule out the involvement
of large and sophisticated criminal organisations, the evidence acquired points more towards
the participation of sole perpetrators or loose networks. The section below will explain how
and why some groups of people outside organised crime networks commit human trafficking.
3.3. The ‘Ordinary People’
While most of the literature is concerned with the relationship between organised crime and
human trafficking, there is a growing number of studies that argue that human trafficking cases
do not support the popular claims about the involvement of organised crime (e.g. Keo 2011;
Molland 2010; Molland 2011; Sen & Nair 2005; Shen 2016; Davy 2016; Simmons et al. 2013;
Broad 2018; Choi 2010; Rijken, Muraszkiewicz & Van de Ven 2015; Viuhko 2018;
Constantinou 2019; Campana 2015; Levenkron 2007; Shively et al. 2017). Instead of being
committed by high level organised crime groups, human trafficking cases were committed by
individuals or by small casual networks. Keo (2011) argues that the highly sensationalised
claims about organised crime are not supported by empirical literature (Keo 2011, p. 5). This
section will examine human trafficking committed by an individual or a group of people who
are not involved in an organised crime network and highlight the debate around the extent of
organised crime involvement.
In many cases, human traffickers come from a deprived background and have received little
education (Keo 2011; Shen 2016; Levenkron 2007; Simmons et al. 2013). In Cambodia, most
of the human traffickers in prison are poor, lack education, and are mainly women. Therefore,
the action of traffickers could be considered a crime of desperation in which traffickers engage
in trafficking for modest proceeds or rewards (Keo 2014, p. 196). However, although these
47
actions only offered modest rewards, they are seen as a better earning than the legal
opportunities that most Cambodians can earn (Keo 2014, p. 274). Similarly, in China
trafficking in children was mainly committed by female migrant peasant workers and farmers
who lived in underdeveloped mountainous regions. The perpetrators’s background which often
includes a deprived childhood, poor living conditions, lack of education, and experience of
gender discrimination is what has led them to commit child trafficking (Shen 2016, p. 25).
Levenkron (2007) also states that some traffickers in Israel gave bankruptcy as the reason why
they committed trafficking, while for others it was the difficulty of finding a steady job. Serious
financial losses because of debt was also a factor among Israeli traffickers (Levenkron 2007,
p. 77). Similarly in Australia it has been found that offenders generally had limited education
and in some cases they were in debt and/or had psychological issues (Simmons et al. 2013, p.
10). This situation is different from that portrayed in the media where the traffickers are just in
it to make a big profit (Keo 2011; Molland 2012). In fact, many of them commit these crimes
simply to survive.
The research also shows that the traffickers, besides being relatively poor and lacking in
education, are often people with close ties to the victims, perhaps as friends or family members
(Molland 2012; Molland 2010; Sen & Nair 2005; Viuhko 2018). On the Thai-Laos border, the
picture emerging of victims and traffickers is of an interaction of friends helping friends, and
families supporting relatives (Molland 2012; Molland 2010). Sen and Nair (2005) explain that
in India the traffickers had no regrets about committing the offense, even to their relatives. A
fifth of the respondents in their research admitted that they had trafficked their relatives. From
that number, 30.3 percent of traffickers had trafficked a daughter and 39.4 percent had
trafficked sisters or cousins. Their decision to commit human trafficking on their family
members came from a need for money coupled with the ease with which they could exploit
their relatives (Sen & Nair 2005, p. 148). Viuhko (2018) claims that human traffickers in
Finland usually have some previous relationship with their victims. In many cases, those
traffickers are relatives, partners, acquaintances or friends of the victims (Viuhko 2018, p. 184-
185). In other cases, the perpetrators were also employers who exploited the victims in the
context of the work relationship (Viuhko 2018, p. 185). As explained by Keo (2011) and
Molland (2012), so far traffickers have always been described as evil, while victims are
innocent. But these research results show that there are multiple cases where traffickers actually
have a close relationship with the victims, and traffic people they know.
48
Media reports portray the victims as innocent and weak, while the traffickers have been
depicted as evil, cunning, dominant, global, well-organised, and earning huge profits (Molland
2012, p. 51-52). Indeed there is some evidence from the research that some traffickers do not
use physical violence, but use other methods of persuasion and deception (Keo 2011; Molland
2011; Davy 2016; Serie et al. 2018; Constantinou 2019). Again this is different from the
traditional image of evil actions toward the victims. Instead of using physical violence or
cruelty, some traffickers use personal and psychological forms of control such as debt
bondage1, confiscating personal documents, and threats (Davy 2016, p. 194). Some traffickers
offer initial assistance to victims in the form of accommodation or payment up front, so the
victims agree to work in the places where they are finally exploited (Molland 2011; Serie
2018). Viuhko (2018) views this differently and argues that although the offenders may not be
part of international organised crime networks, they may still have committed serious acts and
treated their victims terribly (Viuhko 2018, p. 189).
As discussed earlier, research shows that many groups of traffickers are relatively small and
have used family or contacts among their friends to facilitate the trafficking process (Simmons
et al. 2013; Keo 2011; Shen 2016, Rijken, Muraszkiewicz & Van de Ven 2015; Shively et al.
2017; Armendariz, Nsonwu & Heffron 2009). For example, Rijken, Muraszkiewicz and Van
de Ven (2015) in their research on human trafficking in Europe note that in many cases, many
of the families or groups who engage in human trafficking were from the same village or town.
Some people engage in trafficking as they see people around them involved in the crime
(Rijken, Muraszkiewicz & Van de Ven 2015, p. 55). Some research also shows that children
can follow their family/parents' path into human trafficking (Rijken, Muraszkiewicz & Van de
Ven 2015; Warren 2012). Also, in many cases people do not realise that their actions constitute
human trafficking (Shively et al. 2017; Antonopolous & Winterdyk 2005) and they may even
believe that they have done the victims a favour (Serie et al 2018; David, Bryant & Larsen
2019; Molland 2011; Antonopoulos & Winterdyk 2005; Rijken, Muraszkiewicz & Van de Ven
2015).
This part of the literature review has shown that not every human trafficking case aims to gain
a high profit. Many people commit these crimes for a little money out of desperation. Also, in
1 Debt bondage occurs when a person is forced to work to pay their debt. They are tricked into working for little
or no payment as a result of their debt. The value of their work is greater than the amount of money they borrowed
(Anti-Slavery International 2021).
49
many cases, the people involved have a close relationship with the victim as relatives or friends
instead of being the established organised crime networks favoured by the media. It is also
noteworthy that some of the people who committed trafficking did not understand or believe
that their actions constituted human trafficking. This fact is important in the context of this
thesis and its findings. Although it may occasionally involve organised crime networks, in the
majority of cases human trafficking for the sex industry and domestic labour in Indonesia is
committed rather by an individual or a loosely structured group where the people involved
expect to only earn a modest amount of money (see Chapter 7). These findings then become a
basis to put in place appropriate measures to mitigate trafficking in Indonesia.
3.4. The Role of Women and Girls
Another important theme established in the literature on trafficking is that women play a
significant role as the perpetrators of trafficking. Similarly, in Indonesia a large number of
those convicted of human trafficking are women. As my findings in Chapter 6 will show, there
are more women than men involved in trafficking for the sex industry and domestic labour.
The existing literature observes that the involvement of women as traffickers is not a new
phenomenon. Although women are largely depicted as victims or people vulnerable to
trafficking, in reality women also play a big role as traffickers. To understand the role of the
female as perpetrators of human trafficking, many studies look at the characteristics of female
human traffickers, and their role and activities in the trafficking process (Shen 2016; Broad
2015; Siegel & De Blank 2010; Wijkman & Kleemans 2019; Levenkron 2017; Lo Iacono 2014;
Sen & Nair 2005; Baxter 2019; Simmons et al. 2013; Denton 2015; McCarthy 2016).
Many studies reveal that the most common involvement of women in human trafficking is
found in human trafficking for the sex industry (Baxter 2019; Broad 2015; Siegel & De Blank
2010; Wijkman & Kleemans 2019; Levenkron 2017; Lo Iacono 2014; Jones 2014). Women
play a part in the recruitment process in Eurasia and Africa. International investigations have
revealed that in areas such as Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Eurasia women run brothels
and play a big part in sex trafficking rings (Shelley 2010, p. 90). Shelley (2010) also noted that
in many countries women have significant roles in trafficking. For instance, in China women
are the most common members in a major transnational trafficking organisation (Shelley 2010,
p. 88). As pointed out by Siegel and De Blank (2010), the active role of women in recruitment
for human trafficking for sexual exploitation and other purposes is not a new phenomenon
50
(Siegel & De Blank 2010, p. 438). Apart from the role as a madam that leads a criminal
organisation or group (Broad 2015; Siegel & De Blank 2010), women within the context of
sex trafficking globally also play the role of hotel managers (Baxter 2019; Siegel & De Blank;
Levenkron 2007; Sen & Nair 2005). Women are also often employed by traffickers to recruit
young women into commercial sex (Denton 2015; Siegel & De Blank; Wijkman & Kleemans
2019; Baxter 2019; Sen & Nair 2005). In some countries, the role of women who manage the
brothels is institutionalised. For example, in India, she is called a nayika. This term refers to a
women who controls the brothel, recruits women or girls from their region and community,
and keeps the victims separated from the outside world (Shelley 2010, p. 90).
There are various pathways that lead to women being involved in human trafficking for the sex
industry as perpetrators. Scholars have noted that the involvement of women as human
traffickers was highly affected by their position as victims (Simmons et al. 2013; Serie et al.
2018; Warren 2012; Baxter 2019; Broad 2015; Siegel & De Blank 2010; Lo Iacono 2014;
Hickle & Roe-Sepowitz 2016; Myatt 2019). In some cases, the women becoming perpetrators
have seen this as a way to escape their status as a prostituted person (Wijkman & Kleemans
2019, p. 56). Shelley (2010) asserts that many current victims enter the business as traffickers
because they can gain more than in the legitimate economy (Shelley 2010, p. 89). Many female
traffickers were also previously former victims who were assigned by the traffickers to return
home to recruit others. Those victims were often given a false promise that if they could recruit
new victims to replace them they would be released. The victims' complicity in the recruitment
process was then used by the traffickers as another mechanism to control them. The guilt often
felt by the victims about their involvement in trafficking others would make them remain in
the trafficking networks. These victims turned perpetrators might also fear prosecution for their
involvement in this illegal activity (Surtees 2008, p. 45). There are many cases of women who
were prostitutes but also traffickers at the same time (Levenkron 2007; Baxter 2019; Sen &
Nair 2005; Siegel & De Blank 2010). In some stories, women who served in a brothel for a
long period were then trusted by the madam to supervise the other women, and maintain the
rules over the other prostitutes (Levenkron 2007; Lo Iacono 2014). Wijkman and Kleemans
(2019) in a study of women convicted of human trafficking in the Netherlands also assert that
of all the women convicted for sexual exploitation, half of them had worked in the sex industry,
and more than a quarter were still working in the sex industry when they committed the offense.
A small percentage (7.5%) were victims of sexual exploitation before they become perpetrators
but the vast majority (94.7%) were co-offenders or operated as part of a group (Wijkman &
51
Kleemans 2019, p. 66-67). In that country, where many Nigerian prostitutes arrive as minors,
some of them might become madams by the age of 20 (Shelley 2010, p. 91).
It is important to understand the factors that influence trafficked women to become traffickers
(Broad 2015; Baxter 2019). As this thesis will show, many women are charged and convicted
of human trafficking in Indonesia (Chapter 6). Baxter (2019) argues that in order to understand
why the women as trafficking victims decide to become traffickers, their histories of
victimisation need to be considered to better understand their choices (Baxter 2019, p. 336).
Despite policy development aimed to protect the victims of trafficking, there is a lack of
knowledge and understanding on the pathways that women follow from being a victim to
becoming a perpetrator (Broad 2015, p. 1072-1073). In some cases, although the former status
of the female traffickers as victims was acknowledged, they were still neglected within the
criminal justice system. In responding to female offenders, the criminal justice process has
failed to consider the factors that impact their pathways into offending (Broad 2015; Baxter
2019). For example, in Australia, rather than being considered as a mitigating factor, the
victimisation history of female offenders was used as an aggravating factor, especially in cases
where the offender was a victim herself of trafficking for sexual exploitation (Baxter 2019, p.
9). These cases where the prior experience of victimisation by the offender was not taken into
consideration show that prosecution of the traffickers and the needs of the current victims are
still seen as the highest priority rather than support for all victims (Baxter 2019, p. 9).
Research also shows that some women enter the trafficking business because they are in
established romantic relationships with the traffickers (Siegel & De Blank 2010; Broad 2015;
Levenkron 2007; Wijkman & Kleemans 2019; McCarthy 2019; Shen 2016). As discussed by
Siegel and De Blank (2010) in their work on female traffickers in the Netherlands, women as
a ‘partners in crime’ include those who work together with their partners (boyfriend, spouse,
or business partner) to engage voluntarily in human trafficking. Their relationships patterns
can vary, from intimate to business-like, and the female partners in the relationship carry
various roles. In some cases, they were the brain of the activity, and in other cases, they played
more passive roles, such as recruiting young women (Siegel & De Blank 2010, p. 442). On the
other hand, in the Netherlands there is also often a romantic relationship between the victim,
who works as a prostitute, and the perpetrator. (Wijkman & Kleemans 2019, p. 56). Further,
women are often asked by their male partner to recruit other women as prostitutes, because it
is easier for female recruiters to gain a potential victim’s trust than for a male. Women also
52
acted as a ‘guardians’ for the victims when those victims were being sent to the destination
countries (Wijkman & Kleemans 2019, p. 56-57). Often the victims become emotionally
attached to the female traffickers so they feel unable to escape from the exploitation and control
of those traffickers (Jones 2014, p. 163).
Although most cases of the involvement of women as human trafficking perpetrators occur in
the context of trafficking for the sex industry, some women are also involved in other forms of
human trafficking (e.g. Shen 2016; McCarthy 2019; Wijkman & Kleemans 2019; Warren
2012). In China many women participated in the human trafficking of children, such as
obtaining babies for adoption. These women often play the role of a middle person who
facilitates buyers and sellers in the sale of children (Shen 2016, p. 21). McCarthy (2016) also
describes how in Russia women are involved in many types of human trafficking, such as the
sex industry, labour, and child trafficking for illegal adoption, and also organ trafficking
(McCarthy 2019, p. 5). These women running trafficking operations are often successful
entrepreneurs. They have long term arrangements with male or female partners as organisers
or co-organisers. If they are not in partnership with males, they set up connections with criminal
groups or hire male subordinates (McCarthy 2019, p. 6). Warren (2012) observes that in
Colombia, women often worked as recruiters. They worked with their daughters, sisters and
other relatives in the coffee-growing areas in the country (Warren 2012, p. 114). A study by
Wijkman and Kleemans (2019) also shows that although the majority of women are convicted
of human trafficking for sexual exploitation, in the Netherlands 10% of them were convicted
of human trafficking for labour exploitation (Wijkman & Kleemans 2019, p. 66). These studies
show that women not only participate in trafficking for the sex industry but also have a big role
in other forms of trafficking. Moreover some women hire male perpetrators as their
subordinates, and they are not always in lower positions than the males.
So, in conclusion, women have a big role in human trafficking. They play various roles in
human trafficking ranging from the main actor who organises the trafficking down to the role
at the bottom as a supporter. The pathways of women into trafficking often start from their
status as victims, although in some cases it is also due to a romantic relationship with male
traffickers. Considering the many cases of victims becoming traffickers, especially in the sex
industry, it is important to understand the process through which the victims become
perpetrators in order to prevent more people becoming involved in human trafficking. As noted
earlier, discussion of women’s involvement in trafficking is important for this thesis as the
53
findings show that in Indonesia women are more involved than men in trafficking for the sex
industry or domestic labour (see Chapter 6). Understanding the factors that make women
become involved in trafficking in Indonesia will also help in devising strategies to prevent
them from committing human trafficking in the future.
3.5. Motives and Reasons for Involvement
There are a range of factors that lead people to be involved in human trafficking. In fact,
understanding the behaviour and the motivations of perpetrators is important in any efforts to
prevent and break the crime of human trafficking crime (Surtees 2014, p. 14). It is normally
assumed that financial gain is the driving factor why people commit these crimes. Nonetheless,
this assumption has not been really tested (David 2012, p. 9). Currently, there is still a limited
amount of research that focuses on understanding the reasons or motivations that lead people
to commit or participate in human trafficking (e.g. Rijken, Muraszkiewicz & Van de Ven 2015;
Asbill 2017; Shen 2016). However, some of the factors that underlie people’s involvement in
trafficking are mentioned in the general research on human trafficking and human traffickers
(see Shelley 2010; Wheaton, Schauer & Galli 2010; Kara 2011; Varney 2013; McCarthy 2019;
Keo 2011; Levenkron 2007; Rijken, Muraszkiewicz & Van de Ven 2015; Shively et al. 2017;
Molland 2011; Serie et al. 2018; Webb & Burrows 2009; Asbill 2017; David, Bryant & Larsen
2019; Antonopolous & Winterdyk 2005).
As human trafficking is often seen as a part of transnational organised crime, the most common
reason given why people commit trafficking is for economic or financial benefit (Shelley 2010;
Wheaton, Schauer & Galli 2010; Kara 2011; Varney 2013; Shen 2016). However, there are
various factors given as to why people seek this financial gain - through poverty, to maintain
a lifestyle, a source of easy money, and the desire to earn big money. Research has noted how
poverty and limited job opportunities have driven persons to participate in and commit the
crime of trafficking (McCarthy 2019; Keo 2011; Levenkron 2007; Asbill 2017; Broad 2014;
Shen 2016). For example, McCarthy (2019) feels that women in Russia may be driven to
commit trafficking as a strategy to survive. These women would have been disadvantaged with
other opportunities to earn being closed off or driven as a result of poverty and socioeconomic
deprivation (McCarthy 2019, p. 12). Similarly, Keo (2011) asserts that in Cambodia too
traffickers are pushed to it by their poverty and destitution. Many of them do not have
permanent jobs or homes (Keo 2011, p. 236).
54
Another reason people are tempted to gain money by committing human trafficking is their
desire to maintain a certain lifestyle (Shen 2016; Rijken, Muraszkiewicz & Van de Ven 2015).
This is different from the need to earn money in order to survive, as these traffickers are
committing this crime to maintain a certain level of lifestyle. For example, in explaining why
people become involved in human trafficking in China, Shen (2016) states that consumerism
is a powerful activator for the female traffickers. An individuals’ value, capacity, and social
status in China are increasingly represented by material symbols. The gender impact of this is
remarkable. The consumer goods that are promoted in the media target women in particular,
and their femininity is linked to an ability to have or use top-brand cosmetics and other luxury
items. Thus, the ability to indulge in consumption has become alluring for modern young
Chinese women, and in some cases is also a trigger for criminality (Shen 2016, p. 225). In her
interview with a trafficker in China, Shen shows that the trafficker’s engagement in sex
trafficking has been motivated by the money she earns to buy expensive clothes, bags, and
other luxury goods. In another example, women in their 20s and 30s were able to buy cars and
apartments in the city after working as a mami, one who organises the prostitution of others
(Shen 2016, p. 225). In addition to that, Shen (2016) explains that in China, the women
organising prostitution were driven by a desire to increase their social status and become part
of middle class society, which is often associated with wealth (Shen 2016, p. 225). Here,
managing this large, though illegal, business can help someone to earn the material symbols
and impressive job title that would qualify them as a middle class woman in contemporary
China (Shen 2016, p. 225). A similar situation is also described in the research by Rijken,
Muraszkiewicz and Van de Ven (2015) on human traffickers in Europe. For example, in order
to make consistent profits to sustain their lifestyle, a trafficker in Romania too has to recruit
girls. Even the victims explained that the traffickers liked to have money to spend on cars
(Rijken, Muraszkiewicz & Van de Ven 2015, p. 53).
People also commit trafficking as an easier way of getting money than through a legitimate job
(Rijken, Muraszkiewicz & Van de Ven; Shen 2016). The research by Rijken, Muraszkiewicz
and Van de Ven (2015) describes the participation of people in human trafficking in Romania
as an opportunity to earn money easily by sitting in a train for no more than a few hours (Rijken,
Muraszkiewicz & Van de Ven 2015, p. 54). The people who committed these offenses
normally want to gain money quickly and easily, and in ways that do not require hard work.
Likewise Shen (2016) notes that in China a woman who organised prostitution thought that it
55
was physically easier to do as it was simply ‘taking the prostituted person to the clients’ for
which she would receive 10 yuan per transaction (Shen 2016, p. 225).
Another reason motivating people to traffic others was an interest in acquiring substantial
wealth (Levenkron 2007; Wheaton, Schauer & Galli 2010; Varney 2003; Kara 2011; Shen
2016). When trafficking is considered an organised crime issue, the big profits to be made are
always considered as the main factor behind the involvement of people in this crime. Although
there have been a number of studies that argue that many people participate in this crime only
for their bare survival (e.g. McCarthy 2019; Keo 2011; Levenkron 2007; Asbill 2017; Broad
2014), the motivation to earn big money is still relevant in some cases. One example comes
from Israel where some traffickers engaged in the crime because they wanted to become rich,
although even there others committed these crimes because they were struggling economically
(Levenkron 2007, p. 76).
Many people also become involved in human trafficking crime due to socio-cultural factors.
One of the often overlooked reasons why people commit this crime is because they are
influenced by the intent to help others to get a job or escape from poverty. Various studies have
discovered people involved in trafficking with the intention of helping the victims (e.g. David,
Bryant & Larsen 2019; Rijken, Muraszkiewicz & Van de Ven 2015; Molland 2010; Serie et
al. 2018; Antonopoulos and Winterdyk 2005; Webb & Burrows 2009). By committing
trafficking, some traffickers believe that they doing a favour to the workers by providing them
with food and shelter (David, Bryant & Larsen 2019; Rijken, Muraszkiewicz & Van de Ven
2015; Antonopoulos & Winterdyk 2005; Serie et al. 2018; Molland 2011). In addition, those
well-intentioned traffickers claim that as friends or family members or because of a close
relationship in a social or religious community they wanted to help the victims gain a job
overseas (Rijken, Muraszkiewicz & Van de Ven 2015, p. 57). Helping the victims to realise
their goals and provide labour for much needed occupations in the UK has been seen as a
motive for offenders convicted of human trafficking as to why they facilitated the victim’s
illegal entry to the UK (Webb & Burrows 2009, p. 9).
Traffickers often deny any intention to exploit or that they have committed any exploitation
(Rijken, Muraszkiewicz & Van de Ven 2015; Shively et al. 2017; Molland 2010; Antonopoulos
& Winterdyk 2005). They deny that their action constitutes human trafficking (Shively et al.
2017, p. 18), or they feel that they did not do anything wrong or that they were just pulled by
56
a situation beyond their control (Antonopoulos & Winterdyk 2005, p. 143). A lack of legal
understanding or knowledge on what constitutes human trafficking may lead to people commit
human trafficking offenses without them realising it.
Another factor that leads people to participate in the trafficking of others is support or
inducement from the victims themselves (Rijken, Muraszkiewicz & Van de Ven 2015; Shively
et al. 2017; Serie et al. 2018). Rijken, Muraszkiewicz and Van de Ven (2015), in their study of
human traffickers in a number of countries in Europe, state that in general traffickers show no
regret, guilt, and remorse. They are certain that it happens because of the intention of the
victims themselves, and that the victims consented to everything (Rijken, Muraszkiewicz &
Van de Ven 2015, p. 9). Similarly, confessions from traffickers in Netherlands claim that the
victims chose to do the sexual activity voluntarily. In addition the victims may have asked the
trafficker to enter into an agreement with them (Serie et al. 2018, p. 176). In such a situation,
the trafficker and the victim have voluntarily agreed upon a business arrangement. The
trafficker’s role is to facilitate the outcome in a business-like manner (Serie et al. 2018, p. 175).
There are other additional factors noted that lead people to engage in human trafficking, such
as support from or feeling pressured by family or friends (Shively et al. 2017; Asbill 2017),
and as an antidote to loneliness. For example, in a study of sex trafficking in Bulgaria by Asbill
(2017), the opportunity to participate in sex trafficking primarily come from peer or work
relationships (Asbill 2017, p. ii). Meanwhile, Shen (2016) noted that a women who had reached
50 in China and just retired from her previous job as supervisor of a company chose to operate
a sex service to counter boredom and loneliness, and to maintain her self-worth by doing
‘something useful’ (Shen 2016, p. 226).
This part shows that there are varied reasons why people commit human trafficking and these
are not necessarily driven by economic needs or benefits. Understanding the various reasons
why people commit trafficking is vital for developing effective future programs to prevent
human trafficking. Understanding the motivations and reasons for traffickers committing these
crimes is important for this thesis as it provides a foundation when considering current
information as to why people commit human trafficking. Besides this review helps to show the
similarities or differences in the motivations and other factors involved in people engaging in
human trafficking in Indonesia and elsewhere. An example of differences emerging from this
thesis is that people can also commit trafficking because they want to be seen as a champion
57
(Chapter 7). As well in Indonesia, people are involved in trafficking their children for the sex
industry because a beautiful girl is seen as a source of pride in the family (Chapter 7). These
two factors have not previously been discussed in the current literature on human traffickers.
3.6. Conclusion
The literature review in this chapter focus on several issues that is divided into relevant themes,
namely organised crime networks and human trafficking; the involvement of 'ordinary people';
the role of women and girls; and the motivations and reasons on committing trafficking.
From this chapter, we can see that the characteristics and motivations of people involved in
human trafficking are quite varied. Some people are in human trafficking as part of organised
crime networks, but others work within a loose crime group consisting of a small number of
people, or even work as individuals. This is obviously different from the public assumption
that human trafficking is always associated with the notorious big organised crime networks
that run sophisticated operations. The literature also shows that these are not rare cases because
the people involved are friends, families, or acquaintances of the people they are trafficking.
In trying to reach an understanding of the different characteristics and backgrounds of human
traffickers, it is clearly understood that there are varying reasons and motivations why people
commit trafficking. It was noted that some do it because of a desire for big money, while others
are desperate for just a modest profit. Research has also noted that some people go into
trafficking with good intentions to help others get a job. Some traffickers have even confessed
that they did not realise that what they did was a human trafficking offense. Research on human
traffickers has also noted the significant and increasingly more common role of women in the
trafficking process. Indeed many female traffickers have a past as victims of trafficking before
they become part of the trafficking activity as perpetrators.
These literature also shows that so far there is an absence of studies on the people who are
engaged in human trafficking in Indonesia. Therefore, this thesis aims to figure out the
motivations and perspectives of people involved in human trafficking by studying the situation
in Indonesia, where some of the motivations or perspectives of people committing human
trafficking may be different from those described in the current literature as discussed above.
The next chapter will explain more about the nature of human trafficking in Indonesia, as well
as the current efforts of the Indonesian government to tackle the problem.
58
Chapter 4: Human Trafficking in Indonesia: Nature, Extent and
Current Responses
4.1. Introduction
This chapter aims to offer an overview of the context in which this study was conducted. Thus,
this chapter outlines the nature and extent of human trafficking in Indonesia and describes the
current efforts of the government and other organisations to counter trafficking in the country.
Chapter 2 of this thesis has described the international efforts to deal with human trafficking,
particularly the human rights-based approach to counter human trafficking based on
prevention, prosecution, and protection. This chapter shows how the international policies on
dealing with human trafficking through prevention, prosecution, and protection have been
implemented in the Indonesian context through the adoption of a national anti-trafficking law
(Law 21 Year 2007 on the Eradication of Trafficking in Persons).
To understand the people involved in human trafficking in Indonesia, and the policies made to
prevent trafficking in the country, it is firstly important to understand the nature of human
trafficking in Indonesia. This chapter will discuss first the history of human trafficking and
slavery in Indonesia as they already existed before the Dutch and Japanese occupations. After
discussing the history, this chapter presents information on the current nature and extent of
human trafficking in the country through discussion of the existing forms of trafficking -
trafficking for domestic labour, the sex industry, forced labour (for fishing and plantation
work), marriage trafficking, and organ removal. As explained in the introduction to this thesis,
human trafficking in Indonesia itself has been predominately for domestic labour and the sex
industry. Finally, this chapter presents the current strategies established by the government and
other organisations to minimise the human trafficking problem.
A range of efforts have been made by the government and organisations such as non-
governmental organisations (NGOs), civil society organisations (CSOs), and faith-based
organisations to counter trafficking based on the 3Ps of prevention, prosecution, and protection
(see Chapter 2). However, most of those programs still focus on preventing people from being
trafficked and becoming the victims of trafficking. Although the government and the other
organisations have started to see the need to consider prevention from the perpetrators’ point
of view, and some strategies have been implemented (for instance, raising community
awareness of human trafficking and how people become perpetrators), there is still so much to
59
be done to prevent people from participating in trafficking. Recommendations on further
approaches to prevent people from committing human trafficking in Indonesia are discussed
below in Chapter 8.
The data for discussion in this chapter is taken from articles and other peer-reviewed literature
on Indonesian human trafficking, along with information from Indonesian and international
government reports, reports issued by NGOs and international organisations, and local and
international news reports. The data from the interviews with organisations and lawyers is also
used to strengthen the information given in this chapter.
4.2. Slavery and Human Trafficking during Indonesia’s Colonial Period
In order to understand the nature of human trafficking in Indonesia today, it is important to
firstly consider the history of slavery in the country. As explained in Chapter 2, human
trafficking is a contemporary form of slavery and is often called modern slavery. Slavery was
very common during the colonial period in Indonesia (Minasny 2020). However, there are a
few records showing that slavery has existed in Indonesia since the so-called Age of
Commerce, the period from 1400 – 1700, before the arrival of the Dutch. At that time, many
people submitted themselves to voluntary slavery to pay off debts or to survive after harvest
failure or other calamities (Hanggono 2013). Around 1515, the pirate and sea robbers who were
the dominant power in the area supplied the slave trade across the Lesser Sunda Islands,
Southwestern Sulawesi, the Sumatran coast, and in small areas of Java. Hence, slavery at that
time was mainly in the coastal regions. This system remained constant until the early of
nineteenth century in many parts of Indonesia, except in Java, but even there the number of
slaves was only 1.5 percent of Java’s population (Boomgard 2003, p. 84). There is also
evidence of substantial slavery in the indigenous cities of Aceh, Banten, Batavia (now Jakarta)
and Ambon, where possibly half the population in those cities consisted of slaves (Boomgard
2003, p. 84-85).
Slavery was widespread during the government of the Dutch East India Company or
(Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie or VOC) in Asia. The VOC itself played a role in this
as government, military power, merchant, and agricultural producer. The VOC set in place
systems for the forced relocation and mobilisation of people, and the slave trade was part of
that (Rossum 2020). It was noted by Boomgard (2003) that in Batavia itself, the highest ranking
60
officials within the VOC and the richest people might own around 300 slaves. Even, simple
citizens often used six to ten slaves for a living. Therefore, it is clear that the VOC and its
wealthy officials had a vested interest on the continuation of slavery. It has also been suggested
that as early as 1645 neither the VOC nor the European community could survive without
slaves. Likewise a year later, as noted by Coolhaas et al. (1964), most of the inhabitants of the
colony would have been ruined without slavery (Boomgard 2003, p. 85). The use of slaves
among aristocrats was seen as a way to promote their status rather than for economic utility.
This explains why the owners often failed to provide for their slaves as they should have. It
was reported that around 1600 in Banten many lords were poor because of the many slaves
they hired. The practice of keeping many slaves for pride and as a public display of wealth is
still reflected today in Indonesians hiring domestic workers as a display of status (Boomgard
2003, p. 86). This in turn also affects the phenomenon of trafficking for domestic labour in
contemporary Indonesia.
The practice of coerced cash crop production started in West Java in 1720 when the VOC
implemented the ‘Priangan system’ for coffee production. This complex network of forced
labour was expanded into the so-called cultivation system from 1830 to 1870 (Bosma 2019, p.
127). This ‘Culture System’ (Dutch: Cultuurstelsel) was implemented in Java and other parts
of Indonesia. Under this system, Indonesian farmers were forced to give a part of their land to
the government and work on growing cash crops, such as coffee, sugar, pepper, tobacco, and
indigo, as the farmers’ way of paying tax to the Dutch government (Silaen & Smark 2006, p.
1). This system brought an enormous expansion to the state-controlled commodity exports
grown by a massive number of Javanese peasant workers and created wealth for the Dutch
government (van Dissel 2015, p. 49). Coerced coffee from Priangan in West Java made up 77
percent of the Dutch East Indies export revenues (Li, Pelletier & Sangadji 2016, p. 598), and
in 1836, around 65 percent of all households in Priangan and 38 percent of households across
Java were sent as forced labour to the coffee plantations or sugar plantations. Forced sugar
production was finally abolished in 1870, but it was not until 1917 that the plantation workers
in Priangan were freed from their compulsory quotas (Li, Pelletier & Sangadji 2016, p. 599).
Elsewhere colonial plantations started in Sumatra around 1860. At that time, the predominant
crop was tobacco until rubber became established around 1910. Palm oil was also introduced
around 1910 but only became well established as a plantation crop in the 1930s, since when it
has continued to expand quickly, replacing rubber as the major crop around 1965. Many
61
Sumatrans were reluctant to become peasant workers as they did not have access to their own
lands. Therefore, the main workforce was recruited from China and Java as contract labourers
on a three year contract. By 1902, these ‘contract coolies’ amounted to around 94,000 and were
supplemented by around 4000 free workers. Dutch authorities argued that the contract workers
had signed the contract ‘freely’ and hence those workers had to abide by it. In fact, the workers
were free to enter but could not leave their job. In cases where the workers made “mistakes”,
such as the failure to show respect, insufficient effort, or an attempt to revolt, the workers were
liable to a range of punishments including flogging, imprisonment, or even death by hanging
(Li 2017, p. 253).
The story of slavery in Indonesia cannot be separated from the history of the thousands of
Javanese who built a highway under the Dutch governor, Daendels, in 1808-1811. The
highway, called Jalan Raya Pos, the Great Post Road, stretched around 1000 km through the
coastal area of Java. Many people were subjected to forced labour to work on this massive
project, and thousands of workers died during their labour because of disease and famine. The
main reason for building this highway was as part of the defenses against an anticipated British
invasion. However, there was also an economic motive, since its value for the transportation
of goods is undeniable (Ahmady et al. 2010, p. 48-49). In 1822, the slave trade was banned in
those areas of Indonesia under direct control from Europe, and it was officially abolished across
all Indonesia in 1860. However, the practice still survived in many regions until at least 1940
(Boomgard 2003, p. 83).
During the Dutch colonial period, many women were also enslaved sexually. The existing
slavery system and concubinage were adapted to fulfil the needs of the European communities
around the ports in Indonesia, with the sexual demands of soldiers, traders, and envoys
becoming a priority issue. The large number of single men sent from Europe to the Dutch East
Indies, modern day Indonesia, as Dutch government or business representatives produced a
great demand for sexual services. This situation has been described as being well received by
Indonesian families who were ready to ‘sell’ their daughters or relatives (Hull 2017, p. 67).
The expansion of plantations in West Java and the sugar industry in Central and East Java
created a demand there for sex services for the European workers. Those workers would
normally visit the nearest villages in search of sexual gratification, which drew the young girls
into prostitution. As discussed later in the chapter, this historical pattern has affected the growth
of prostitution and red light district complexes in modern Indonesia (Hull 2017, p. 69-70).
62
Indonesian history sees early 1942 as a moment of sudden and irreversible change and the end
of Dutch colonial rule (Sato 2006, p. 226). In that year on the 10th of January, the Japanese
invasion of the Dutch Indies began (Sato 2006, p. 227). During the Second World War, Japan
recruited labourers from across Southeast Asia as a part of its mission to set up the Greater East
Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, a group of Asian nations led by Japan that was free from Western
influence. As the war in the Far East progressed, the demands to support the Japanese economy
increased. This situation drove the Japanese military administration to look to their Indonesian
territories to support the war effort. The island of Java was considered a source of plentiful and
cheap labour, to work as labourers along with Malays, Tamils, and Koreans. Those Javanese
workers were called ‘romusha’, a Japanese term for a low-skilled worker. Millions of romusha
experienced brutal labour regimes, unsanitary living conditions, frequent punishment, and lack
of medical care. Approximately 10 million romusha were recruited, although not all of them
were employed for a long period, but more than 300,000 of them were transported out of Java
to provide their labour. The conditions for romusha during the Sumatra railway construction
project were particularly harsh and it is estimated that around 80 percent of the 100,000
romusha on this project died. When the war ended and the workers returned to Java, the extent
of the uncounted casualties was revealed (Oliver 2017, p. 272-273).
The Japanese occupation of Indonesia during World War 2 is also connected with the
phenomenon of ‘comfort women’. From 1942 to 1945, Indonesian women were taken into
sexual slavery often with a false promise that they would be performers, or receive special
training or education in other places. Some of them were sent to distant locations within
Indonesia while others were transported to other countries to become sex slaves (McGregor
2016, p. 69). The Japanese army established ‘comfort stations,’ (brothels) around the
battlefields to supply the soldiers with ‘comfort women’. The policy of ‘comfort stations’ was
introduced in an attempt to prevent impromptu mass rapes and sexually transmitted diseases
(Yoko 1999, p. 54). An estimated 22,000 local women were sexually enslaved by the Japanese
soldiers and together with around 200-300 Dutch descendants were recruited into forced
military prostitution (McGregor & Mackie 2016, p. 6). Although many Indonesian women
became sex slaves during the times of Dutch and Japanese colonialism, the history of
prostitution in Indonesia can be traced back further to around the 1700s when such women
were a vital part of the feudal system. The extent of a king’s power was represented in part by
the number of selir or concubines that he had. Many women from poor family were handed
63
over by their families to the king to become his concubines and thus have a minor position
within the royal family. Each Javanese court would select its concubines from regions that were
well known for their beautiful women (Hull 2017, p. 66).
From this section, we can see the steady progression in the history and development of slavery
and human trafficking in Indonesia since the occupation of Indonesia by the Dutch and
Japanese. By knowing the history of slavery in Indonesia, we have a better understanding of
the problems of human trafficking in Indonesia today. These include a culture cultivated by the
Dutch of having domestic workers in their homes that, as noted above, still influences many
Indonesian families to see the employment of domestic workers as a status symbol today and
brings many Indonesians to work as domestic workers in Indonesia and abroad. Likewise, the
historical demand for sex services for Dutch soldiers in the plantation area in West Java also
continues to influence the present prevalence of prostitution and sex trafficking in West Java.
In the same way human trafficking in the plantation sector nowadays has its roots in the forced
labour practices in the plantations during colonial times. The section below discusses the nature
and the extent of the human trafficking problem in Indonesia today.
4.3. Contemporary Human Trafficking in Indonesia
As explained in the section above, the practice of slavery and human trafficking in Indonesia
has existed since the Age of Commerce in the 15th century. The practice of slavery was then
strongly reinforced during the Dutch and Japanese colonial periods until the independence of
Indonesia in 1945. Although the Dutch abolished slavery in the East Indies in 1859, the practice
of forced labour was still ongoing. In the colonial context, various forms of unfree labour
continued to dominate during the 19th century (Van Kessel 2009, p. 55). The practice of forced
labour has remained alive up to the present day, with many Indonesians, men and women,
subject to forced labour and debt bondage within Indonesia or overseas.
According to the US Trafficking in Persons report in 2019, each of Indonesia’s 34 provinces
is both a sender and a destination of human trafficking (US DOS 2019, p. 243). Indonesia is a
major source and to a lesser extent the transit and destination country for men, women, and
children, especially for those in forced labour and the sex industry (US DOS 2018, p. 228). A
large number of Indonesian trafficking victims were reported as being subject to exploitation,
including sexual and labour exploitation either in the sex and non-sex labour contexts
64
(Lyneham & Larsen 2013, p. 1-2). Beside those trafficked domestically (inside Indonesia), the
victims of trafficking were trafficked and exploited in neighbouring countries such as Malaysia
and Singapore, and also in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Middle Eastern countries (Farhana 2018,
p. 241). The majority of women were trafficked for domestic labour and the sex industry,
meanwhile men were subject to forced labour in the plantation, fisheries, and construction
industries. Child trafficking for sexual purposes is also rampant in the country, including in the
tourist areas (Lyneham & Larsen 2013; US DOS 2020). The main forms of human trafficking
in Indonesia are explained in the subsections below.
4.3.1. Human Trafficking for Domestic Labour
Lyons (2005) noted that the increase of feminisation of transnational migration in the Southeast
Asia region is correlated with the labour movements in the domestic services sector from
countries such as Indonesia, Philippines, Burma, Thailand, and Malaysia (Lyons 2005, p. 2).
Indonesia is the country with the highest rate of migrant labour abroad, with the majority of
them females working as unskilled domestic workers (Andrevski & Lyneham 2014, p. 2). Since
the early 2000s, hundreds of thousands of Indonesian women have left their village to work in
the domestic sector within Indonesia, and also in other countries such as Singapore, Malaysia,
Taiwan, Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries. The Central Bank of
the Republic of Indonesia (Bank Indonesia) in 2009 noted that in 2007 women made up to 79%
of Indonesian workers overseas, with the majority of them working in the domestic labour
industry (Elias & Louth 2016, p. 835). Malaysia is the most popular destination. Between 2006
to 2016 around two and a half million Indonesian women went to Malaysia to work in domestic
labour, even though the Indonesian government placed a ban on migration to Malaysia for
domestic labour jobs between 2009 to 2011 (Killias 2018, p. 5). Indonesia imposed a
moratorium on sending domestic workers to Malaysia in July 2009 following an incident with
an Indonesian domestic worker in Malaysia, Siti Hajar, who experienced horrendous physical
abuse by her employer (Austin 2017, p. 266). The moratorium brought the desired effect, in
that domestic worker arrivals from Indonesia fell to only 200 per month in early 2011, down
from around 1000 per month before the restriction. The result was thousands of Malaysian
families on a long waiting list for domestic workers (Elias & Louth 2016, p. 836). However,
this policy is seen as ineffective. It is claimed that a policy of restrictions on Indonesian maids
working overseas will increase the risk of trafficking as it will increase the number of illegal
65
migrants to Malaysia and prevent the workers from having appropriate legal protection in their
origin and destination countries (Zweynert 2015).
Becoming a domestic helper is seen as one of the easiest ways for village girls in Indonesia to
get work with their low level of education and lack of marketable skills. Teenage girls from
some villages in Java, if they are not married immediately, choose to work in the bigger cities
or neighbouring countries as domestic helpers (Sutinah & Kinuthia 2019, p. 100). It is
estimated that only 38 percent of these girls have completed junior high school, and another 32
percent have only completed primary school (BP2TKI 2015; Fanany & Fanany 2017). In these
circumstances the opportunity to gain a higher income in the expectation of being able to buy
land or start a small business in the future is motivation for these women to work as domestic
workers overseas (Fanany & Fanany 2017, p. 50). While some domestic workers have good
experiences and are able to return home with the desired earnings, there are many cases where
this does not happen. There is always great potential for problems among domestic workers,
given they are isolated in their employer’s homes and do not have any outside support or
protection (Surtees 2003, p. 100). The data from IOM reveals significant levels of abuse among
victims of human trafficking as domestic workers in Malaysia, with 91 percent of workers
reporting that their freedom of movement was denied and only 3 percent saying that they were
allowed freedom of movement. In addition 94 percent of workers stated that they had excessive
working hours, and 85 percent of them said that their salary had been retained (Andrevski &
Lyneham 2014, p. 1).
To work as a migrant worker abroad, the would-be Indonesian migrant uses the services of
brokers in their village to get in touch with a government recruitment agency. The brokers
provide loans to pay for transport to Jakarta and to arrange the required documents. By needing
the brokers to connect to the government agency and borrowing money, the migrant workers
are tied to the brokers (Kloppenburg & Peters 2012, p. 532). The Trafficking in Persons Report
mentions that the government recruitment agencies operate similarly to trafficking rings as they
falsify birth dates and other identity documents (US DOS 2009; Palmer 2012). The recruiters
too falsify migrant workers’ information, such as age, address, and family background (Surtees
2003, p 103). The undocumented status of domestic workers then makes them vulnerable to
abuse and exploitation. Both employers and agents know that the workers would find things
difficult and be at risk of deportation and so the workers do not have enough courage to seek
66
assistance in times of difficulty due to the fear of arrest, penalties, and deportation (Surtees
2003, p. 101).
The US Government also criticises the actions of the agencies in holding the prospective
domestic workers in a ‘training centre’ that restricts their movements. The agencies also impose
a salary deduction after the workers start work in the destination countries to recoup the costs
of preparing them and transporting them overseas, which leads to debt bondage and further
exploitation in the destination countries (Palmer 2012, p. 129). Killias (2018) also states that
from the moment a woman enters the recruitment agency in Jakarta she is cut off from her
social networks and when they are in their destination country (such as Malaysia) they are not
allowed to contact their friends and kin, as the agencies claimed that contact with other
Indonesians in Malaysia is a source of bad influence and enables them to run away (Killias
2018, p. 20).
Understanding the process and the chain of potential problems that starts right from the village
and the initial recruitment process has enabled us to understand the extent of the problem of
human trafficking in Indonesia for domestic labour. It also enables us to see the range of people
involved in this trafficking, the recruiters, the agencies, and even the employers who benefit
from cooperating with the agencies. This section has also shown some of the recruitment and
control mechanisms used by the traffickers, which is useful background when seeking later to
examine in greater detail the characteristics and motives of people involved in trafficking in
domestic labour in Chapters 6 and 7.
The next section considers the nature and extent of human trafficking in the sex industry in
Indonesia.
4.3.2. Human Trafficking for the Sex Industry
Another prominent form of trafficking in Indonesia is human trafficking for the sex industry.
Again trafficking for sexual exploitation or the sex industry in Indonesia happens both inside
the country and abroad. According to the Trafficking in Persons Report in 2020, women and
girls in Indonesia are subjected to trafficking for the sex industry in the mining areas in the
provinces of Maluku, Papua, and Jambi (US DOS 2020, p. 261). Sutinah & Kinuthia (2019)
and Wicaksono (2015) noted that West Java, West Kalimantan, and East Java are the areas that
67
most prone to the trafficking of women and children. Further, Sutinah & Kinuthia (2019) also
explain that the trafficking victims were sent to the bigger cities in Java, such as Jakarta,
Surabaya, Bandung, Malang, and Pasuruan, and to other provinces that are well known sex
industry spots, such as Batam, Kepulauan Riau, Medan and Tanjung Karimun (Sutinah &
Kinuthia 2019, p. 99). Ford & Lyons (2008) considered the Riau Islands as a key hub for human
trafficking in Southeast Asia, as the location is strategically close to Singapore and Malaysia
(Ford & Lyons 2008, p. 175). Women trafficked for the sex industry in the Riau Islands come
from places across Indonesia, but especially from West Java (Ford & Lyons 2008, p. 176).
They are brought into the sex industry by the promise of good jobs in factories or restaurants
(Ford & Lyons 2008; Agustinanto 2003).
The US TIP Report (2020) also confirmed that child sex tourism is prevalent in the Riau
Islands. Bali too has become a destination for child sex tourism (US DOS 2020, p. 261). The
Directorate General of Tourist Destination Development within the Ministry for Culture and
Tourism of the Republic of Indonesia states that more than 13,703 children have been the
victims of sex trafficking in the period 1972 - 2008 in tourist destinations in six provinces -
West Java, East Java, Central Java, Riau Islands, Bali, and West Nusa Tenggara. Child
trafficking for sexual exploitation can be found in every province, but child prostitution and
pornography are found especially in the city of Semarang (Central Java) and Indramayu (West
Java) (ECPAT 2011). As noted by Dasgupta et al. (2006), women and girls from Indonesia
were also sent overseas to work in the sex industry in places such as Malaysia, Singapore, and
Japan. The women and girls were tricked into the work in Malaysia or Singapore under false
expectations of work as a singer at the restaurant, waitress, hostess or maid. Likewise those
going to Japan were deceived by the promise of work as a traditional dancer or cultural
ambassador, but were then forced to provide sexual services (Dasgupta et al. 2006, p. 33).
Up to 30 percent of those in sex industry in Indonesia were underage children when they
became the victims of trafficking. The traffickers use online media to recruit their victims. It is
reported that in 2017 there were around 70,000 to 80,000 victims of child sex trafficking in
Indonesia (US DOS 2020, p. 261). The ages of women and young girls who were trafficked
into the sex industry ranged from 14 to 25 years old. In the sex industry in Indonesia, the
younger the girls, the more they are preferred by the customers. Hence, the pimps and recruiters
seek out underage girls already employed in bars or cafés, massage parlors and beauty salons
(Sutinah & Kinuthia 2019, p. 99).
68
Rosenberg (2003) documents cases in Indonesia where women and girls leaving their villages
for the big cities to find a better job would be caught within a network of traffickers, for instance
by a taxi driver offering them a lucrative job but who then brought them to a brothel where
they would be forced to stay and work. In other situations parents in areas such as Java played
a big role in putting their own children into the sex industry (Rosenberg 2003, p. 19). When
parts of Indonesia are affected by a natural disaster, the children there are also more susceptible
to sex trafficking (US DOS 2020, p. 261). It is not difficult for brokers to entice the victims to
work in other cities overseas. It is likely that many girls from poor families accept these offers
to help their families. The promise of a high salary when added to the victim’s precarious
economic situation where their parents may be heavily in debt makes it easy for the traffickers
to lure their victims (Sutinah & Kinuthia 2019, p. 98). Traffickers in Indonesia also often offer
loans to convince women and girls to enter the sex industry (US DOS 2020, p. 261). The debt
incurred can then be used by the traffickers to control their victims and prevent them from
seeking to return home from overseas (Surtees 2017, p. 121). In these cases of debt bondage,
the victims of trafficking normally pay back only a percentage or even nothing in the early
days of recruitment, but the debt then keeps being added to for the rest of their overseas stay.
This situation creates debt bondage and situations where they are easily exploited (Ford, Lyons
& Schendel 2012). In other situations, the traffickers use young men to attract the victims where
a young man is sent to go for a date with the potential victim as part of preparing them for
trafficking (Sutinah & Kinuthia 2019, p. 98).
Since 2014 it has been government policy to shut down the sex industry sites in Indonesia, so
many traditional prostitution sites have turned into online businesses with social media
platforms like Facebook used as a way to attract customers. These online sex service businesses
have become a serious issue that entangles many young women and girls. The Indonesian
police have admitted that these online sex services are a problem that is not easy to solve.
Although the business itself can be traced and shut down, it is difficult to stop new businesses
starting up. It is noteworthy that poverty does not seem to be the major driver pushing women
to work for these online sex services, as many of the prostituted women have been identified
as coming from middle to upper-income families. Indeed easy income to support their lifestyle
has been seen as a bigger factor in their participation (Milda & Kristiyanto 2016, p. 252-253).
69
Understanding the context of human trafficking for the sex industry in Indonesia enables us to
see where trafficking for the sex industry happens, who the perpetrators are, and how the
victims are recruited. This background information gives us a picture to be used in
understanding the characteristics and motives of the people involved in human trafficking for
the sex industry, as discussed below in Chapters 6 and 7, as well as what needs to be done to
prevent people becoming involved as traffickers in this area, a topic that will be further
explored in Chapter 8.
4.3.3. Other Forms of Human Trafficking
In addition to trafficking for domestic labour and the sex industry, there are several other
contexts for human trafficking in Indonesia. These include forced labour for plantations and
fisheries, forced marriage, and trafficking for organ removal. This section will briefly discuss
those other kinds of human trafficking, although the numbers involved are not as great as in
trafficking for domestic labour and the sex industry. Again however understanding the picture
of the various forms of human trafficking in Indonesia allows us to see the problem of human
trafficking in this country from a larger perspective. It also enables us to see that the various
actors involved in human trafficking are different in each form of trafficking.
A common use of forced labour in the plantation sector in Indonesia happens in palm oil
plantations. Since the New Order regime came to power, Indonesia has invested heavily in the
palm oil plantations. However, the palm oil plantations in Sabah, Malaysia, in the north of
Kalimantan have become a favourite destination for low-skilled Indonesian migrant workers.
Hence many illegal workers from Indonesia are sent there along the western corridor via Batam
and Entikong, or on the eastern corridor via Nunukan from South Sulawesi (Syailendrawati,
Marcoes & Sirimorok 2017, p. 15-16). Trafficking for palm oil plantations also happens inside
Indonesia. Palm oil plantations are mainly cultivated by big foreign companies as their scale
of operation needs large inputs of capital and labour (Jiwan 2012, p. 51). Amnesty International
(2016) noted that some of these corporates set work targets for the workers which make them
work long hours or else their wages will be cut. In many cases, to meet these targets, to earn
bonuses and avoid penalties, the workers ask the assistance of spouses, children and other
relatives to complete the tasks (Amnesty International 2016, p. 6). Some NGOs report that
around 50 percent of workers are casual labourers who handle multiple jobs from managing
the harvest to tending the oil palms. Those workers lack health care and other benefits and
70
receive minimal wages. They are also employed for many years without promotion to the status
of permanent worker (Neme 2016).
Another common form of forced labour in Indonesia is forced labour in the fishing industry.
In 2015, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) estimated that almost 1,200 people
are working in slave-like conditions on boats in Eastern Indonesia (Palmer 2018, p. 56). The
victims of trafficking for the fishing industry around Benjina, Maluku, Aru Island and Ambon
Island come from other Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, and
Lao PDR (IOM, Indonesian Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries and Coventry University
2016; Chapsos & Hamilton 2018). Monitoring those working on the fishing boats is a
challenging task as they operate at sea on vessels in isolated conditions for extended periods
of time far in both distance and time from possible observation. However, in recent years the
Indonesian government has made significant efforts to strengthen the regulations to improve
the working conditions on the fishing vessels, as well as combatting illegal, unregulated, and
unreported fishing in Indonesian waters (ILO 2017). The way these companies conduct their
recruitment involves a great extent of organisation. The fishermen from Myanmar, Cambodia,
Laos, and Thailand were recruited in their villages. They were informed that they would work
in the fishing industry and they were given the false expectation that their jobs would be easy
with no need for special skills apart from their physical strength. Further, they were lied to by
being told that it would be easy for them to save some money (Chapsos & Hamilton 2018, p.
263). In 2015, the Indonesian government strengthened its ban on illegal fishing and took
action again the use of foreign vessels in Indonesian territory. After that foreign fishermen
should no longer be found in the Indonesian fishing industry, and only domestic (Indonesian)
fishermen remain. The majority of these come from the north coast of Java (Jones, Visser &
Simic 2019, p. 111). Those domestic fishermen are usually recruited in one of three ways,
either through kinship networks, as ‘walk-up’ labour by recruiting men around the ports, and
by using intermediaries or ‘calo’ (Jones, Visser & Simic 2019, p. 113-114).
We can see the extent of exploitation of Indonesian and foreign nationals working in vessels
in Indonesian waters, and it is safe to say that it was a huge problem, especially in the case
uncovered at Benjina in 2015. This is different from the problem of human trafficking for
domestic labour and sex industry in which many Indonesians became the trafficked people, in
that this issue brings out people from other countries as the victims. As also noted by Chapsos
and Hamilton (2018), trafficking in the Indonesian fishing industry involved a high degree of
71
the organisation from organised crime groups (Chapsos & Hamilton 2018, p. 263). This
example teaches us that there are different kinds of traffickers in Indonesia depending on the
form of human trafficking, which in turn means that we cannot generalise or equate the
characteristics of human trafficking perpetrators in the country. However the number of cases
of human trafficking in the fishing industry are generally not as many and not as frequent as
those for domestic labour and the sex industry. That is the reason why this thesis concentrates
on the people involved in trafficking for the sex industry and domestic labour.
According to the definition of human trafficking based on Trafficking Protocol and Indonesian
anti-trafficking law, one of the trafficking elements is the use of force. The Indonesian anti-
trafficking law (Law 21/2007) mentions force as a:
Any unlawful act, with or without the use of an instrument, against the physical and psychological
aspect of a person that threatens the life or body, or causes the deprivation of such person’s freedom
(Law 21/2007, art. 1 (11)).
Hence, through this definition, forced marriage is classified as a form of human trafficking.
UNICEF Indonesia reports that in 2012 approximately 1,349,000 girls married before turning
18, and around 300,000 before the age of 16 (UNICEF Indonesia 2016, p. 1). Windiarti and
Besral (2018) note that the prevalence of early marriage in Indonesia has actually declined in
recent decades but the country still has one of the highest rates of early marriage in the East
Asia and Pacific region (Windiarti & Besral 2018, p. 288). Misra and Rosenberg (2003) explain
that arranged marriages are part of cultural tradition in Indonesia. The tradition of arranged
marriages appears to serve different purposes in different Indonesian cultures - ensuring the
girls are married young (at the beginning of puberty), reducing the burden on the family,
earning a bride price, or building family connections (Misra & Rosenberg 2003, p. 104). Grijns
and Horii (2018) also document that in the rural areas of Java most child marriage is driven by
fear of premarital sexual relationships or zinah, as it is termed by the Indonesian Islamic
population. Marriage is seen as a solution to prevent the birth of a child out of wedlock, as
abortion is forbidden by law and access to contraception is restricted for unmarried couples
(Grijns & Horii 2018, p. 457-458).
There are many cases in some parts of Indonesia where the bride did not have a lot of choice
in the marriage and often the girls were not even aware that their marriage was under
negotiation (Rosenberg 2003, p. 105). Besides the cases of child marriage, women and girls in
Indonesia were also trafficked for transnational arranged marriages. Sutinah and Kinuthia
72
(2019) noted that a small number of women from various parts of East Java were encouraged
through subtle methods that amount to trafficking to marry foreigners and move overseas. In
some cases, those women and girls were then physically abused by their husband overseas
(Sutinah & Kinuthia 2019, p. 99). The phenomenon of mail order brides also exists in
Indonesia. Mail order brides describes the situation when a woman is ordered over the internet
through a broker to be married to a man in a foreign country for a fee (Meshelemiah & Lynch
2019, p. 186). In 2019 and 2020, the Indonesian newspapers reported cases of Indonesian bride
trafficking to China. In June 2019, Lembaga Bantuan Hukum Jakarta (the Jakarta Legal Aid
Institute) conducted a press conference on this issue with the example of 13 women from
Sanggau, West Kalimantan and 16 women from West Java who had become victims of
marriage trafficking. Those women were recruited and transported to China to be married to
men there. Once the victims married in China, they were exploited and were forced to work
long hours in factories. Back at home they were required to carry out the domestic work and
make handicrafts for sale. All of their salaries and profits were taken by their husband and their
husband’s family (LBH Jakarta 2019). Although the issue of mail order brides from Indonesia
has become a popular topic lately, this practice has been happening for many years now (AS,
Yuliastini & Setiawati 2020, p. 71).
Lastly, trafficking in Indonesia also happens in the form of organ trafficking. Although this
form of trafficking is not as common as the other types of trafficking mentioned above, there
is some evidence of organ trafficking in some places in Indonesia. International media have
reported this type of trafficking crime happening in some villages in West Java (Vaessen 2016;
Hawley, Prihantari & Guilianno 2016; Sofwan 2016). The lure of 75 million rupiah or around
US$5200 had convinced some people there to sacrifice their kidney. One of the underlying
reasons for their action was the need of money to pay off debt (Vaessen 2016; Hawley,
Prihantari & Guilianno 2016). An Indonesia media outlet reported that there are three modes
used by perpetrators to deceive a victim and thus turn this into organ trafficking rather than a
commercial transaction. First, the perpetrator tricked the victims into a situation where they
could then be forced to give their organs. In this case, the victims did not agree to sell their
organs. Second, the victim informally or formally agreed to sell part of their body, but the
perpetrator did not pay the agreed amount of money. Third, the perpetrator pretended that
removing the organ was done to cure the victim. The victims might actually be ill at this point
or the perpetrator might have deceived them into thinking that they were ill. In that situation
the victims’ organ was stolen without them knowing (Sofwan 2016). It is difficult to investigate
73
and address cases of organ trafficking in Indonesia. These cases normally involve hospitals and
doctors where the operational space is not open to public and the professionals are protected
by ethical codes that are difficult to understand by society at large (Harkrisnowo 2003, p. 84).
The next section outlines the response from government and other organisations to the human
trafficking problem in Indonesia.
4.4. Responses to Human Trafficking in Indonesia
The government of Indonesia realises that human trafficking in Indonesia is a substantial
problem and has instituted some policies to address this problem. The Indonesian government
considers human trafficking, especially of women and children, as a crime that violates human
dignity and human rights, which therefore should be eliminated. The desire to prevent and
counter trafficking is also based on Indonesia’s national and international commitments to
undertake measures to prevent trafficking, prosecute the traffickers, protect the trafficking
victims, and enhance cooperation against trafficking (Law 21/2007, preamble). Indonesia as a
state is a party to the UN Trafficking Protocol. The Indonesian government therefore has been
taking measures to respond to human trafficking in its jurisdiction in accordance with the
internationally accepted standards. In 2007 the Indonesian government adopted an anti-
trafficking law (Law no. 21 / 2007) (Kosandi et al. 2017, p. 241). This law forms the
centrepiece of efforts by the Indonesian government and other organisations to eliminate
trafficking. These efforts are described below.
4.4.1. Indonesia’s Anti-Trafficking Regulations and the National Anti-Trafficking Task
Force
The Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and
Children, which is a supplement to the United Nations Convention against Transnational
Organised Crime, was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 15 November
2000. The government of Indonesia then signed the protocol on 12 December 2000, and ratified
it nine years later on 28 September 2009. In 2002, the Indonesian legislature passed law number
23 year 2002 on the Protection of Children, and the President issued Decree number 88 year
2002 on the National Plan to Eradicate Trafficking in Women and Children. This decision was
taken after Indonesia was placed in Tier 3 in the annual Trafficking in Persons report issued by
the US State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons for not
74
complying with the minimum standards to counter trafficking. Again in 2006, Indonesia was
placed on the Tier 2 Watch List as it failed to provide any evidence of increasing its efforts to
counter trafficking. The chair of the Indonesia Parliament (Department Perwakilan Rakyat)
reacted by asking the president to appoint a minister to represent cabinet in the effort to
formulate an anti-trafficking law as soon as possible (Palmer 2012, p. 150).
Around the same time, representations from women's groups and communities who were
concerned with the trafficking issue led Indonesia’s Parliament (Department Perwakilan
Rakyat) to conduct hearings which led to the creation of anti-trafficking bill. A special
committee was then established to produce a draft bill for the government to review. The
Ministry of Women’s Empowerment then established a team and created a network to work
with the communities. A series of meetings attended by relevant ministries, law enforcement
agencies, community organisations, and international organisations were conducted to further
develop the bill. Some of the focus in development of the law was to decide a definition of
human trafficking in accordance with the UN Trafficking Protocol, as well as to pay some
attention to the content related to the forms of exploitation, victim protection, and international
cooperation.
The law was finally ratified in 2007 by the former Indonesian President Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono after a long negotiation process as Law of the Republic of Indonesia number 21/
2007 on the Eradication of the Criminal Act of Trafficking in Persons (IOM 2009, p. 19). The
legislation was created to meet Indonesia’s national and international commitments to
undertake efforts in countering trafficking through a human rights-based approach by
preventing trafficking, prosecuting the perpetrators, protecting the victims, and enhancing
broader collaboration (Law 21/2007, preamble). This definition of human trafficking as
described by this legislation:
Trafficking in Persons shall mean the recruitment, transportation, harbouring, sending, transfer, or
receipt of a person by means of threat or use of force, abduction, incarceration, fraud, deception, the
abuse of power or a position of vulnerability, debt bondage or the giving or receiving of payments
or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, whether
committed within the country or cross-border, for the purpose of exploitation or which causes the
exploitation of a person (Law 21/2007, art. 1 (1)).
In addition, the legislation also mentions that:
The Criminal Act of Trafficking in Persons shall mean any crime or series of crimes which meet
the qualifications set out in this Law (Law 21/2007, art. 1 (2)).
The legislation futher explains the definition of exploitation:
75
Exploitation shall mean an act committed with or without the consent of the victim which includes
but is not limited to prostitution, forced labour or service, slavery or practices similar to slavery,
repression, physical abuse, sexual abuse, abuse of the reproductive organs, or the illegal transfer or
transplantation of body organs or the use of another persons’ labour or ability for one’s own material
or immaterial profit (Law 21/2007, art. 1 (7)).
According to this legislation, anyone who participates in human trafficking shall be punished
by a prison sentence of between three and fifteen years and a fine between 120,000,000 and
600,000,000 rupiah (Law 21/2007, Art. 2). Before 2007, only trafficking in women and male
minors was punishable under Indonesian law. This situation was in line with the trend in
Southeast Asia where trafficking was only seen as a crime against women and children, or for
those who participated in the sex industry (Palmer 2012, p. 150).
Based on the Presidential Decree number 69 year 2008 the Indonesian government established
Gugus Tugas Pencegahan dan Penanganan Tindak Pidana Perdagangan Orang, the National
Anti-Trafficking Task Force of Indonesia. The Task force works at national, provincial and
district level. The Central Task Force for the Prevention and Control of Human Trafficking
which later was simply called the central task force, is a coordinating institution that was given
the task of coordinating at national level the efforts to prevent and control human trafficking.
Under the central task force, a provincial task force was established in each province to
coordinate the efforts of prevention and control human trafficking at provincial level. Likewise
a city/district task force was also established to coordinate the efforts of prevention and control
at city or district level (Presidential Decree number 69/2008, art. 1).
The central task force has a range of responsibilities: coordinating efforts to control human
trafficking; advocating about human trafficking, raising awareness and training; taking the lead
in internal and international cooperation; overseeing the development of victim protection
programs for rehabilitation, return, and social reintegration; monitoring the implementation of
law enforcement; and reporting and evaluation (Presidential Decree number 69/2008, art. 4).
The central task force is led by the Indonesian government ministers responsible for the
trafficking issue. The membership of the central task force is made up of representatives of
government, law enforcement, civic organisations, non-governmental organisations,
professional organisations, and researchers/academics (Presidential Decree number 69/2008,
art. 7).
76
A provincial task force works under the control of a provincial governor, while a city or district
task force works under the control of the mayor or regent (Presidential Decree number 69/2008,
Part. 3, art. 12 – 13). To ensure the synergy and sustainability of the efforts to counter
trafficking, the central task force, the provincial task forces, and city or district task forces
coordinate and work in direct cooperation with related institutions and other related parties to
create policies, programs and activities based on the National and District Action Plans
(Presidential Decree number 69/2008, art. 15). However, to date not every province and city
or district has established a task force. Moreover the task forces that do already exist in the
cities or districts in many cases do not work optimally and encounter issues that challenge and
hamper their efficiency (Regulation of Indonesian Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and
Child Protection (MEWCP) number 10/2012).
Further explanation of how human trafficking policies are implemented in Indonesia,
especially in relation to the 3Ps of prevention, prosecution, and protection, is given in the next
section.
4.4.2. Implementation of the 3Ps (Prevention, Prosecution, and Protection) in Indonesia
Chapter 2 of this thesis outlined the international efforts to counter trafficking. As explained
there, current international measures to combat trafficking are focused on a human rights-based
approach called the 3Ps which encourages states party to the UN Trafficking Protocol to
prevent trafficking by investigating and prosecuting the offense, as well as protecting the
victims (UN Trafficking Protocol 2000, art. 4). In following the mandate of the UN Trafficking
Protocol, the government of Indonesia has applied the strategies in accordance with the 3Ps
framework as follows:
1. Prevention
The government of Indonesia has attempted to prevent human trafficking mostly through
campaigns to raise awareness of the threat trafficking poses to society. The government has
also worked in cooperation and come to formal agreements with destination countries such as
Malaysia and Saudi Arabia to prevent exploitation and minimise trafficking for domestic
labour. Among other activities, the government has also closed down redlight districts to
eliminate trafficking for the sex industry.
77
Through initiatives started under the earlier 2007 form of Indonesia's anti-trafficking
legislation, the government has continued to work with NGOs and international organisations
to raise awareness to prevent trafficking. The Indonesian government has also given pre-
deployment training on sexual exploitation and human trafficking for the Indonesian security
forces who participated in peacekeeping tasks overseas (US DOS 2008, p. 143). The Ministry
of Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection Indonesia, also started to conduct anti-
trafficking outreach education in 2008 (US DOS 2009, p 161) and standardised the reporting
mechanism for violence against children and women (KEMENPPPA 2018, p. 15). Some other
Indonesian ministries have also created programs to prevent human trafficking in Indonesia.
For example, the Ministry of Culture and Education conducted awareness training to increase
the capacity of local leaders in some areas of Indonesia while the Ministry of Communication
and Information Technology conducted some training for local entities on the use of
technology to prevent trafficking, implemented measures for child protection online, and
banned pornography sites. However, although there have been many efforts made by central
or local government to raise the awareness of human trafficking, a number of interview
participants from the fieldwork research part of this study expressed the view that these efforts
did not contribute to the strategy and were not really effective (ORG #6; ORG #8; ORG #10;
ORG #16; Lawyer #6; Lawyer #7; Lawyer #10). Further analysis of the problem of raising
awareness in Indonesia and how to improve the policy will be given in Chapter 8 of this thesis.
Some efforts have also been made particularly to raise the awareness of human trafficking
among people in the villages to prevent them from becoming the victims of trafficking. Some
of the efforts made by the Ministry of Labour include distributing the awareness materials so
prospective migrants understand the potential for human trafficking, an economic development
program for youth-at-risk, assistance for returning victims, and a hotline system to report
labour violations (US DOS 2016, p. 205). With the same goal in mind, the Ministry of
Manpower created the Productive Migrant Village program (DESMIGRATIF).
DESMIGRATIF is a program to raise awareness of human trafficking within the villages and
give technical training to people working in the migration sector (KEMENPPPA 2018, p. 11-
12). The DESMIGRATIF program has four pillars: safe migration, productive businesses,
community parenting, and business cooperatives to strengthen the productive businesses for
the longer term (KOMINFO 2020). However, as we can see here, DESMIGRATIF has no
stated role in countering human trafficking in the villages, since in fact the program was created
to increase protection for villagers aiming to go abroad as migrant workers (KOMINFO 2020).
78
Hence, more evaluation of this program is needed to effectively increase the protection it
provides and its role in reducing human trafficking. More analysis of the current
DESMIGRATIF program and how it needs to be improved to mitigate human trafficking in
the community will be explored in Chapter 8.
As we see, there are many ongoing attempts to increase awareness across a broad range of
society and local government on the dangers of human trafficking. Among those campaigns,
there are also limited efforts at increasing the understanding in society of how people become
perpetrators of trafficking. For instance some measures were implemented by the Ministry of
Education and Culture as a part of its prevention action 2015-2019 (KEMENDIKBUD 2017,
p. 14). Chapter 8 of this thesis will explain more about how the Ministry of Education and
Culture worked to raise awareness in order to stop people from becoming perpetrators, and
what needs to be done to increase the effectiveness of these measures.
The Ministry of Law and Human Rights through its Immigration Directorate helps to prevent
human trafficking by rejecting and delaying non-procedural applications for migrant workers
without the correct documents looking to work overseas. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs created Portal Peduli WNI, which is an information and protection service for
Indonesian citizens overseas, located in Indonesian consulates (KEMENPPPA 2018, p. 15-16).
Some efforts have also been made to prevent specific forms of trafficking. For example, to
prevent trafficking in domestic labour, the government increased the budget for anti-trafficking
programs in 2010, and the Coordinating Ministry of Social Welfare published its Anti-
trafficking Action Plan 2009 -2014. In the same year, the Ministry of Manpower fined labour
recruiting companies (PJTKIs) and revoked the licenses of other companies for illegal
recruitment practices that might lead to forced labour (US DOS 2010, p. 179). A few years
later the Indonesian government had improved its prevention effort, particularly through
centralised supervision of labour migrants and licensing recruiting companies sending migrant
workers abroad (US DOS 2012, p. 188). The government also strengthened the ability of the
Protection Agency and Indonesian Manpower Placement (BNP2TKI) to monitor Indonesian
workers overseas and protect them from illegal recruitment and human trafficking. In this
regard, BNP2TKI established a national hotline for Indonesian workers overseas and worked
with embassies to deal with allegations of trafficking abroad affecting Indonesian citizens. In
2017 the government also passed the Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers law that
mandates that the provincial government instead of private companies should monitor the pre-
79
departure training and placement of workers. Some of the most important provisions are those
in Article 30 that prohibit charging placement costs, and also the creation of a single agency to
license the recruitment agencies (US DOS 2020, p. 260). As we read in section 4.3.1 above,
most human trafficking for domestic labour has involved recruitment agencies. Therefore, it
was necessary to deal with the recruitment agencies to prevent trafficking of Indonesian
citizens, especially for work overseas. Chapter 8 also reviews how the government can further
improve the situation by preventing the recruitment agencies acting in ways that can lead to
trafficking, such as falsifying documents and imposing debt bondage.
In December 2011, the Indonesian government finalised negotiations with Malaysia on a
revision of the 2006 MoU on the Recruitment and Placement of Indonesian Domestic Workers.
The revised MoU states that Indonesia and Malaysia agree to establish a joint task force to
develop a suitable solution for Indonesian domestic workers and gives Indonesian workers in
Malaysia the right to hold their travel and identity documents during their stay in Malaysia.
(US DOS 2012, p. 189). The MoU strengthened the protections for domestic workers by
enabling the workers to keep their passports instead of giving them to the employers, and giving
the workers one day off a week. However, this MoU does not set a minimum salary rate and
maintains the recruitment fee that makes many workers subject to debt bondage (Andrevski &
Lyneham 2014, p. 8). In 2016, the Indonesian president issued a regulation prohibiting
Indonesians from working in Malaysia as maids started with effect from 2017 (US DOS 2017,
p. 210).
Also in 2011 a MoU was signed with Taiwan to provide better protection against human
trafficking and migrant smuggling to the 180,000 Indonesian migrant workers in Taiwan (US
DOS 2013, p. 201). In 2013, a MoU was agreed upon with the government of Saudi Arabia
which resulted in prohibition of restricting access to their passport and provisions for workers
to have one day off a week and access to cell phones (US DOS 2014, p 208). The Indonesian
government has also banned the overseas placement of migrant workers in 21 countries in the
Middle East and Africa. However, in 2017, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia reached another
agreement to allow Indonesians to apply for visas for domestic sector jobs and announced 24
hours protection mechanism that enables Indonesians in Saudi Arabia to seek assistance for
contract switching. With these new job-seeking regulations, the chance of migrant workers
looking to illegal recruiters for assistance and becoming the victims of trafficking was further
minimised (US DOS 2018, p. 228). In the following year, the Indonesian government signed
80
a further MoU with Saudi Arabia with guidelines for the recruitment, placement, and protection
of Indonesian migrant workers (US DOS 2019, p. 243).
In the effort to abolish prostitution in Indonesia, the government since 2015 has been closing
down the red light districts, the so-called lokalisasi, throughout the country under a program
entitled the National Movement Plan for Anti-Prostitution in 2015 to Indonesia Free from
Prostitution in 2019. This policy had been implemented by returning the sex workers to their
families and providing them with free travel and living costs for three months managed by the
Ministry of Social Affairs (Purnama 2019, p. 229). However, the closure of red light districts
in Indonesia did not prove to be a guarantee of shrinkage in the sex industry and sex trafficking.
Instead it supported the growth of the sex industry and sex trafficking online. The government
of Indonesia had already made online sex services illegal through Article 27 (1), Law number
11 the year 2008 on Information and Electronic Transactions, which sets a penalty of up to 6
years prison or a 1 billion rupiah fine for anyone who distributes or transmits or enables access
to electronic information that contains any immoral activities. Additional proposals to
eliminate trafficking into the sex industry (including online sex services) will be outlined in
Chapter 8.
The Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection in 2011 issued Ministerial
Decree number 7/2011 on the Policy to Increase Family Resilience for Children in Need of
Special Protection. The decree aims to identify the problem of vulnerable children, including
trafficked children, and address the problem by strengthening vulnerable families (US DOS
2012, p. 189). Meanwhile, to address trafficking in children, the government in cooperation
with NGOs has implemented the "Count Every Child Project" to ensure that every child’s birth
is registered to reduce their susceptibility to trafficking (US DOS 2018, p. 227).
In 2016 the government established policies and mechanisms aimed at preventing trafficking
in the fishing industry, including the establishment of formal regulations for fishing companies
and fishing industry training academies (US DOS 2017, p. 210). These policies also include
regulations on human rights certifications for fishing companies and establish an anti-
trafficking curriculum as part of fishing industry training. To further prevent trafficking in the
fishing industry, the government also set in place programs for awareness training, capacity
building, and income generation in the communities most at risk of trafficking (US DOS 2017,
p. 210).
81
In conclusion, there have been a range of efforts made by the government of Indonesia to
reduce all forms of human trafficking in Indonesia. However, those prevention measures are
made to prevent people from becoming the victims of trafficking, and as yet there has been
limited effort to prevent people from becoming perpetrators. The information presented in this
chapter also reminds us that there is still a lot to be done to prevent human trafficking for
domestic labour and the sex industry. For example, although some efforts have been made to
prevent recruitment agencies from leading migrant workers into situations where they can be
exploited, the recruitment agencies still have a strong role in placing people in trafficking
situations. Likewise the problem of the sex industry too is still ongoing even though the
government has abolished red light districts. Thus more strategies are needed to prevent
trafficking in domestic labour and sex industry, and one way is through preventing people from
becoming perpetrators as will be outlined in Chapter 8. The section below explains the efforts
of the Indonesian government to prosecute the perpetrators.
2. Prosecution
To increase prosecution of human trafficking, the Indonesian government has made various
changes to enhance cooperation among criminal justice professionals and has conducted
training to increase their capacity. The anti-trafficking law adopted in 2007 prohibits all forms
of human trafficking and stipulates stringent penalties of between 3 to 15 years imprisonment
(US DOS 2008, p. 142). The Indonesian government ratified the ASEAN Convention against
Trafficking in Persons especially Women and Children which expands the national
government’s authority to prosecute people suspected of illegal recruitment and allows
Indonesian law enforcement agencies to work with their counterparts in other member
countries of ASEAN (US DOS 2018, p. 226). To prosecute the traffickers, the criminal justice
professionals are now working in cooperation with a range of other stakeholders. For instance
the police and the Manpower Ministry worked together to shut down the manpower companies
involved in trafficking and rescued hundreds of workers, including children, from being
trafficked (US DOS 2008, p. 142).
There are some challenges in prosecuting those involved in human trafficking. For example,
in 2010, the US government noted that there is a lack of knowledge on human trafficking and
its related regulations that leads to prosecutors and judges using other legislation to prosecute
offenders or calling off the case. Local NGOs and Indonesian officials have also criticised the
police for being too passive in combating trafficking and often failing to prosecute the
82
traffickers (US DOS 2010, p. 178). The Indonesian government has set up some mechanisms
to make prosecution more effective. A database has been implemented to track trafficking
convictions in Indonesia made by the Attorney General’s Task Force on Terrorism and
Transnational Crime, and statistics on prosecution and conviction rates are being collected by
the Indonesian National Police (INP) (US DOS 2013, p. 99). Nevertheless there is no
mechanism to track trafficking investigations within the INP and this makes it difficult to check
the total number of investigations and resolved cases. Statistical discrepancies on trafficking
prosecutions remain due to lack of coordination and information gaps between the different
law enforcement bodies (US DOS 2018, p. 226). The data from interviews with various
organisations reveals that there are difficulties in prosecuting human trafficking, not just when
the case happens overseas but also for cases inside Indonesia. This is because the movement
of victims and perpetrators from one place to another requires a high degree of coordination
among police (ORG #1). At the same time, there is also some corruption within the police and
this can hinder the prosecution process (ORG #1).
To increase the capacity to prosecute human trafficking cases, there has been some training
provided for criminal justice professionals. As an example the Attorney General's Office
conducted training sessions for 500 candidates seeking to become prosecutors. Guidelines were
established for law enforcement officials on how to work with NGOs in responding to
trafficking cases and another suite of training for law enforcement officers were also conducted
by other Government ministries (US 2018, p. 227) with support from an international
organisation (US DOS 2014, p. 207).
However the focus so far has still been on prosecution as the only way to treat human
traffickers. There is no attention given and effort put into preventing people from becoming
the perpetrators, and it is this approach that is the aim of this thesis. Instead of countering
trafficking by prosecuting and convicting those involved in the crime, I would argue that it is
better to prevent people before they become involved in trafficking.
The next section elaborates on how protection for the victims of trafficking is implemented in
Indonesia.
3. Protection
83
Protection for the victims of human trafficking is provided by a number of Indonesian
ministries and government agencies. In 2008, Government Regulation number 9/2008
regarding the procedures and mechanisms of an integrated service for the witnesses and victims
of human trafficking was issued. This integrated service, operating at both central government
and local government level, aims to give protection to and ensure the rights of witnesses or
victims in terms of their health rehabilitation, social rehabilitation, repatriation, social
reintegration, and legal assistance (Indonesian Government Regulation number 9/2008, art. 3).
Those integrated services were established at city or district level, and also for the country’s
borders (Indonesian Government Regulation number 9/2008, art. 6). Also starting in 2008,
around 305 women's help desks were established at the district level by the government to
assist the victims of trafficking, particularly women and children. The number of help desks
continued to increase in following years (US DOS 2009; US DOS 2010). As a part of its
commitment to improve protection for the victims of human trafficking the government has
also provided funding for NGOs and community groups through its victims’ protection
program (US DOS, p. 143).
Some Indonesian ministries and government agencies have also been involved in initiatives to
assist the victims of trafficking. For example, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) has
built shelters for migrant workers and trafficking victims at Indonesian embassies and
consulates abroad (US DOS 2008, p. 143). In addition MOFA also continues to train its
diplomats in how to recognise victims (US DOS 2013, p. 200). In 2016, around 13,714
Indonesian nationals were repatriated by MOFA and foreign governments also deported around
27,855 Indonesians. Of these people, 602 were victims of trafficking and 460 of them received
direct assistance (US DOS 2019, p. 209). In mid 2008, the National Agency for the Placement
and Protection of Overseas Workers opened a new location at Jakarta airport for returning
Indonesian workers. Some efforts have also been made to identify victims of trafficking in the
airport terminal. However, these victims were sometimes obliged to stay for some days at the
terminal until they can find enough money or funding to send them back to their homes (US
DOS 2009, p. 160). In 2011, the Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection
issued Ministerial Decree number 9/2011 on Early Warning Indicators of Human Trafficking.
This decree provides guidelines for government agencies and NGOs that provide support to
trafficking victims. Likewise in early 2013, Indonesia's president issued Government Order
03/2013 on the Placement and Protection of Overseas Workers that extends them the same
protection as workers receive within Indonesia under law number 39/2004 on the Placement
84
and Protection of Workers. This regulation strengthens the role of the government to protect
the rights of workers during their employment overseas (US DOS 2013, p 200-201).
Meanwhile, the Indonesia National Police (INP) are also putting effort into protecting the
victims by operating the Integrated Service Centre which aims to provide safe houses and
trauma clinics for the victims of trafficking (US DOS 2014, p. 208). In 2013, the INP together
with other Indonesian agencies and NGOs cooperated in an IOM-led task force to revise the
2007 edition of Guidelines for Law Enforcement and the Protection of Victims of Trafficking
in Handling Trafficking in Persons Cases (US DOS 2013, p. 200). In 2017, the Supreme Court
issued a guideline to protect female victims during legal proceedings which considers the
associated mental trauma and allows video testimony (US DOS 2020, p. 259).
The Indonesian government has arranged rehabilitation services for victims of abuse, including
trafficking victims, primarily through an integrated network of local service centres for women
and children (P2TP2A) that are available in all 34 provinces and approximately 436 districts.
These centres are managed and funded by the provincial and district governments. Each centre
provides some services, such as medical assistance, short-term shelter, counselling and
vocational training, although the services provided vary based on local leadership and funding
(US DOS 2020, p. 258).
Although various kinds of protection have been implemented by the government as part of its
international and national commitment to protect the victims of trafficking, there are still some
challenges which hinder the process of protecting the victims. According to our interview
participants, victims are sometimes reluctant to say who the perpetrator is or cooperate with
police to prosecute them, because they have a close relationship with the perpetrator, such as a
family relationship (ORG #10; ORG #11). The interview participants also explained that some
of the victims of trafficking prefer to remain in their current situation rather than being rescued
and returned to their homes, due to the conditions in their family or community (ORG #3; ORG
#4; ORG #7; ORG #8; ORG #11). This complicated situation is also a factor in perpetrators
being able to continue their recruitment and trafficking activities. How some victims’ attitudes
influence perpetrators and contribute to their own trafficking will be explored further in
Chapter 7.
85
In consequence this thesis argues that besides protection of the victims an understanding of the
perpetrators is important for reducing human trafficking. The best efforts to protect the victims
will not change the situation much without work to prevent human trafficking and make the
perpetrators cease their activities.
4.4.3. Other Responses by Civil Society Organisations and Non-Governmental
Organisations
In addition to the work of national, provincial and local governments, the effort to counter
human trafficking also relies heavily on the roles played by civil society organisations and non-
governmental organisations. Law 21/2007 encourages national and international organisations
to play a role in the prevention of human trafficking and the protection of victims in support of
relevant national legislation and international norms (Law 21/2007, art. 61). In their prevention
efforts, some organisations have followed the government example by regularly seeking to
raise public awareness and conducting campaigns on safe migration to prevent human
trafficking, especially among prospective migrant workers and vulnerable groups. Some
organisations also work on capacity building for a broad range of stakeholders, such as
community members, village leaders, and religious leaders (IOM 2020; Migrant Care 2016;
Parinama Astha 2016; ECPAT 2020; Rumah Faye 2020). Various methods have been used by
these organisations to disseminate information on the risk of human trafficking to a wider
audience - documentary films, pamphlets, concerts (IOM 2020). As an example, an
organisation working on a human trafficking program in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) staged a
concert to encourage people and send the message that it is better stay and work in their
hometown instead of becoming a migrant worker in the neighboring countries (ORG #9).
Some prevention initiatives involve building networks or partnerships with government or
other organisations, or even with the private sector, to prevent people from becoming victims
of human trafficking (Parinama Astha 2016; ECPAT 2020; Rumah Faye 2020; Migrant Care
2016). There are also organisations in Indonesia who provide advocacy for migrant labourers
abroad, and for women and children as trafficking victims (Rumah Faye 2020; Migrant Care
2016). To prevent child trafficking in the tourism industry, an organisation such as Dark Bali
also provides information and engages with incoming tourists to prevent sexual exploitation of
the children in Bali (Dark Bali 2020). Other organisations carry out research on human
trafficking and trafficking-related cases (ECPAT 2020; Migrant Care 2016).
86
Some organisations have set up vocational training programs for children and young adults to
enhance their skills in order to prevent them from being trapped in trafficking for the sex
industry. An organisation in West Java for example has a program to develop the skills of
young girls in areas such as sewing or cooking in order to give them some options to get work
or develop a small business (ORG #6). Another aspect of this organisation is its efforts to
prevent corruption in the immigration sector to prevent trafficking. The organisation routinely
gathers evidence on indications of corruption in the immigration sector. A similar example
comes from an organisation in NTT which worked closely with the police to uncover
corruption in the immigration sector. More information on the work of organisations to disclose
corruption in the immigration sector is to be found in Chapter 8.
Based on the fact that most human trafficking starts from the village, organisations like Migrant
Care have created programs to empower village capacity in order to prevent human trafficking
from that village. The Migrant Care’s village program is called DESBUMI and it aims to help
prospective migrant workers through document handling, case management, economic
empowerment, data collection, creating community awareness, and information services
(Migrant Care 2020). The work of these anti-trafficking village programs and opportunities to
enhance these programs by discouraging people from becoming involved in human trafficking
as perpetrators will be explored further in Chapter 8.
Although in most cases NGOs or CSOs work for the victims to prevent them for being
trafficked, there is a small number that also work to prevent people from becoming
perpetrators. For example, an organisation in Cirebon, West Java has launched a book entitled
‘Fiqh Anti-Trafficking: Jawaban atad Berbagai Kasus Kejahatan Perdagangan Manusia
dalam Perspektif Hukum Islam (in English: Fiqh Anti-Trafficking: The Answers to Various
Human Trafficking Offenses from an Islamic Law Perspective). This book aims to explain to
the religious leaders that human trafficking is an act prohibited in Islam. It is expected that with
the knowledge gained from this book the Islamic leaders can spread the idea within society that
human trafficking is sinful and morally wrong, and that awareness of this will help discourage
some people from participating in human trafficking (ORG #7). In the same way, a local
organisation has also worked in cooperation with Islamic leaders to spread the message about
the dangers of human trafficking and about people’s vulnerability to becoming perpetrators
through the messages and reminders that are shared during mass prayer (ORG #11).
87
In terms of victim protection and assistance, there are many organisations working to support
the return, recovery, and reintegration of the victims. A range of assistance is provided - shelter
and safe houses, health services and referrals, counselling and psychological support, skills
training and other educational support, post-rehabilitation or reintegration, and legal aid
(Rumah Faye 2020; Parinama Astha 2016; IOM 2020; UNFPA 2005). IOM Indonesia and
other similar organisations provide technical support to the Anti-Trafficking Task Forces,
especially at the sub-national level, to support them in providing the services that trafficking
victims need (IOM 2020). In some cases, organisations also provide special assistance to those
victims who are infected with HIV as a consequence of having been trafficked (ORG #8; ORG
#6).
While most organisations work in programs for prevention and victim protection, some
organisations also support the prosecution of traffickers. IOM Indonesia, for example, has
cooperated with the Attorney General’s Office, the Criminal Investigation Agency of the
Indonesian National Police, and judiciary bodies in their prosecution efforts (IOM 2020). IOM
has also supported law enforcement officials in terms of advisory and capacity building
services, and also provided experts to identify cases of human trafficking (ORG #10). Likewise
Parinama Astha has also cooperated with the bar association and local attorneys to prosecute
the perpetrators of human trafficking (Parinama Astha 2016). Therefore, the role of these
organisations is crucial not only in the prevention and protection strategies but also in
prosecution.
In summary there is a wide range of programs undertaken by organisations across Indonesia,
and some of them seem groundbreaking – working through the religious leaders for example
to engage society or helping the police uncover corruption in the immigration sector. There are
also undoubtedly extensive efforts being made by organisations to protect the victims and
provide important assistance for them, and as mentioned above, some organisations have also
tried their best to cooperate with criminal justice professionals to prosecute the traffickers. All
this reminds us that there is a huge role for organisations in the anti-trafficking programs in
Indonesia. Thus, the government and the citizens of Indonesia need to support their work more.
However, the organisations themselves could also make a greater effort in terms of human
trafficking prevention, through for instance looking at ways to prevent people from becoming
88
perpetrators. How organisations can take a greater part in this role will be explored in Chapter
8 of this thesis.
4.5. Conclusion
This chapter has examined the nature and extent of human trafficking in Indonesia, and the
current responses from government and other organisations in tackling the problem. As we saw
above, there is still a limited strategy in the area of prevention by preventing people from
becoming traffickers. The government and other organisations have started to realise the
importance of looking at prevention from this angle and implemented a program to raise
community awareness of how people become perpetrators but this is still very limited and there
is room for greater work and more initiatives in this area.
Therefore, in addition to describing the extent of current efforts to counter trafficking in
Indonesia, this chapter has also identified those gaps to be explored in greater detail and filled
by the recommendations in Chapter 8. By understanding the current measures and policies we
can improve the ways to eliminate human trafficking, and one of these improvements is
preventing people from becoming traffickers. From understanding the nature and the extent of
human trafficking for sex industry and domestic labour in Indonesia, and the characteristics of
people involved in it, we can draw the right policies to prevent people from becoming
perpetrators.
The next chapter, Chapter 5, will describe the methodology employed for this research.
89
Chapter 5: Methodology
5.1. Introduction
This chapter marks the start of the second half of the thesis. It shifts from the conceptual
foundations of this thesis to the findings of the research. More specifically, this chapter outlines
the methodological approach used to answer the research questions of this thesis. The chapter
begins by discussing some of the challenges in researching human trafficking, but then goes
on to explicate the research design, which drew on qualitative research methods. The research
includes analysis of court documents, and semi-structured interviews with lawyers who have
assisted people convicted of human trafficking and with representatives of organisations
involved in some way with responding to the impacts and influence of human trafficking. This
chapter also provides information on the fieldwork sites that I visited in Indonesia and explains
some of the issues experienced during the fieldwork, including my positionality as a researcher
and the need to manage the power imbalance between researcher and participants. The ethical
considerations in conducting this research, in particular when collecting the data, are also
discussed in this chapter. Finally the chapter explains the data analysis techniques used which
employed thematic and content analysis.
5.2. Complexity in Researching Human Trafficking
Researching human trafficking is a precarious effort, as definitional problems and ideological
perspectives dominate the discussion (Wijkman & Kleemans 2019, p. 54). Di Nicola (2007)
outlines several factors that make human trafficking a difficult topic for research. These
include:
1. The people in the trafficking circles, the victims, traffickers and the clients of
trafficking victims, are unseen and hidden, and generally want to remain that way,
which means that they are not easily found or identifiable;
2. The limited validity and quality of the available data. Much research on human
trafficking is anecdotal or based on stereotypes, and it is difficult to assure the validity
of sources;
3. The issue is considered a high-risk one for researchers;
4. The complexity of setting up interviews with traffickers or victims;
5. The research has ethical implications in that it may put the research participants at risk;
90
6. Research on human trafficking is a politically sensitive area as it is associated with
prostitution, the labour market and migration management (Di Nicola 2007, p. 53 - 57).
Understanding that traffickers or trafficking victims are difficult to access, this thesis therefore
utilised alternative data sources, namely information from court documents, information from
representatives of organisations dealing with human trafficking, and information from lawyers
who assisted people convicted of human trafficking. Although this study does not directly use
traffickers as a source of information, the data from court documents, organisations and
lawyers is still considered to have credibility, in that it is not anecdotal nor based on
stereotypes. Researchers of human traffickers have already used data from court documents
(e.g. Siegel & De Blank 2010; Davy 2015; Leman & Janssens 2006; Huang 2017; Levenkron
2007), and interviews with organisations (e.g. Coluccello & Massey 2007). However, I have
not found any research on traffickers using data from interviews with lawyers. Using these
sources of information rather than interviewing traffickers directly protects and minimises the
risk to the researcher in conducting this study.
To overcome the problems of bias and validity of data in research on human trafficking,
Weitzer (2014) suggests the application of micro-level research. Macro-level research that
attempts to make comparisons of human trafficking between countries is often a source of bias.
Meanwhile, micro-level research (in a city, town or small region within a country) has
qualitative and quantitative advantages, as it can provide more valid victimisation numbers,
deeper insight regarding the actors’ life experience and potential to identify trafficking hotspots
(Weitzer 2014, p. 15). This study therefore focuses on Indonesia as a single country to get a
deeper insight into human trafficking and those involved, especially the trafficking for
domestic labour and the sex industry.
Research on human trafficking has been dominated by a victim-oriented perspective. This
focus is understandable given the significant harms that the victims suffer. However, this
approach does not facilitate an understanding of the factors that make people traffic others. As
explained by Surtees (2008), the problem of human trafficking cannot be solved merely by
studying and anticipating the victims. More can be done by understanding the traffickers who
commit the crime (Lackzo 2011; Surtees 2008). This includes looking at who they are and how
they operate so as to forestall growth in the trafficking industry (Surtees 2008, p. 42). This
thesis seeks to respond directly to the need to have better insight into traffickers in the
91
Indonesian context. As Kleemans (2011) notes, the strong focus on victims thus far has
overlooked the complexity of the relationship between the victims and traffickers. While there
are conventional stereotypes of evil perpetrators, in many cases close relationships, between
parents and children, for example, or intimate partners or friends, exist between victims and
traffickers, and often prove to be critical in the occurrence of trafficking (Kleemans 2011, p.
96).
In addition, there are problems because much of the research and the effort on human
trafficking has also been affected by a strong focus upon the sex industry (Lackzo 2005; Witzer
2014; Sanghera 2012; Kangaspunta 2007; Kleemans 2011). Trafficking in women and children
for the sex industry has dominated the discussions on human trafficking. Hence, trafficking for
other purposes is largely ignored and has received little attention. The identification of
trafficking victims in other forms of trafficking such as domestic labour or forced labour,
therefore, has been less effective than is the case for the sex industry (Kangaspunta 2007;
Kleemans 2011; Sanghera 2012). After consideration of these factors and issues I decided to
research human traffickers in Indonesia with the main focus on trafficking in the sex industry
and domestic labour. Although prosecution for trafficking for the sex industry may be higher
than for any other form, this study also looks at the characteristics, perspectives, and motives
of convicted offenders for trafficking for domestic labour as that is also a common form of
trafficking in Indonesia.
5.3. Research Design
The major aim of this study is to understand the characteristics of individuals involved in
human trafficking for the sex industry and domestic labour in Indonesia, and to understand the
motivation, perspectives, and other key factors influencing them to become involved in human
trafficking. The findings of this research will help to build recommendations to improve
Indonesian and international laws on trafficking. Theoritically, this thesis argues that there is a
gap in human rights-based approach that needs to be improved by addressing human trafficking
perpetrators. This finding, therefore, has become a basis for the empirical study on human
trafficking perpetrators in Indonesia and in developing the research questions.
92
To understand human trafficking from the perspective of the traffickers, a qualitative study is
needed (Serie et al. 2018; Jordan, Patel & Rapp 2013). The qualitative research is used when
researchers believe the issue or conditions that they examine needs more exploration.
Troshynski and Blank (2007) said that the use of the qualitative method gives an understanding
of and helps to discover a substantive area that is still understudied and gives us insight on the
trafficking phenomenon through the perspective of the people who commit it (Troshynski &
Blank 2007, p. 33).
According to Yin (2016), five features characterise qualitative research. First, qualitative
research explores the meaning of people’s lives; second, it figures out the views and
perspectives of participants; third, it attempts to explain the contextual condition of the real
world; fourth, it aims to explain social behaviour through the available concepts; and fifth, it
recognises the importance of collecting and integrating the data through various forms of
evidence (Yin 2016, p. 9-11).
To study populations or groups requires exploration rather than using predetermined
information from existing literature. Qualitative research seeks to gain a deeper understanding
of the issue that can only be attained by having a conversation directly with people. It is also
enables individuals to share their stories and voices (Creswell 2007, p. 40). Understanding that
there is a need for more exploration and in-depth analysis to study the characteristics,
motivations, and key factors that lead to people participating in human trafficking, it was
decided to use a qualitative method for this research. A qualitative study enables the researcher
to have more discussion with the research participants and to dig deeper into the information
needed to understand human traffickers in Indonesia.
5.4. Data Collection Methods
In conducting qualitative research, a researcher collects the data through interviewing
participants, analysing documents, and observing behaviour, and does not rely on one single
kind of data. After the collection process, a researcher reviews and organises the data into
themes or categories (Creswell 2007, p. 38). With respect to research on human trafficking,
Lazos (2007) states that a study on trafficking cannot be conducted by a single method. It
requires the application of any available methods in social science (Lazos 2007, p. 99).
Inadequate data collection methods might result in conclusions that have a little to do with
reality. This would then lead to a danger that interventions and actions developed based on the
93
findings will be ineffective (Tyldum & Brunovskis 2005, p. 17). For conducting this qualitative
study on human trafficking offenders in Indonesia, semi-structured interviews and analysis of
court documents analysis were employed in pursuit of the study’s aims.
Choi-Fitzpatrick (2016) argues that in communities where social inequality exists the normal
condition is that those who are the most responsible for an offense being committed are the
least accountable. Conversely, those who are less powerful, the transporters, recruiters, and
managers, are more likely to be arrested (Choi-Fitzpatrick 2016, p. 4). Given this condition,
gaining information on traffickers from wider sources within society, such as through the
representatives of civil society organisations or non-governmental organisations, can help to
give a better perspective on the actual perpetrators to supplement the information available in
the court documents.
I conducted the collation of court documents before commencing semi-structured interviews,
although during the interviews I was still processing the court documents that I would use.
Some court documents that I had found earlier have helped me to figure out which lawyers that
I could usefully interview. Most of the interviews with lawyers are also based on the case from
those court documents.
5.4.1. Semi-Structured Interviews
Myer (2009) explains semi-structured interviews as the use of pre-formulated questions but
without strictly following the list of questions and allowing new questions to arise during the
interview process (Myer 2009, p. 124). By using a semi-structured interview, it is hoped that
researchers can follow up responses with more questions and do more exploration of
unexpected topics. As noted by Troshynski and Blank (2007), semi-structured interviews are
used to gain an understanding and to find out a substantive phenomenon about which little was
known about human trafficking from traffickers’ lens (Troshynski & Blank 2007, p. 33).
Semi-structured interviews were employed in this research to answer the research questions on
the key factors that make people become involved in trafficking offenses, their motivations and
perspectives, as well as the best practices for preventing individuals becoming involved in
trafficking. A semi-structured approach enables core questions and issues to be addressed while
maintaining flexibility in crafting questions and allowing for spontaneous follow-up questions
94
in view of answers to preceding questions in the interview. My final data set comprised a total
of 27 semi-structured interviews.
I conducted 11 semi-structured interviews with lawyers who had dealt with human trafficking
cases in the domestic labour and sex industry and 16 semi-structured interviews with
organisation representatives. Since the interviews were conducted with lawyers and the
representatives from the organisations, these are expert interviews, andhave thus been used as
a method for this research. As explained by Doringer (2021), expert interviews are a qualitative
research method that is commonly used to explore or collect the data about a specific field of
interest (Doringer 2021, p. 265). In expert interviews, experts are considered knowledgable in
the particular field and are identified based on their particular knowledge, community position,
or status (Doringer 2021, p. 265). Abels and Behrens (2009) note some features common to
expert interviews, such as paternalism, catharsis, iceberg, and feedback effects (Abels &
Behrens 2009, p. 144). However, during the interview process I do not feel that I had these
experiences, nor did I find it especially challenging when interacting with participants.
Seven of the interviews with lawyers were conducted as one on one interviews, while four
interviews had two lawyers present. Hence, the total number of lawyers that participated was
15. Some lawyers explained that due to the high number of cases that they had dealt with, they
may have forgotten details about the clients (convicted traffickers) they assisted. Therefore,
those lawyers invited other lawyers, colleagues of theirs, to attend the interview, so they could
add information if the first lawyers missed or forgot something. Although interviewing lawyers
has not been broadly used in previous human trafficking research, the inclusion of lawyers was
important because their views complemented the formally records of court proceedings by
shedding light on the kinds of issues and experiences that court documents do not tend to
capture, even though the lawyers being interviewed were not necessarily the lawyers present
in the court cases described in the court documents reviewed. The frequent communication
between lawyers and trafficking offenders before their court appearances had also given the
lawyers a deeper understanding of offenders' behaviour, perspectives and motivations.
Therefore, their views on the people participating in human trafficking can be used for this
research.
The process to recruit lawyers for this study started from finding out information on lawyers
involved in trafficking cases through court documents. In addition I made some visits to the
95
POSBAKUM (Pos Bantuan Hukum), the Legal Aid Post, in district courts in DKI Jakarta
province to find details of those lawyers who had provided legal assistance to people convicted
of human trafficking offenses in 2018 or 2019. I only selected lawyers who had dealt with
trafficking cases in 2018 or later. The reason for this selection criteria was that, as one lawyer
explained (Lawyer #3), it is easy for a lawyer to forget details about cases they have handled
as they work with hundreds of clients in a year. Compared to recruiting participants from the
organisations concerned with human trafficking, recruitment of lawyers was harder because of
their full schedule and their reluctance to disclose information about their clients.
In contrast, interviews with representatives from relevant organisations are also suggested in
other studies of traffickers as an alternative to interviewing the traffickers themselves or
analysing court documents (Coluccello & Massey 2007; Di Nicola 2007). Out of the 16
interviews with organisational representatives, three interviews were conducted with two
participants. Therefore, a total of 19 participants from 16 different organisations were
interviewed to gain information and seek their perspective on human traffickers in Indonesia.
The participants from organisations were recruited by selecting organisations that had a human
trafficking related program in Indonesia. Those organisations fell into different categories
based on the scope of their work. First were international organisations that had projects in
Indonesia, second a nationwide organisation and third a local organisation that works in
specific areas within a province. I contacted those organisations through email, phone or text
messages to invite them to participate in this study. However, after some interviews at the first
organisations selected, I then started to contact other organisations that they had referred me
to, using the selection process often referred to as snowball sampling. The snowballing
technique means that the interviewer asks the first participants to recommend other potential
participants for the study (Flick 2009, p. 267). Recruiting organisations for interview was not
as hard as recruiting lawyers. The majority of organisations I asked for an interview agreed to
my interview request.
Most of the interviews were conducted face-to-face in participants’ offices, or, when the
interviewee requested, at a café or restaurant. The interviews with lawyers and organisations
were conducted between July and September 2019. The interviews were expected to last 40 to
60 minutes, but some interviews went longer than 60 minutes and a few interviews took less
than 40 minutes. Bahasa Indonesia, Indonesia’s official language, was used in all the
interviews, except for one interview with an international organisation, which was conducted
96
in English as the interviewee is not a native Indonesian. I developed a set of interview questions
in Australia before departing to Indonesia. There are different interview questions for the
different groups of respondents (lawyers and organisations representatives). I asked the
questions to the lawyers regarding their clients who were convicted trafficking offenders.
Meanwhile, I asked the questions to the organisations representatives based on their experience
or knowledge regarding the traffickers in domestic labour and sex industry in Indonesia.
As the topic of human trafficking, and particularly issues around its perpetrators are sensitive,
I would ask some general questions before jumping to questions on perpetrators. Some further
exploration and follow-up questions would normally follow on from participants’ explanations.
The questions were not asked of the participants in a fixed order, and I had flexibility in asking
them. However, I made sure that all of the questions that I listed beforehand were covered.
The informed consent was given verbally by the participants before the interview. The use of
verbal informed consent is more culturally appropriate in the Indonesian context as in
Indonesia people prefer to communicate verbally regarding procedures or conditions than
reading from paper. This method of acquiring approval was endorsed by the ethics committee
that reviewed the data collection methods of this project. Most of the interviews with
participants were recorded by audio recorder or on personal mobile phone. At the same time, I
also took notes on important information they shared. One lawyer preferred to not audio record
the interview. Hence, I wrote notes on the information that he gave. In another instance, a
lawyer was on duty in another province when I conducted the fieldwork. Due to the distance
and his time limitations, the interview and discussion were managed through text messages.
Most of the interview participants gave me permission to contact them in the future should I
have more questions, but this was not required.
5.4.2. Court Documents
As explained by Surtees (2008), research on human trafficking should consider the
employment of other alternative data such as an interviews with traffickers or analysis of court
documents, rather than just collecting data from trafficking victims (Surtees 2008, p. 44). Thus,
in researching the characteristics of people involved in human trafficking in Indonesia, court
documents too were analysed. Merriam (1988) explains that all types of documents can lead
the researcher to discover meaning, provide better comprehension of the topic, and find insights
97
related to the research problem (Merriam 1988, p. 118). Analysis of court documents was used
mainly to discover the demographic and operational characteristics of individuals involved in
human trafficking in Indonesia. Bowen (2009) notes some advantages in using document
analysis: it is less time-consuming, available in the public domain, less costly than other
methods, non – reactive, stable, exact and provides broad coverage. However, despite the above
advantages, limitations in the use of documents are also found. These can include insufficient
detail, difficult to access and biased selectivity (Bowen 2009, p. 31 – 32).
As noted by Yin (2016), due to their availability in great abundance, collecting documents can
be time-consuming, even if they are available online. Hence, some strategies such as getting
initial ideas of the scope, quantity, and size of an archive are suggested. Then after the primary
document collection, it is recommended to directly evaluate the data and consider how relevant
it is for the rest of the study (Yin 2016, p. 155 – 156). Based on the guidance above, to gain
information on the social demographics and modus operandi of trafficking offenders, I limited
the collection of court documents to a total of 60 documents from the period 2018 to 2019.
Those court documents covered 30 cases of trafficking for domestic labour and 30 cases of
trafficking for the sex industry. Those court documents were freely available and retrieved
from the website of the Indonesia Supreme Court, with one document obtained from the
Central Jakarta District Court. As I only able to gain 30 documents with a clear chronology on
human trafficking for domestic labour, I also decided to gain the same amount of court
documents of human trafficking offense in sex industry
The website of Supreme Court provides court verdict documents, but not all court verdicts for
every case are available on the website. In the period 2018 to 5 November 2019, there were 82
court documents found for cases relating to trafficking in the sex industry and 42 court
documents for cases related to domestic labour. From the 42 documents relating to domestic
labour cases, I selected only 29 documents to be used for this thesis. The rejected documents
were omitted owing to lack of clarity in the information they contained, or a poor or absent
chronology of events they recounted. As I only obtained 29 documents from the Supreme Court
website on domestic labour trafficking, to reach the desired number of 30 documents one
document from the Central Jakarta District Court was used since the lawyer that handled that
case was also one of those interviewed. As noted earlier, as I only able to gain 30 documents
with a clear chronology on human trafficking for domestic labour, I also decided to gain 30
court documents of human trafficking offense in sex industry. From the 82 court documents
98
related to the sex industry, 30 documents that provided clear information and showed elements
of human trafficking were chosen. Sometimes, in Indonesia cases of prostitution are
categorised as human trafficking, so each case needed to be evaluated to ensure that it did
indeed contain trafficking elements.
In the 30 court documents for domestic labour cases, four documents contained information on
two offenders, and one document had information on three offenders. Similarly five of the
documents related to trafficking for the sex industry also contained information on two
offenders. Therefore, there is a total of 35 offenders for human trafficking in the sex industry
from 30 court documents, and 36 offenders for human trafficking in domestic labour from 30
court documents.
Many documents can be significant merely by the quality of information they have (Yin 2016,
p. 156). In Indonesia, the number of pages in court decisions varies from around 20 pages up
to around 50 pages. It gives information on the basic profile of offenders, the chronology of
events in the criminal proceedings, a list of witnesses, the chronology of the offense, victims'
statements, reasons for judgment, and the sentence.
5.5. Fieldwork Locations
I conducted fieldwork in Indonesia from July to October 2019. For security reasons and ease
of access for interviews, I chose Java as the place for my fieldwork which was carried out in
three provinces there, the Special Region of Jakarta (DKI Jakarta), West Java and East Java.
The data from district courts in Indonesia in 2016 – 2018 (Appendix 1) shows that West Java
and East Java are places where offenders of human trafficking for the sex industry are often
prosecuted. On the other hand, a significant number of prosecutions for human trafficking for
domestic labour were found in East Nusa Tenggara province, and others were found in the
provinces of Riau Islands, North Sumatra, West Nusa Tenggara, West Java, and DKI Jakarta.
The fieldwork in DKI Jakarta was conducted by visiting district courts in Central Jakarta, West
Jakarta, East Jakarta, and South Jakarta to obtain information on lawyers that were in charge
of human trafficking cases through the Legal Aid Post (POSBAKUM) of the district courts,
and to make interview appointments. I also requested court documents from those district
courts, although later it turned out that these were not fully used because the main court
99
documents used for this research are mainly from the Supreme Court website. Six lawyers were
interviewed in DKI Jakarta from POSBAKUM East Jakarta District Court, National Police
Headquarters, POSBAKUM Central Jakarta District Court, the Legal Aid Centre of Indonesian
Advocates, and one from a non-profit legal aid institution in West Jakarta.
DKI Jakarta is also home to national organisations dealing with human trafficking issues in
Indonesia, and also those international organisations that have trafficking programs or projects
in Indonesia. While there I managed to interview representatives from six NGOs that run
human trafficking programs in various parts of the country and two international organisations
that also provide various human trafficking programs in Indonesia. There was also a relevant
seminar run in Jakarta that I attended.
The fieldwork in West Java was mostly conducted in July and August. The organisations
visited in West Java were mostly local NGOs working in specific geographical areas. They
might have an anti-trafficking program that targets a few municipalities, or villages or regions
inside a municipality. For example, an NGO in Indramayu regency that I visited only works
specifically with a few villages or sub-districts where trafficking for the sex industry is
rampant. West Java has been documented as the province where the largest number of victims
of trafficking for the sex industry come from (Bajari 2013; Munro 2012; Nurbayani 2015). The
municipalities or regencies that I visited were places that had been recorded as having many
cases of human trafficking and where trafficking victims came from. To interview
representatives from those local NGOs, I visited the municipalities or regencies of Bandung,
Indramayu, Cirebon, and Sukabumi. In interviewing lawyers I also went to Ciamis, Bandung,
Garut, Subang, and Bekasi. The lawyers that I interviewed were from the POSBAKUM of the
district courts in Bekasi, Ciamis, and Garut, a legal aid institution in Subang and a private law
office in Bandung. To move from one place to another in West Java required different modes
of transport - train, bus, taxi and motorcycle - as some of the locations were quite remote.
In East Java, three interviews with organisation representatives were conducted in Jember and
Trenggalek regencies, with an interview with lawyers in Tulung Agung regency who were
representatives of a legal aid institution there. As in West Java, the organisations in East Java
that I visited are NGOs that work locally. In Trenggalek, I also attended an anti-trafficking
seminar run by a local NGO in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture and Education. I was
100
had found about and had been invited to attend this seminar by an NGO representative in
Jakarta and I was later able be there as an observer with permission from the organiser.
Figure 1: DKI Jakarta, West Java and East Java Provinces
The map above shows the locations where I conducted fieldwork. The dots indicate the three
provinces visited, DKI Jakarta, West Java, and East Java. Whereas, the map below shows the
places where the semi-structured interviewes were conducted
Figure 2: Interview sites in DKI Jakarta, West Java, and East Java Provinces
5.6. Fieldwork Experience and Positionality
The identification and assessment of fieldwork related risk, and the measures to taken to reduce
risks in the field are integral aspects of the research process (Hammett, Twyman & Graham
Java island
101
2015, p. 121). Hence, to ensure that the fieldwork could be conducted safely, there needed to
be careful consideration when choosing the sites and the type of participants to be interviewed.
When conducting qualitative research, the researcher also has to consider their positionality.
Positionality is the social, political, economic, religious, and intellectual contexts of a person
that can impact personal relations with the participants and the quality of the whole research
process (Ozano & Khatri 2018, p. 191). It is the process by which a researcher recognises,
acknowledges, and understands that their background and attitude can interfere with the
research process (Hesse-Biber & Leavy 2007, p. 129). My own engagement in issues of human
trafficking started when I was working at the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta two years after I
finished my undergraduate program. In that regional organisation, I worked under Security
Cooperation division in which I supported migration and human trafficking projects. I learned
about various efforts made by ASEAN countries in countering human trafficking in the
Southeast Asia region. During my master’s program, I wrote a thesis on the effectiveness
ASEAN’s approaches and policies in countering trafficking, which I planned to continue early
in my PhD program. However, as I began my research I saw there were gaps that need to be
addressed such as the complexity of human trafficking phenomenon in Southeast Asian
society, including the phenomenon of the traffickers that I believed did not fit the common
stereotype of sophisticated criminal groups. Thus, I decided to conduct a research project on
traffickers in Southeast Asia by studying specifically the phenomenon in Indonesia and hoping
that this research could provide a foundation for policy makers seeking to improve anti-
trafficking policies and regulations.
Doing research in Indonesia, I have to be mindful of social and cultural values embedded in
the society, particularly in Java where I conducted my research, and how it might impact the
way I conduct the research and interact with my participants. As a person who spent many
years living and working on Java, I am well acquainted with the culture and professional
etiquette there. This cultural understanding, combined with my previous experience in doing
research fieldwork in another developing country (Cambodia), allows me to understand and
gives me the ability to approach the participants and conduct interviews appropriately. Before
commencing my Ph.D. program at RMIT, I worked in international organisations which
enables me to work cooperatively with the various international, national and local government
and non-government organisations. This familiarity in working with various forms of
102
organisations also gave me the confidence and skills to recruit participants and build a network
with them.
The recruitment process in the early part of my fieldwork ran well on the whole. However,
there were some challenges in recruiting lawyers to participate in this project. First, finding
lawyers who had dealt with human trafficking offenders, particularly those in the sex industry
and for domestic labour, during the past two years was not an easy task. I had to get their details
from the information about them in the court documents that I collected from the Supreme
Court website and I also visited Legal Aid Posts, the Pos Bantuan Hukum (POSBAKUM), in
district courts in DKI Jakarta and Bogor, West Java to obtain details of lawyers who had
handled human trafficking cases in the past two years. Second, even after getting the lawyers’
details, not all of them felt it convenient to have an interview with me. I occasionally got no
response from the invitations I sent to them. This was very different to the recruitment process
for organisations, which was far less difficult. Almost all the organisations that I sought to
recruit were very welcoming and gave a quick response to my interview requests. During the
interview process, most of the interview participants were enthusiastic about giving
information and sharing their opinion. The lawyers who agreed to be interviewed were very
open and expressed great interest in providing information for this study. Similarly, the
participants from organisations were helpful and willingly gave the best information they
could.
One part of the researcher’s positionality is considerations on how they see themselves and
how the participants see them, whether as insider or outsider, with more power or powerless,
or coming from a disadvantaged or favourable background (Ozano & Khatri 2018, p. 191).
Insider research refers to researchers who also members of the communities where they
conduct their research, where the researcher and study participants share the same identity.
This insider status normally makes the researcher gain more trust and acceptance by the
participants (Dwyer & Buckle 2009, p. 58). Whereas outsiders who do not belong to the group
are often perceived as neutral and it is assumed that they possibly have more objectivity and
better capability to view behaviour without changing its meaning (Mullings 1999, p. 340).
In conducting this research in Indonesia, I consider myself both an insider and an outsider. I
was born and grew up in Java and consider myself Javanese. Going into the field to do research
in the place where I used to live and in a culture I understand brought me a feeling of familiarity
103
and ease in building relationships with people and the participants I met. As mentioned by
Merriam et al. (2001), the feeling of homogeneity that creates a sense of community can create
trust and openness between the researcher and the participants (Merriam et al. 2001, p. 401). I
found that the participants were very engaged in the discussion and trusted me as a native
Indonesian from Java, keen to learn about problems in our society. Some of them even
expressed their interest in working with me in the future, opened up about their difficulties in
performing their jobs, or recommended other contacts or events that might help my research.
However, despite this comfort in being an insider, I was aware of my privilege of being a young
woman who at that time lived in a developed country and had access to a higher degree of
education. One of the lawyers even said that before accepting my request she did not feel
confident enough to talk with me as I was doing a doctoral program in Australia. This feeling
of being an outsider also appeared when a few participants seemed evidently cautious in giving
their opinion and information. On the other hand, I also realised that there is a difference in
lifestyle between me and the research groups (particularly the local NGOs) that places me in a
different position. In the past ten years, I worked in the big city of Jakarta for international
organisations and lived near the city. I am also a non-Muslim citizen in the country with the
largest Muslim population in the world. Hence, the fieldwork I did brought some challenges,
particularly during the interviews with local organisations and lawyers in the small cities
around East Java and West Java. In these two provinces, the participants mostly lived and
worked in more humble environments. Most of the participants were Muslim and they wore a
hijab (if a woman) and sometimes using Islamic words for greetings. When I joined an anti-
trafficking campaign event in Trenggalek regency in East Java, all the women at the event wore
a hijab. So I stood out as the only non-Muslim woman at that event, although this did not seem
to cause any issues. However, their is not my view that differences gender and religion between
me and participants affected the data collection process itself. The participants regardless their
gender, religion, or even education level, seemed able to share with me the information that I
needed.
Thus, putting a greater focus on positionality, reflexivity and power relations is important when
conducting fieldwork to ensure the research performed is ethical (Sultana 2007, p. 374).
According to Gmelch and Gmelch (2018), fieldwork is not only a particular methodology for
research, but also a transformative experience for those who perform it. Those who go to the
field leave their own culture to immerse themselves deeply in the life of others (Gmelch &
104
Gmelch 2018, p. 2). The person who conducts fieldwork is the measuring instrument and
gathers the information by creating natural relationships with members of the group to be
studied and learns their culture by interacting, talking and observing them (Cassell 1982, p. 1).
In seeking to ensure that the fieldwork was conducted ethically and achieved the best results, I
recognised my participants’ and my own positions and constantly negotiated them to achieve
the best collaboration. From the earliest stages of my fieldwork, even in the recruitment
process, I tried to speak using the kind of communication they were most comfortable with.
This include using WhatsApp chat instead of email, avoiding excessively formal and direct
ways of communicating, and using Bahasa, instead of English. To adjust to the lifestyle of my
participants, most of whom were Muslim, especially in the smaller regencies or in the villages,
I also wore attire that they would consider more appropriate, such as clothes with long sleeves
instead of short sleeves. I also accepted the request of one participant to conduct an interview
in a mosque as he was an Islamic leader while also managing an NGO.
Whenever I talked with the participants, I constantly told them that I was a student who wanted
to learn from them, as they work directly against human trafficking and know the real situation
better than me. This kind of acknowledgment gave them a sense that they had particular
knowledge and information that I did not have and hence gave them the confidence to talk. As
noted by Auerbach and Silverstein (2003), research participants are seen as expert informants.
The qualitative researcher acknowledges them as having direct experience with a phenomenon
and knowing more about the issues (Auerbach & Silverstein 2003, p. 26 – 27). This approach
helps diminish the power imbalance between researcher and participant.
5.7. Coding and Data Analysis
The general process that is commonly used in qualitative research for analysing data consists
of setting up and organising the data, categorising it into themes through the coding process
and presenting the data in the discussion (Creswell 2007, p. 148). Data analysts have a range
of strategies and techniques to make sense of their data (Corbin & Strauss 2008, p. 66). In this
research, the data analysis for the interviews and the data analysis of the court documents took
different approaches, as described below.
105
5.7.1. Analysing the Interviews
The interviews were transcribed and analysed by myself to determine the traffickers'
perspectives and motives and the underlying factors that make them commit the offense of
trafficking. Strauss and Corbin (2008) describe three kinds of coding, open, axial and selective.
Reflective coding, or axial and selective coding as it is more usually called, involves making
constant comparisons (Corbin & Strauss 1990) while in open coding the researcher normally
aims to open up all the possibilities within the data. Only after finding all the potential meanings
and examining the context carefully will the researcher put interpretive contextual labels on
the data (Strauss & Corbin 2008, p. 160). During the coding process, the researcher needs to
put aside any preconceived ideas that the researcher expects to find and let the data lead and
uncover the meaning (Strauss & Corbin 2008, p. 160). Open coding goes hand in hand with
axial coding (Strauss & Corbin 2008, p. 198) in that while open coding breaks down the data
into categories, axial coding brings the data back together and makes the connection between
categories and subcategories (Kendall 1999, p. 747). It focuses on the conditions that produce
the category (phenomenon), the context in which it is engrafted, the strategies within which
the processes are performed, and the consequences of those strategies (Kendall 1999, p. 747).
The third phase is selective coding, which involves settling on one's core category and relating
it to the other categories, validating the relationships and perfecting incomplete categories
(Bryant & Charmaz 2019, p. 175).
The researcher uses thematic analysis to analyse data from interviews. Thematic analysis is
applied to interview data to recognise, analyse and translate the patterns within qualitative data
(Clarke & Braun 2017, p. 297). Using thematic analysis, the researcher is required to participate
more in the interpretation. The analysis is more than calculating emerging words and focuses
on interpreting and portraying the ideas or themes (Guest, MacQueen & Namey 2012, p. 9).
Using thematic analysis, the researcher follows the steps developed by Braun and Clarke
(2006). First is familiarisation when the researcher tries to make themselves familiar with the
dataset by checking and re-reading, and listening to the transcriptions. Second, the researcher
identifies and labels relevant features of the data that are related to the research questions. Third
is the process of finding the themes by clustering the codes together to create the key patterns
in the data. Fourth comes reviewing the themes. The review process enables the researcher to
see if the established themes already fit or if some changes are needed. Fifth, the themes are
named to ensure the conceptual clarity of each theme. Last comes writing the report where the
106
researcher in this phase connects the analysis back to the research questions and the literature
(Braun and Clarke 2006, p. 87)
5.7.2. Analysing the Court Documents
Content analysis is applied in this research to analyse the court documents. According to Kulig
(2018), content analysis can be employed to explain the human trafficking phenomenon,
particularly the characteristics of traffickers and victims (Kulig 2018, p. 66). While thematic
analysis pays greater attention to the qualitative aspects of the data analysed, content analysis
is seen as an alternative method for investigating texts, especially those in mass
communication. Most content analysis results in a numerical description of the features of a
given text (Marks & Yardley 2004, p. 56). The basic procedure for content analysis according
to Hagan (2018) is as follows: first, analyse the selection of categories; second, carefully
include the agreed criteria; third, attentively follow the predetermined classification scheme;
and fourth, analyse the results statistically (Hagan 2018, p. 192).
For this research, I started by reading the court documents and then developed a predetermined
coding scheme to describe the characteristics of the offenders. I coded the 60 documents on
the details in the offender’s profile, modus operandi, organisational structure and trafficker
profits. Those categories were predetermined based on the literature study on human trafficking
offenders.
5.8. Ethical Considerations
Research is sensitive when potential consequences exist either to the participants directly or to
a group of individuals represented. Research is also considered sensitive if it is associated with
taboo areas such as sex, or due to the socio-political conditions within which it occurs (Siegel
& De Wildt 2016, p. 18). In researching human trafficking, I am aware of the sensitive nature
of this topic which led me to ensure the best ethical standards in conducting the data collection.
Some strategies to minimise the risks were also carefully considered in the early phases of this
research. These include selecting safer fieldwork sites and selecting “lower-risk" groups of
participants. Hence, the fieldwork was conducted in the Java area as the region was considered
safer than other regions where human trafficking occurs. I also recruited lawyers and
representatives of organisations as interview participants rather than the traffickers themselves
or their victims.
107
This research was granted RMIT ethics approval by the RMIT Human Research Ethics
Committee on 11 June 2019 (project number: CHEAN B 22173-05/19) before I departed to
Indonesia on 5 July 2019. Approval to carry out this research in Indonesia was given by the
Ministry of Home Affairs Indonesia through letter number 460.02/207/OV dated 30 April
2019. Upon my arrival in Indonesia, I visited the Office of National and Political Unity of DKI
Jakarta province to report my arrival and register. I also did the same thing when arriving in
West Java and East Java provinces at the Office of National and Political Unity for each
province before starting my fieldwork.
During recruitment I approached potential participants politely and explained my research
project carefully to give them an understanding of it and to avoid any misunderstanding and
discomfort. As mentioned before, consideration of my positionality and managing the power
imbalance were also important and helpful during the recruitment process. Before each
interview, I introduced myself and went through the process of acquiring informed verbal
consent in Bahasa Indonesia from the participants. As noted earlier, verbal informed consent
was considered as the best way to obtain consent in this context, as it was more culturally
appropriate for this project. I ensured that the participants understand the conditions of the
interview and had given their agreement to participate without any constraints. In general I
recorded the verbal informed consent as I read it out to the participants. However, some
participants did not allow me to record until they understand the conditions and agreed to be
interviewed only after I had read them the informed consent.
The names of the participants are not disclosed in this thesis, and all the interviews and all the
court documents were coded using an alpha-numerical identifier so none of the cases are
identifiable. In the event where I need to provide quotes from the interviews or court
documents, the name of the person has been changed using a pseudonym.
5.9. Conclusion This chapter has addressed the methods applied for this research and details the research
journey during the data collection process. Qualitative research was chosen as the most suitable
approach for the study of human trafficking as it uses a range of methods from social science
and supports the exploration of previously underexplored areas such as the perpetrators of
trafficking. While data was not obtained directly from the traffickers themselves, the
108
uniqueness of the data used lies in having the interviews of lawyers and representatives of
relevant organisations as its source. The data has been analysed using content analysis and
thematic analysis. As human trafficking is a sensitive research area, due consideration to ethical
conduct was given during the research planning phase and carefully implemented during the
data collection process.
109
Chapter 6: Characteristics of Human Traffickers in the Sex
Industry and Domestic Labour in Indonesia (Socio-Demographic
Background and Modus Operandi)
6.1. Introduction
The remaining chapters of this thesis present the findings from the fieldwork. While this
chapter considers the characteristics of people involved in human trafficking in Indonesia, the
following chapters examine their motivations and perspectives, and the key factors that make
people become involved in human trafficking (Chapter 7), as well as the recommendations to
prevent people becoming traffickers (Chapter 8). The data for this chapter is drawn from a total
of 60 court documents from 2018 to 2019, with additional information coming from interviews
with lawyers and organisations working to prevent human trafficking. In looking at the
characteristics of people involved in human trafficking offenses in Indonesia, section 6.2
considers the socio-demographics of traffickers - age, gender, occupation, ethnicity, place of
residence, religious affiliation, and education level. This section also sheds light on victims
who later become perpetrators themselves, on the forms of relationship between traffickers and
victims and the kinds of relationships between perpetrators in Indonesia. The modus operandi
of perpetrators - the methods of recruitment and the trafficking routes used - is explained in
section 6.3 . Section 6.4 provides a picture of the organisational structures in trafficking groups
- the type of group, size, characteristics and division of labour. Finally, section 6.5 of this
chapter sets out information on the financial benefits to the perpetrators. In keeping with the
scope of this thesis the information provided relates only to traffickers from Indonesia
operating inside Indonesia and does not relate to those based overseas, even if they are involved
in trafficking within Indonesia.
A key finding of this study shows that there are important differences in the characteristics of
individuals involved in human trafficking for domestic labour as compared to those trafficking
for the sex industry. Some of these differences lie in the origins and residence of the traffickers,
the form of relationships between the traffickers and their victims, the methods of recruitment,
the destinations and routes, and the characteristics of the groups. The characteristics of the
group is the most significant difference between these two forms of trafficking. Based on the
evidence gathered in this research, people involved in human trafficking for the sex industry
110
are usually working as individuals or in a small group of no more than three people. By contrast,
people involved in human trafficking for domestic labour are normally committing this crime
as part of a medium to large group of six to ten people. Although it is still difficult to detect the
involvement of established or sophisticated organised crime groups in trafficking for domestic
labour and the sex industry in Indonesia, some cases of trafficking in domestic labour may
involve loosely structured transnational associations.
6.2. Socio-Demographics of Traffickers
This section details the socio-demographics of the people involved in human trafficking in
domestic labour and the sex industry in Indonesia. It explores the variables of age, gender,
occupation, origin and place of residence, religious affiliation, education, prior experience as a
victim of trafficking, relationships between victims and perpetrators, and relationships between
perpetrators. As the data shows, there are significant differences in the socio-demographic
variables in term of age, origin and place of residence, occupation, and the form of relationship
with the victims between perpetrators in the two types of trafficking. Understanding the
differences in perpetrators in the two forms of trafficking enables us to create the right policies
for prevention in the future.
6.2.1. Age
The information on offenders’ age provided in the court documents is the age when the offender
went through criminal proceedings and a verdict was reached. Therefore, to obtain the age of
offenders at the time they committed the crime, I looked at their date of birth and the date when
they committed the crime.
Many of the individuals involved as perpetrators in human trafficking for the sex industry were
relatively young when compared to those for domestic labour. Court data shows that eleven
offenders (31.4%) committed human trafficking offenses in the sex industry when they were
around 18 – 24 years old, while only one offender in that age range committed the offense of
trafficking for domestic labour. While the offenders of human trafficking for the sex industry
had a wide range of ages, the majority of human trafficking offenders for domestic labour were
over 35 years old, mostly between the ages of 35 and 53. Seventeen offenders (47.2%)
committed human trafficking offenses for domestic labour in the 35 – 44 year old range.
111
The mean age of offenders in trafficking for domestic labour is 39.9 years and the mean age of
sex trafficking offenders is 33.1 years. The overall mean age for both domestic labour and sex
trafficking is 36.5 years old.
Table 2: Convicted Offenders by Age at time of Human Trafficking Offense
Age Total Sex Industry Domestic Labour
17 or younger 0 0 0
18 – 24 12 11 1
25 – 34 15 7 8
35 – 44 27 10 17
45 – 54 16 6 10
55 – older 1 1 0
71 35 36
These results are very similar to the research of Broad (2013) on individuals who committed
human trafficking in the UK, where none of the offenses were committed by young people
under 20 years old (Broad 2013, p. 171). In contrast the research by Keo (2011) on human
traffickers in Cambodia shows a small number of people under 17 years old who participated
in human trafficking. Banks and Kyckelhahn (2012) also document a small number of
trafficking suspects in the US under 17 years old.
Although the data from court documents does not show the involvement of minors in human
trafficking offense, an interview with a representative from a local NGO in Sukabumi, West
Java talked about their experience in dealing with minors who traffic others in sex industry.
Yang paling menakutkan sih, mudah – mudahan saja tidak. Apakah kejahatan sekarang itu menurun
ke usia – usia yang lebih rendah? Dulu kan anak-anak SMA, sekarang malah anak SMP. Khawatir
kalo anak - anak SD sekarang bongsor – bongsor itu kan sekarang sudah mulai pelecehan seksual.
Anak SD Itu bukan cuman korban tapi pelaku juga, karena mungkin tadi akses informasi, dari media
sosial, dari youtube kan sekarang mudah didapat ya. Mereka mungkin sebenarnya belum tau apa itu
yang dikerjakan. Hanya mengadaptasi, mengimitasi. (ORG #11)
In English:
The scariest thing is, which I hope it isn’t, the crime is nowadays committed by elementary school
students. Before, many upper-secondary or lower-secondary students were involved in it. I am
worried if elementary school kids are also committing sexual abuse (which can lead to trafficking).
Because, as you know nowadays these kids are mature earlier. Elementary school kids are not only
the victims, but they are also perpetrators. Maybe they got the idea from the internet, such as
112
YouTube or social media. Maybe they actually don’t realise what they are doing. They just imitate
what they see. (ORG #11)
In the statement above, a representative of a local NGO is expressing her worries about the
possibility of young girls who are still in elementary school becoming involved in the sex
industry and putting their school mates into sex exploitation. She also explained during the
interview that there is a big influence from easy internet access these days that might inspire
children to do this sort of thing. It is possible that these kids do not realise what they are doing,
as they only imitate what they see on the internet.
6.2.2. Gender
In line with the research results of Keo (2011) and Surtees (2008), my research indicates that
traffickers in Indonesia convicted in 2018 and 2019 were more often female than male. As
stated by Siegel and De Blank (2010) the role of women in the recruitment process to traffic
other women for the sex industry and in other forms of trafficking is not a new phenomenon
(Siegel & De Blank 2010, p. 438). In this research, from 35 offenders of human trafficking in
the sex industry, 15 were male and 20 female, while 16 males and 20 females were identified
among the traffickers for domestic labour.
Although women have been said to perform mainly lower level roles in trafficking (Broad
2015, p. 1058), this is not the case in trafficking for domestic labour in Indonesia as many
women there become the boss of the recruiters (atasan or pimpinan in Bahasa Indonesia). In
10 of the 22 cases considered women led, supervised or financed the recruitment process. For
example, a woman in West Java worked together with her husband to send people as domestic
workers to Iraq. She was assisted by at least four other recruiters and a few other people who
dealt with airport transfers, medical check-ups and the visa process (CDA #9).
On the other hand, the court documents show nine women as leaders of different groups in
trafficking for the sex industry. Four of those nine women worked in the café industry. They
acted as a madam, a mami in Bahasa Indonesia. An interview with a lawyer described the role
of one woman, whose case also appeared in the court documents, who managed a trafficking
operation in the sex industry assisted by a male intermediary (CDB #16):
Jadi otak pelakunya satu, Tina. Jadi mucikarinya mungkin Tina. Wardi ikut serta seperti mengantar,
cari langganan. Jadi teman - temannya yang misalkan supir angkot itu ditawarin. “Itu ada cewek di rumah saya”, misalkan, “kamu mau nggak?” Nanti dianterin sama Wardi ke rumahnya. (Lawyer
#2)
113
In English:
So, Tina was the brain of that activity. She was the pimp and Wardi was the one who recruited the
girls and searched for the clients. He recruited the girls whom he met at the bus station and brought
them to Tina’s house. He also brought the clients who he met to Tina’s house. (Lawyer #2)
The above statement reveals that Tina (the woman) was the pimp and the brain of the activity.
In this she was assisted by a man called Wardi who acted as recruiter and also the one who
searched for clients.
There is no specific information on why the number of female traffickers are higher than male
traffickers in Indonesia. However, based on the findings of this research, the phenomenon of
ex-domestic workers and ex prostituted persons in Indonesia becoming perpetrators is
considered as one cause of higher numbers of female traffickers.
6.2.3. Occupation
The occupations of the human trafficking offenders mentioned in the court documents can be
classified into the following categories: private sector employee, business owner or
entrepreneur, farmer, housewife, student, freelance labourer and civil servant/government
employee. In some cases, more detailed information is provided in the occupation column,
with occupations such as waitress, cashier, merchant or airline staff. Of the 36 offenders in
human trafficking for domestic labour, seven (19.4%) worked as employees in the private
sector, sixteen (44.44%) ran their own business, four (11.11%) worked as farmers, eight
women offenders (22.22%) were housewives and one offender (2.77%) was a freelance
labourer. On the other hand, of the 35 offenders in trafficking for the sex industry, seven (20%)
worked as employees in the private sector, seventeen (48.57%) owned a business, five
(14.28%) were housewives, one (2.85%) was a student, one (2.85%) worked as a civil servant,
three (8.57%) were unemployed, and one offender (2.85%) was a merchant.
114
Figure 3: Convicted offenders by occupation
In some court documents, there is more detailed information about the offender’s job in the
chronology section. In trafficking for domestic labour, offenders whose jobs were in a private
company generally worked in labour distribution companies that were sending people overseas
to work. They had roles as staff in the recruitment department, as executive director, or as
supervisor. Another offender was working as ground staff for an airline company. The court
documents also show that some offenders of trafficking for domestic labour worked as farmers.
However there are no farmers among the sex trafficking offenders. Court documents show that
people convicted of human trafficking in the sex industry normally worked in a café as owner
or staff, in a brothel as owner or staff, or in a spa centre as owner or staff. Some offenders were
also small business owners with a small stall or a clothing shop. There were a few unemployed
found among the offenders of trafficking in the sex industry, while there were none among the
offenders of trafficking for domestic work.
Whereas the court documents tended to indicate that traffickers did not work in the public or
government sector, interviews with representatives from organisations indicated that, although
they were not convicted, people from the public sector were routinely involved. Immigration
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Employee
Business Owner
Farmer
Housewife
Student
Civil Servant
Freelance labourer
Unemployed
Merchant
EmployeeBusinessOwner
Farmer Housewife StudentCivil
ServantFreelancelabourer
Unemployed
Merchant
Sex Industry 20 48.57 0 14.28 2.85 2.85 0 8.57 2.86
Domestic Labour 19.4 44.44 11.11 22.22 0 0 2.77 0 0
115
officers, police officers, local government officials (mayor or regent, community leaders, and
village leaders) are often mentioned for their involvement in human trafficking for domestic
labour (ORG #1; ORG #4; ORG #7; ORG #9; ORG #13; ORG #14).
Bupati itu juga bisa terlibat di konteks ini. Saya juga pernah tangani itu di kasus itu. Institusi
pemerintah juga bisa terlibat seperti sector pendidikan misalkan, agama juga bisa. (ORG #14)
In English: The regent can be involved in this context. I handled a case like that. Government institutions such
as the religious and education sector can also be involved. (ORG #14)
Some organisations also mentioned the involvement of religious leaders in trafficking in
domestic labour (ORG #4; ORG #14).
Jadi, awalnya saya bekerja sama dengan pengurus gereja. Jadi ada satu gereja di Indonesia yang
membawahi gereja – gereja lain. Nah kami bekerja sama dengan gereja tersebut. Nah kebetulan
pelakunya itu di sebuah kota di Jawa Timur adalah pendetanya. Yang korbannya adalah jemaatnya
yang dikirim ke Belanda. Artinya apa? Institusi agama itu juga tidak terlepas untuk menjadi media
efektif dari sindikat untuk melakukan trafficking pada calon korban. Itu bukan hanya di Kristen,
tapi juga ada di Islam. Banyak orang yang terlibat juga. (ORG #14).
In English:
I initially worked with church leaders. So, there was one big church that administered some other
churches. That church was located in East Java and the pastor of that church was involved in
trafficking from his congregation to the Netherlands. So, it means that religious institutions, such
as a church, are also used as a tool by the syndicates to recruit the prospective victims. It is not only
in Christian, but in Islam as well. There are many people involved in there. (ORG #14).
The statements above show how local government, even a regency head, and religious
institutions can become involved in trafficking. Nonetheless, the participant said that the
church leader might not have known at the beginning that their congregation were being
trafficked. As far as he knew he was helping his congregation get a job overseas. The
participant also said that some government institutions, especially in the religious and
education sectors, were sometimes involved in human trafficking operations.
Many of the instances of trafficking for domestic labour also involve the police and
immigration departments in their operations. Bribery is common in trafficking for domestic
labour in Indonesia (ORG #1; ORG #4; ORG #9). The involvement of the police in human
trafficking in Indonesia shows the scale of the operation.
116
The interviews with lawyers also revealed that people working in public transportation, such
as drivers and sailors, are sometimes implicated in human trafficking offenses without their
even knowing (Lawyer #1; Lawyer #11).
6.2.4. Origin and Place of Residence
Of the 36 human trafficking offenders in domestic labour from the court documents, most were
originally from and at the time of trafficking lived in the provinces of East Nusa Tenggara and
West Nusa Tenggara. The highest number of offenders (nine persons) were born in East Nusa
Tenggara, eight in West Nusa Tenggara, four were born in West Java and four in North
Sumatra.
The place of residence of offenders in trafficking for domestic labour was West Nusa Tenggara
(ten persons), East Nusa Tenggara (eight persons), Riau Islands (five persons), DKI Jakarta
(four persons) and West Java (four persons). Since one court document with information about
two offenders in it came from the Central Jakarta District Court, this may have some effect on
the numbers of offenders that live in Jakarta.
Table 3: Origin and Place of Residence at time of offense of Human Trafficking Offenders in
Domestic Labour (by province)
Province Origin Residence
North Sumatra 4 2
East Nusa Tenggara 9 8
West Nusa Tenggara 8 10
East Java 3 1
West Java 4 4
Central Java 2 0
Banten 1 1
Jambi 1 1
South Kalimantan 2 0
DKI Jakarta 1 4
Riau Islands 1 5
117
Figure 4: Origin and Place of Residence at time of offense of Human Trafficking Offenders in
Domestic Labour
The origin and residence of traffickers
The origin of traffickers
In West Nusa Tenggara, offenders lived in the cities of Dompu (two people), Lombok Tengah
(three people), Lombok Barat (two people), Sumbawa (two people) and Lombok Utara (one
person). In East Nusa Tenggara, the eight offenders lived in the cities of Kupang, Sumba Barat
Daya, Timor Tengah Selatan, Timor Tengah Utara, and Sumba Timur. All of the offenders
who lived in the Riau Islands were located in the city of Batam.
Some offenders who were born in Central Java, North Sumatra and East Nusa Tenggara
provinces moved to and were residing in Batam where they committed their human trafficking
offenses. Offenders who were involved in trafficking in DKI Jakarta were born in North
Sumatra, East Java, and West Nusa Tenggara.
It is clear from the statistics above that West Nusa Tenggara and East Nusa Tenggara were the
most common provinces where the offenders came from and lived. Several organisations and
the media also highlight West Nusa Tenggara and East Nusa Tenggara as major sources of
trafficking for domestic labour.
In NTT (East Nusa Tenggara) there are plenty of traffickers and plenty of vulnerable people.
Sulawesi Selatan probably the same. (ORG #9)
Another participant also asserted that:
Para pelaku ini kayak tengkulak. Sudah dikasih uang, lihat culture di mana, di NTT jadi uang sirih
pinang. Diberikan duluan sehingga orang tuanya ini menganggap omnya ini baik, tantenya baik,
118
karena mereka sudah menyiapkan uang buat mereka. Padahal omnya ini baik dalam arti duitnya tapi
jadi penjahat, karena di sana kan dieksploitasi. (ORG #1)
In English:
They act like loan sharks. They gave money and understand the culture. In NTT it is called ‘sirih
pinang’ (the money given to the victim, so they agree to be recruited). So, the parents of the victims
will think that the uncle is kind, the aunt is kind because they prepared the money for them. They
may look kind, but in fact, they are criminals. (ORG #1)
Both these statements indicate East Nusa Tenggara as a place where where human trafficking
is common. The perpetrators take advantage of the culture and the bad economic situation there
by giving money to the victims’ family as a way to recruit the victims.
According to Surtees (2008), some studies have found that some traffickers work together
because they are of the same ethnicity (Surtees 2008, p. 46). On the other hand, it is often the
case that traffickers and victims have the same ethnic background (Wijkman & Kleemans
2019; Busch – Armendariz, Nsonwu & Heffron 2009; Viuhko 2018). However this kind of
ethnicity - based relationship is difficult to prove in Indonesia. Sometimes a person’s ethnicity
can be assumed based on the person’s name, but due to cultural assimilation, government
transmigration programs in the past and other factors, it can no longer be relied on as a point
of reference.
Looking at the offenders in human trafficking for domestic labour, most of them were born in
West Nusa Tenggara which is predominantly inhabited by the Sumbawa or Samawa ethnic
groups. Some other ethnic groups such as Sasak, Dompu and Mbojo may also be among the
offenders. The offenders in human trafficking for domestic labour in East Nusa Tenggara
province are likely to be dominated by the Sumba and Boti ethnic groups. On the other hand,
Medan city in North Sumatra is predominantly inhabited by the Batak ethnic group although
people of many other ethnicities such as Javanese, Malay, Chinese, and Minangkabau also live
there. Again it is probable that those who are from Java are mostly Javanese, but it may be that
there are other different ethnicities among the traffickers there. As noted in Chapter 5, this
analysis is based on a limited set of court documents from a limited array of courts in Indonesia,
and is presented with those limitations in mind.
That said, the data from court documents indicates that the majority of human trafficking
offenders in the sex industry were born in West Java (13 persons). Another four offenders were
119
born in North Sulawesi and four offenders in East Java. The majority of them also lived in
West Java (13 persons). Most of the people who committed human trafficking in the sex
industry in West Java province lived in the cities of Garut (two persons), Bandung (three
persons), Bekasi (two persons) or Karawang (three persons). Four more offenders lived in the
Riau Islands and four lived in Bali. As noted in the US TIP Report 2019, Bali is a destination
for child sex tourism (p. 244).
Table 4: Origin and Place of Residence at time of offense of Human Trafficking Offenders in
the Sex Industry (by province)
Province Origin Residence
West Java 13 13
DKI Jakarta 1 1
East Java 4 2
South Sumatra 2 0
North Sulawesi 4 3
Central Sulawesi 0 1
West Papua 2 1
South Sulawesi 2 0
Central Java 1 0
West Kalimantan 3 3
Bali 1 4
West Sumatra 1 1
Bengkulu 0 1
Ambon 0 1
Riau Islands 0 4
Jambi 1 0
120
The data above has made it clear that there is a significant difference of origin and place of
residence between the offenders of human trafficking in the sex industry and for domestic
labour
Figure 5: Origin and Place of Residence at time of offense of Human Trafficking Offenders in
Sex Industry
The origin and residence of traffickers
The origin of traffickers
The residence of traffickers
The dominance of West Java as the place where sex trafficking offenders are born and work
was further confirmed by an organisation based in West Java.
Kalau di Jawa Barat emang ranking satu ya. Di Indonesia ranking satu. (ORG #11)
In English:
Human trafficking in Jawa Barat (West Java) is ranked first. Number one in Indonesia. (ORG #11)
Most of the offenders born in West Java are likely to belong to the Sundanese, Javanese or
Indonesian Chinese ethnic groups. Those were born in East Java might also be Javanese or
Indonesian Chinese. Those offenders in human trafficking for the sex industry who were born
in North Sulawesi (Manado city and Bitung city) are possibly from the Minahasa and Sangirese
ethnic groups. There are three offenders in the sex industry who were born in Ketapang regency
or Pontianak city in West Kalimantan, places with a majority of Melayu and Chinese
inhabitants. However as before it is very possible there are many other traffickers from different
ethnicities. As explained above, this analysis is based on a limited set of 60 court documents
from a limited array of courts in Indonesia, and is presented with those limitations in mind.
121
6.2.5. Religious Affiliation
During the interview process, it was found that religious leaders or the religious community in
Indonesia had in some cases been directly or indirectly involved in trafficking (ORG #1; ORG
#14). Therefore, for the purpose of this thesis it is worth knowing the religious affiliation of
people convicted of human trafficking. There are six religions recognised by the government
of Indonesia, Islam, Protestant Christianity, Roman Catholic Christianity, Hinduism,
Buddhism, and Confucianism. Around 87% of Indonesian citizens practice Islam.
The offenders who gave their official religion as Islam made up 53 persons from a total of 70.
In trafficking for domestic labour there were 25 Muslim offenders (69.4%), while for the sex
industry the number is 28 (80%). In addition there were four (11.1%) Roman Catholic
Christians, six (16.7%) Protestant Christians and one (2.7%) Buddhist offender found
trafficking for domestic labour. Meanwhile, five (14.3%) Protestant Christians and two (5.7%)
Hindus were found trafficking for the sex industry.
Nine out of the ten Christian offenders trafficking for domestic labour were from East Nusa
Tenggara. Christianity, Roman Catholic or Protestant, is the major religion in East Nusa
Tenggara. Likewise the three Protestant Christian offenders in trafficking for the sex industry
were from North Sulawesi where a high number of Protestant Christians live. The two
offenders in sex trafficking whose religion is Hindu are from Bali, where the majority of the
population are Hindu.
122
Figure 6: Religious Affiliation of Offenders in Human Trafficking for Domestic Labour
Figure 7: Religious Affiliation of Offenders in Human Trafficking in the Sex Industry
Studies by Quek 2018; Hell 2016; Ikeora 2016; Dutta 2011; Kwagyang and Mahmood 2015;
Van Der Watt and Kruger 2017; US Department of State 2019 have shed light on the
connection between religion and human trafficking. Some of those studies reveal that in many
cases, religion has been used as a method by the traffickers to deceive the victims. The role of
religion in human trafficking in Indonesia was also confirmed by a few NGOs (ORG #1; ORG
Islam Catholic Protestant Buddhism
Islam 69.4%
Catholic
11.1%
Protestant 16.7% Buddhism 2.8%
Islam Protestant Hindu
Islam 80 %
Protestant
14.3 %
Hindu 5.7 %
123
#7; ORG #14), and some programs have started to implement an approach through religious
institutions in Indonesia as part of efforts to prevent trafficking.
6.2.6. Education
Not all court documents provide information on education level. From the 30 court documents
on human trafficking for domestic labour, only four documents identified the offender’s level
of education. Likewise among the 30 court documents on human trafficking for the sex
industry, only five documents provide information on the offenders’ level of education.
Two offenders in human trafficking for domestic labour had completed elementary education,
three offenders had finished their lower-secondary education, while one had graduated from
upper-secondary education. Three offenders in human trafficking for the sex industry
completed their upper-secondary education, and three others completed their lower-secondary
education. Based on information from his lawyer, one offender had not completed his lower-
secondary education (lawyer #2).
Owing to the lack of available information, no conclusions about patterns and trends can be
confidently made. However, from the information above, there may a difference from the
research by Keo (2011) where more than 50% of trafficking offenders in Cambodia only had
primary school level education and around 30% were illiterate.
6.2.7. From Victim to Perpetrator
In human trafficking, women are a larger portion of convicted offenders than for other crimes
(UNODC 2016; Baxter 2019). The fact that there is a high number of women who become
perpetrators cannot be separated from the phenomenon of women transitioning from victims
to perpetrators (Baxter 2019; Wijkman & Kleemans 2019; Broad 2015). The phenomenon of
victims who participate in criminal conduct challenges the received image of “good” victim
and “bad” perpetrator (Myatt 2019, p. 556) and shows how vague the line is between victim
and offender (Siegel & De Blank 2010, p. 441).
In line with the situation noted in many studies (Baxter 2019; Wijkman & Kleemans 2019;
Myatt 2019; Broad 2015; Lo Iacono 2014; Siegel & De Blank 2010), a number of trafficking
offenders in Indonesia had also been victims prior to offending. According to court documents,
124
five of the 36 offenders in trafficking for domestic labour in Indonesia were previously victims
or had worked abroad as domestic workers, while seven of the 35 offenders in the sex industry
were identified as victims of trafficking in the sex industry or having worked as prostitutes in
the past. All the offenders indicated above are female. There is no data in the court documents
which mentions a male offender with previous experience as a victim. Most of the ex-victim
offenders in both types of trafficking who became traffickers had roles as recruiters assisting
the main offenders. There is only one case of an ex-prostitute that had engaged in trafficking
as an individual and worked by herself without a group or cooperation with other people (CDB
#14; lawyer #10).
The victims or ex-domestic workers who later become perpetrators of trafficking for domestic
labour in Indonesia had previously worked in various countries abroad. A few examples follow.
An offender became involved in trafficking in collaboration with another when both of them
had been the victims of domestic labour trafficking to Singapore previously. The organiser
asked her when she returned to Indonesia to recruit people and she would then make
arrangements to send the victims to Singapore (CDA #12). In another case an offender
recruited other people while still a victim and under exploitation herself. In this case, she
managed to send back a small amount of money to her family from her salary as a domestic
worker in Morocco. The money was then used to pay for another family member to go to
Morocco from Indonesia to work under the same boss who was exploiting her (CDA #19).
In contrast to the domestic labour examples, the victims who become perpetrators of trafficking
in the sex industry had generally worked previously within Indonesia. This is in line with the
fact that the majority of trafficking for the sex industry is for work inside the country. These
perpetrators who were previously under exploitation had worked in cafes and brothels, or
individually under informal arrangements.
Examples include that of a woman in Bekasi, West Java who participated in the recruitment of
an underage girl to work in the sex industry in Papua. She introduced that girl to the perpetrator
because she too had worked at the same place in Papua (CDB #6). In another case, a woman,
also in West Java, who had previously worked at a cafe in Bali recruited some girls, including
a minor, from her hometown in West Java to go with her to work in Bali at the same café and
entertain the guests there (CDB #17). Often in exploitative situations like this there is some
debt bondage involved which forces victims to recruit other people to work with them. The
125
case of a woman from Maluku is an example. As a victim subject to debt bondage she went
back to her home in Makassar, South Sulawesi only to recruit other women to work with her
as prostitutes in Maluku (CDB #24). This situation also confirms the problematisation of
trafficker-victim overlap in Indonesia. As informed by the current literature on trafficking in
other places, there are many cases of women who were prostitutes but also traffickers at the
same time (Levenkron 2007; Baxter 2019; Sen & Nair 2005; Siegel & De Blank 2010). This
is also true for the case in Indonesia. However, the reasons that make victims commit
trafficking at the same time in Indonesia context need to be researched further.
Previous experience of traffickers as victims or as domestic workers abroad was also confirmed
by a lawyer during interview process.
Maslikah memang dulu backgroundnya sebagai tenaga kerja wanita di Arab Saudi. Suatu ketika dia
bertemu sama temannya kemudian dia menawarkan “yuk kita mengirim orang sebagai tenaga kerja.
Kamu punya kenalan orang ga? Kalau ada bawa saja ke tempat saya, saya punya penampungannya.”
Kata klien kami. (Lawyer #4)
In English: Maslikah had a background as a migrant worker in Saudi Arabia. One day, when she met a friend
of hers, she suggested collaborating with her to send people overseas. “Do you know some people
who want to work overseas? If you have, bring them to my place.” said Maslikah, our client. (lawyer
#4)
The statement above indicates that the ex-migrant worker, who was herself possibly a victim
of trafficking, engaged in trafficking after coming back to Indonesia. She worked together
with her friend who may have worked as a domestic worker as well, to send people to Saudi
Arabia. Another lawyer in Jakarta also explained the blurred lines between victims and
perpetrators. After saying that victims acted as perpetrators, he explained the reasons as he saw
it:
Karena dia akan merekrut juga. Rata – rata mereka akan merekrut teman yang lain. Dia akan
mencari keuntungan yang lain dengan menginformasikan ke pihak yang lain. Kemudian dia akan
mendapatkan bonus. (Lawyer #7).
In English:
Because they will also recruit others. In many cases they will recruit their friends. These victims
will look to earn a bonus by informing other people (about the job). And by doing that, they will get
a reward. (Lawyer #7)
That statement shows that victims also sometimes participated in the recruitment process while
they were still victims. They were asked to do so by the traffickers and they got some payment
for the recruitment.
126
On the subject of trafficking for the sex industry, a lawyer talked about the experience of a
woman who was a prostitute and recruited minors into the sex industry business that she ran.
Dia memiliki latar belakang sebagai pelacur. Dia bukan bagian dari suatu organisasi tertentu. Jadi
cuma perorangan sebetulnya. Jadi karena dia punya usaha tertentu, seperti usaha karaoke. Kemudian
secara naluri mungkin dia ingin usahanya maju, kemudian mereka merekrut anak – anak itu.
(Lawyer #10)
In English:
She had a background as a prostitute. She did not belong to any particular criminal organisation.
She worked on her own. So, she has a kind of business like a karaoke place. Perhaps because she
naturally wanted her business to go well, she started to recruit minors. (Lawyer #10)
Again this shows someone working as a prostituted person also becoming involved in the
trafficking of others into the sex industry.
6.2.8. Relationship between Trafficker and Victim
It is not unusual to find traffickers in a close relationship with their victims. In South and
Southeast Asia, research documents that traffickers and victims in sex industry are commonly
friends, acquaintances or neighbours (Molland 2012; Derks, Henke & Ly 2006; Molland 2012;
Sen & Nair 2005). The same situation occurs in Nigeria where most people involved in
trafficking are friends and relatives of the victims (Lo Iacono 2014, p. 113). In Albania, the
majority of sex traffickers were men in an intimate relationship with the victim, their husband
or lover (Surtees 2008, p. 52). Similarly, in Finland, the traffickers are relatives, partners,
acquaintances, colleagues or friends of the victim (Viuhko 2018, p. 184-185).
In Indonesia however, it depends on the type of trafficking. There are differences between
trafficking for the sex industry where in general the victims have never had any prior
relationship with the traffickers, while most of the victims of trafficking for domestic labour
had known or had a previous relationship with the perpetrators. This too supports the finding
of this thesis that the perpetrators of the two types of human trafficking have different
characteristics.
From the 30 court documents, there are 34 victims of human trafficking in domestic labour.
The court documents indicate that in the beginning most victims did not have a close
relationship with the offenders who recruited them. Fourteen of them (41.2%) only knew the
127
offenders as persons who could help them go overseas or simply as acquaintances. They
normally go to know the offenders through family members or friends. Eight victims (23.5%)
did not know the offenders at all or had no previous relationship with the offenders until they
met them for the first time during the recruitment process. Six victims (17.6%) had a family
relationship with the offenders. This includes two cases of husbands who sold or recruited their
wives; an uncle who recruited his niece; a woman and her cousin who tricked her ex sister-in-
law into the work. Five victims (14.7%) were the neighbour of the offenders, while one victim
(2.9%) had a relationship as a girlfriend of the offender.
Figure 8: Victims’ Relationship with Offenders (Trafficking in Domestic Labour)
According to interviews with the organisation participants, family members such as parents,
siblings or uncles have taken part in trafficking the victims into domestic labour (ORG #7;
ORG #10; ORG #1). The process can also involve neighbours (ORG #7; ORG #12; ORG #13)
and friends (ORG #10; ORG #15).
Bisa suaminya, bisa orang tuanya, bisa calo, orang lain yang tidak dikenal tapi dia menawari
pekerjaan dengan iming–iming, “sudah ikut saya saja, nanti gajinya tinggi, prosesnya cepat,
biayanya murah. (ORG #12)
In English:
It might be her husband, her neighbour, or it can be other people whom she did not know before
and offered her a job. They offer a job with a promise “just follow me, you will get a high salary,
the process will be quick, and the cost is cheap” (ORG #12).
Acquaintance No previous relationship Family Neighbour Girlfriend
No previous relationship
23.5%
Family 17.6%
Neighbour 14.7%
Girlfriend 2.9%
Acquaintance 41.2 %
128
According to the interview participant, these three promises (high salary, quick process and
cheap cost) were common things that the traffickers said during recruitment. The recruiters
could be the members, neighbours, or someone who did not have a prior relationship with the
victim.
The majority of victims in the sex industry did not have a previous relationship with the
offender. Out of 49 victims recorded in 30 court documents, 41 of them (83.7%) did not know
the offenders beforehand. Normally, the victims and the offenders met each other accidentally,
through social media for example or through friends. One example is the case of two young
girls who happened to meet the restaurant owner in a restaurant in Bengkulu province. The
owner offered the girls a job working at the restaurant. After three days working there, he took
the girls to another city where he started to exploit them and sold them to a cafe owner to work
in the sex industry (CDB #23).
Four victims (8.2%) had a relationship with offenders as acquaintances before the trafficking
occurred. Another three victims (6.1%) were friends of the offenders. In this case, both victims
and offenders were living in poverty and the offenders started to sell their friends to survive.
An example of this is the case of a young girl in West Sumatra province who run away from
her home. She finally met and lived together with the offender and his girlfriend. To provide
support for their daily living, she was put into the sex industry (CDB #28). One victim (2.0%)
had a family relationship with the offender. This case happened in Tulung Agung (East Java)
where a step-aunt sold her niece who lived with her to a sex service (CDB #14).
129
Figure 9: Victims’ Relationship with Offenders (Trafficking in the Sex Industry)
The interviews undertaken with organisation representatives give some more information
regarding the form of relationship between offenders and victims. Three organisations talked
about family members such as parents, uncle or aunt, and siblings participating in putting the
victims into the sex industry (ORG #8; ORG #15; ORG #6). Friends can also be an influence
in bringing the victims into human trafficking (ORG #11; ORG #15; ORG #5 ORG #16). Two
organisations mentioned that those who were brought into trafficking by their friends were
initially members of motorcycle gangs (ORG #16; ORG #5).
In terms of child sex trafficking, there is a case in Sukabumi, West Java, when a minor was put
into the sex industry by a friend still at elementary school (ORG #11). Two organisations talked
about the active participation of neighbours or someone they know who lived in the same
village or area as a factor in bringing people into a situation where they were then trafficked
(ORG #16; ORG #6; ORG #15). In the Bongas area, Indramayu, West Java province, there
were pimps spread across the villages to recruit girls for the sex industry. This recruitment of
the girls was supported by their parents:
Iya, orang tuanya merasa bangga. Ibunya ga marah “Kurang ajar, saya pukul kamu.” Tidak, mereka
bangga. Mereka ga bangga kalau anaknya sekolah dengan benar. Kalau anaknya nganggur dibiarkan
dibawa orang dan dia dapat 1 juta. (ORG #6)
In English:
The parents feel proud if their daughter is sold or works in the sex industry. There are no words like
“Do not do that or I’ll beat you” No! Only a feeling of content. There is no pride when their kids
No previous relationship Acquaintance Friends Family
Family 2.0%
Acquaintance 8.2%
Friends 6.1 %
No previous
relationship 83.7 %
130
are successful in their study or become educated. If they see their daughter is jobless, they would
freely give her to the recruiter and get 1,000,000 rupiah as payment. (ORG #6)
The statement comes from a worker in a local NGO who had previously been a trafficker
himself and recruited girls to work in the sex industry. He was describing situations in the past
when he dealt with parents who were offering him their child. Another NGO participant
confirmed that it is common for parents to sell or offer their child to the recruiters.
6.2.9. Close Relationships among Perpetrators
A major goal of the offender is to know people, to have “contacts” and “connections” (Luong
2017; Clarke & Felson 2017). Contacts are essential for criminals both for in their criminal
pursuits and overall in general life (Clarke & Felson 2017). As mentioned by Surtees (2008),
in Southeast Asia trafficking is often personal and coordinated through personal connection
(Surtees 2008, p. 47). Some studies show the existence of close-knit relationships among
trafficking perpetrators as friends or family (Warren 2012; Broad 2013; Coluccello & Massey
2007). However, it is difficult to find evidence from the court documents as to whether strong
relationships like these exist among the people involved in human trafficking in Indonesia.
From the 22 cases of trafficking for domestic labour in 30 court documents, there are only four
that have information about family ties between offenders. There are two cases of husband and
wife (CDA #9; CDA #19); one case of aunt and niece (CDA #27); and one case where the
offender asked his sister-in-law to recruit people (CDA #14). In another case, two offenders
had a prior relationship as manager and employee in a company (CDA #4). Other than these
instances, the court documents do not mention any forms of close relationship among
offenders. Therefore, it is difficult to demonstrate if there is commonly a strong family or
friends connection among offenders in human trafficking for domestic labour in Indonesia.
Similarly, from 22 cases of human trafficking in the sex industry in the 30 court documents,
only four cases show a family relationship among the perpetrators. Two cases show
cooperation between husband and wife in a spa or café business to lead victims into the sex
industry (CDB #1; CDB #8). In another case there is cooperation among in-laws (CDB #15).
There was also an example in the court documents (CDB #21) of siblings working together
where two brothers have a spa business that employs women to give sexual services. Other
than family relationships, court documents also indicate existing professional relationships
131
before committing human trafficking offenses, such as between a boss and employee in a
brothel, café or spa (CDB #22; CDB #24; CDB #25).
6.3. Modus Operandi
A full understanding of the people involved in human trafficking and their operations must
include knowledge of their recruitment methods and their transport and trafficking routes. This
section considers that information to see if there are any differences between trafficking in
domestic labour and for the sex industry in their methods of operation. This section has shown
that most of the offenders of domestic labour trafficking use some sort of inducement or
persuasion, called iming-iming in Bahasa, on the victims, while in the case of the sex industry,
beside inducement, the offenders also engage in deception at the beginning of the recruitment,
or use force or coercion, and sometimes abduction. In term of transport and trafficking routes,
human trafficking for sex industry normally has shorter routes and simpler modes of
transportation as compared to domestic labour, because most of cases of sex trafficking
occurred within Indonesia. In contrast, the majority of victims trafficked for domestic labour
were sent overseas with major destinations in neighbouring or Islamic countries. Often, the
victims were in transit through Batam city in Riau Islands before continuing their journey to
overseas. Hence, more varied transportation modes are used to traffic people for domestic
labour.
6.3.1. Methods of Recruitment
The definition of human trafficking provided in Article 3 of the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress
and Punish Trafficking in Persons contains the elements that constitute human trafficking.
These elements are acts (recruitment, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons), means (threat
or use of force, coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, abuse of power or vulnerability, or giving
payments or benefits to a person in control of the victim) and purpose (exploitation which
includes the prostitution of others, sexual exploitation, forced labour, slavery or similar
practices and the removal of organs). Hence, the acts and the means used by the traffickers for
the purpose of exploitation in domestic labour and the sex industry are elaborated on here.
Some research in human trafficking shows that coercion and extensive violence to the victims
are used as recruitment methods (Shively et al. 2017; Surtees 2008). However, in more cases,
traffickers use other ways to recruit their victims (Davy 2015; Keo 2011). Keo explains that in
132
Cambodia, traffickers used inducement to pull the victims into trafficking. Similarly, the
recruitment methods used for human trafficking in Indonesia are predominantly persuasion or
inducement through iming-iming. This happens in both types of human trafficking. The
persuasion or inducement placed before the victims is a false hope of a better salary and life
through the job that the traffickers are offering. Looking at the way traffickers recruit their
victims through personal networks and social relationship (particularly for domestic labour)
indicates that the trafficking process is often committed by someone who knew the victims
before or had a previous connection through relatives or friends. Thus, trafficking can be
prevented by breaking this cycle. However successful prevention requires cooperation from
the various actors in society. The government of Indonesia has created programs to educate its
citizens in the need to take care and be aware if they are offered a job in this way. However,
more needs to be done in the future on ways that this program might also target potential
perpetrators. There is more about this proposal to prevent people from becoming perpetrators
in Chapter 8 below.
A. Domestic Labour
The court documents show that most of the human trafficking for domestic labour also includes
making payments or providing benefits to obtain control over another person. Many victims of
this sort of human trafficking were also subject to debt bondage. Coercion and the use of force
were rarely applied in this kind of trafficking. The information from lawyers and NGOs also
confirmed the way those trafficking for domestic labour used iming–iming, payments and debt
bondage. This is iming – iming as described by a local NGO representative:
Lebih seperti kekeluargaan ya Mereka memanipulasi, merayu, memberikan harapan. Termasuk juga
memberikan sejumlah uang juga kepada keluarganya, sehingga keluarganya merasa nyaman, terus
juga merasa tertolong. (ORG #11)
In English:
It’s done in such a familiar way. They manipulate, persuade, give hope as well as giving some
money to their family, so the family will feel comfortable and helped. (ORG #11).
From the 34 victims described in the court documents, 24 (70.6%) were recruited into the
trafficking through iming-iming. Five victims (14.7%) had some force applied or were coerced
through a demand for money if they cancelled their trip. For the remainder the court documents
contain no information about either inducement or force (14.7%).
Persuasion /
133
Figure 10: Methods of Recruitment for Human Trafficking in Domestic Labour
The process of iming-iming normally occurred with the traffickers saying that the victims
would receive a big salary or would have nice employers. One of the examples is this case of
a young lady fromWaikabubak, East Nusa Tenggara. Part of the conversation went:
Trafficker: Pikir baik -baik, mau dapat uang dari mana untuk daftar masuk kuliah nantinya?
Victim: Tunggu ibu, saya pikir – pikir dulu
Trafficker: Jangan tunggu lama pikir, soalnya pekerjaan di Jakarta sudah menunggu.
Victim: Jauh kalau kerja di Jakarta, tidak ada kerjaan yang ada di Waingapu koo?
Trafficker: Biar jauh tapi upahnya besar 1,500,000 rupiah. (CDA #7).
In English:
Trafficker: Please think carefully, how you will get money to apply for university?
Victim: Ok mam, I will think about it again.
Trafficker: Do not think too long. The job in Jakarta is waiting for you.
Victim: I think Jakarta is too far.., is there any jobs in Waingapu?
Trafficker: Although it is far, you will get a good salary, IDR 1,500,000 a month. (CDA #7)
The conversation above shows the trafficker trying to persuade a young girl to accept her offer
by convincing her that she needs the money for education fees.
Religion is also used to convince the victims. Another case comes from a village in East Nusa
Tenggara province, where the traffickers used religion as a way of persuasion. The traffickers
told the victim that according to a sign from God, she was meant to work overseas. He said to
the victim:
Persuasion/inducement Coercion/Force Unknown
Coercion / force
14.7%
Unknown 14.7 %
134
Kamu jangan takut, sebelum ke sini kami sudah berdoa, dan orang yang saat itu berdoa mengatakan
bahwa di kampung ini ada orang yang mau ikut bekerja. Nanti kamu akan mendapatkan bos yang
baik di Malaysia. Jangan bawa apa – apa, semua bos yang urus dan bos yang tanggung. (CDA #5)
In English: Please do not be afraid. Before we came to you, we already prayed. People who were praying told
us that there will be someone from this village who will work overseas. You will get a nice boss in
Malaysia. You do not need to bring anything, because the boss there will handle everything. (CDA
#5)
The above conversation happened in East Nusa Tenggara where the majority of the people are
Protestant Christian. This use of religion as a way of recruiting people was also confirmed by
an organisation representative. He also said that this kind of recruitment might be used with
any type of religion (ORG #1).
After persuading the victims, the traffickers would also often give some money to the victim
or their parents. Making payments for them or giving money aims to get consent from the
propective victim (UN Trafficking Protocol 2000, art. 3). Of the 34 victims mentioned in the
court documents, 21 of them had received some money before departure to their destination.
The amount of money varied for each victim. The table below shows the average amount of
payment that each victim received.
Figure 11: Amount of Money given to Victims during Recruitment
*Amounts in IDR. 10,000 IDR = 1 AUD or 0.71 USD.
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
Under 1,000,000
1,000,000 - 2,000,000
2,000,001 - 3,000,000
3,000,001 - 4,000,000
4,000,001 - 5,000,000
% Number of victims
135
A study by Surtees (2003) noted that human trafficking in Indonesia, especially trafficking
abroad, is often preceded by falsification of the victims' documents (Surtees 2003, p. 103). In
most cases, this relates to human trafficking for domestic labour where most of the destinations
were outside the country. Eleven out of 16 organisations talked about document falsification
as the starting point of the process. One organisation said that if a document used to migrate
abroad is incomplete or falsified, it is often an indication of human trafficking (ORG #13).
Falsifying documents such as national ID cards, passports and school certificates aims to
change the name, age, address and religion of the victims, so their process to start work,
especially if working abroad, is easier. Perpetrators increased or reduced victims’ age in their
documents so that they are eligible for work. Document falsification impacts victims'
identification in the future as it hides their real identity (ORG #8). Out of 22 cases of human
trafficking for domestic labour, 18 cases document falsification of documents during the
recruitment process.
The victims of human trafficking in domestic labour often become the subject of debt bondage.
Debt bondage is used as a way to control or trap the victims for sex or labour. At first, the
traffickers send money to victims or their families, buy them a flight ticket, meals, clothes, and
other things they need. But later, these things are counted as debt and need to be paid back
when the victims start working (ORG #2; ORG #4). Because things are charged to the victims
that they did not expect beforehand, they need to work to pay the debt (ORG #9).
B. Sex Industry
The modus operandi of recruitment used by human trafficking offenders for the sex industry
differs from human trafficking in domestic labour in that the methods are more diverse. While
most of the offenders in domestic labour trafficking use iming-iming to lure their victims with
promises of high salaries and good living conditions, in the case of the sex industry, the
offenders also use deception at the beginning of recruitment, force or coercion and sometimes
abduction. While most of the victims of domestic labour trafficking knew that they would work
as domestic workers, many victims of sex trafficking are deceived and think they have been
offered work in a restaurant or cafe instead of in the sex industry.
Based on the data from 30 court documents, 27 victims (55.1%) were recruited through iming–
iming and the victims understood that they would work in the sex industry. However, they did
not realise that they would experience various kinds of exploitation such as debt bondage or
136
isolation in the workplace. Nine victims (18.4%) experienced much more blatant deception
from the traffickers, in which they were offered work at restaurant, barbershop or as a singer
in a café. However, they ended up working in sexual service instead. Sometimes the traffickers
abducted the victims for the sex industry.
Six victims (12.2%) were abducted by traffickers. It normally happens by bringing the victims
into unknown places with the reason for travelling. For example, a girl was asked by her friend
and another offender to go to Banggai Laut regency from Bitung city. Both offenders said the
girls would go to Banggai Laut for sight-seeing. On the contrary, upon arrival in Banggai Laut,
the victim was expected to work at a café and provide sexual services to the visitors (CDB #8).
Another form of recruitment was through the use of force and coercion which happened to two
victims (4.1%). One case in Ketapang, West Kalimantan involved a woman who was forced
by her friends to provide sex services to pay off her debts to them (CDB #29). From all data in
the court documents, there are five (10.2%) cases where it is unclear how the victims were
recruited or where the victims were voluntarily recruited into the sex industry. However, since
the victims were underage (under 18 years old) these cases were considered human trafficking.
Figure 12: Methods of Recruitment for Human Trafficking in the Sex Industry
Persuasion/inducement Deception Abduction Force/Coercion Others / No Information
Persuasion or
inducement
(55.1%)
Force or Coercion (4.1%)
Other / no information (10.2%)
Force or coercion
(4.1%)
Deception
(18.4%)
Abduction (12.2) %)
137
In contrast to trafficking in domestic labour, the data from court documents show that almost
all human trafficking in the sex industry in Indonesia did not involve the falsification of identity
documents. Most of the recruitment process was faster and more spontaneous as compared to
the trafficking in domestic labour, except in one case when victims were sent to Malaysia and
had their travel documents falsified (CDB #25).
Although not as common as in the domestic labour cases, giving payment to the victims during
recruitment still happens in some cases of trafficking for the sex industry. Among the 22 cases,
there are two cases in which the victims received payment before their departure. The first case
is when three victims were sent to Papua from Bitung, North Sulawesi (CDB #7). Two victims
received IDR 1,000,000 and one victim received 1,500,000. In another case with the same
destination and origin, four victims received payment: IDR 500,000, IDR 200,000, and two
people for IDR 250,000 each (CDB #13).
Many victims of trafficking for the sex industry are subject to debt bondage, which makes it
difficult to escape from their situation. Out of 22 cases in 30 court documents, at least eight
cases involved debt bondage.
Although various studies on human trafficking around the world show similarities to Indonesia
in the methods of recruitment of victims, most of them did not examine the methods according
to the type of trafficking. Yet in order to fully address each type of human trafficking its
recruitment methods need to be understood. My research has shown that in Indonesia each
trafficking type uses different recruitment methods. The methods of recruitment used by human
trafficking offenders for the sex industry are more diverse. While most of the offenders in
domestic labour trafficking use iming-iming to lure their victims with promises of high salaries
and good living conditions, in the case of the sex industry, the offenders also use deception at
the beginning of recruitment, force or coercion and sometimes abduction. While most of the
victims of domestic labour trafficking knew that they would work as domestic workers, many
victims of sex trafficking are deceived and think they have been offered work in a restaurant
or cafe instead of in the sex industry. Hence, future studies should specifically address methods
of recruitment based on trafficking type instead of generalising for all human trafficking. The
results will help to design the right policies to combat human trafficking in the future.
138
6.3.2. Transport and Trafficking Routes
For domestic labour cases, most of the trafficking destinations were to other countries outside
Indonesia. From 22 cases, five cases of trafficking started from places in West Java -
Indramayu, Bandung, Sukabumi, and Subang. Six cases were from East Nusa Tenggara from
Kupang, Sumba Barat Daya, Timor Tengah Selatan, and Maumere. Seven cases are reported
from West Nusa Tenggara - Dompu, Lombok Tengah, Lombok Barat, Sumbawa, and
Mataram. Others came from East Java (Surabaya), DKI Jakarta, and North Sumatra (Medan).
According to the court documents used as data, many victims of human trafficking for domestic
labour were sent from Indonesia to countries with a Muslim population, especially to the
Middle East. They were sent to Iraq (two cases), Syria (three cases), Saudi Arabia (one case)
and Oman (one case). Among the three cases to Syria, there is one case when the victim was
meant to be sent to Syria but they were rescued in transit through Lebanon. Victims were also
sent to Turkey (two cases) and Morocco (one case).
Many victims were also sent to neighbouring countries, such as Malaysia. There are six cases
of trafficking from Indonesia to Malaysia for domestic labour. The victims were sent to work
in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, and Perak. However, of those five cases, in one case the victims
were rescued during the immigration process in Entikong, West Kalimantan. Besides Malaysia,
two victims were also meant to be sent to Singapore, but the trafficking operation was stopped
during the transit process in Batam, Riau Islands. One victim was also sent to Shanghai, China.
Domestic labour trafficking inside the country was found in two cases, in which victims from
East Nusa Tenggara were sent to Medan, North Sumatra and Batam, Riau Islands.
Batam in the Riau Islands was the most popular transit area for human trafficking in domestic
labour, especially to the Middle Eastern countries. From the 22 cases, there are seven cases
where the victims transited through Batam before continuing their journey and one case via
Tanjung Pinang, Riau Islands that is on the neighbouring island to Batam. After transiting in
Batam, victims would normally be transported by sea to Malaysia. Trafficking destinations for
the victims transited through Batam include Malaysia, Syria, and Morocco. Other than Batam,
victims would usually depart from Jakarta or Surabaya where there are many international
flights available.
139
Victims were trafficked by various transportation modes. In Indonesia, victims were
transported by car, motorcycle or bus to the nearest airport before they depart by plane to
Jakarta, Surabaya or Batam. However, there is a case when the victims were transported by bus
from West Nusa Tenggara to Jakarta. If the victims continued to Malaysia from Batam, they
usually took the ferry to cross the sea. They ended up in Malaysia or continued the journey to
other countries.
The fact that many victims were sent to a range of Islamic countries is contrary to the common
perception in Indonesia that most human trafficking victims for domestic labour from
Indonesia are sent to Malaysia, Hong Kong or Saudi Arabia. It was repeatedly mentioned by
most of NGOs that victims were sent to Malaysia and Saudi Arabia (ORG #1; ORG #2; ORG
#3; Org #4; ORG #5; ORG #7; ORG #8; ORG #10; ORG #11; ORG #13; ORG #14; ORG
#16). Almost none of them mentioned other Islamic countries as destinations. However, the
Middle Eastern countries have apparently become popular destinations for people working and
exploited as domestic workers nowadays.
Some research on human trafficking in Indonesia had already mentioned Batam as a transit
place (Ford & Lyons 2012; Lindquist & Piper 2007), especially for people trafficking to
Singapore and Malaysia. However, more research needs to be done to understand fully why
Batam is a transit zone for victims before they are sent abroad. Better understanding of places
like Batam that the traffickers use as transit centres will enable us to design better prevention
policies against human trafficking in Indonesia.
Human trafficking for the sex industry normally has shorter routes and simpler transportation
modes than for domestic labour, because most cases of sex trafficking occur inside the country.
There were only two cases where the victims were sent to Malaysia. From 22 cases, nine cases
of trafficking for the sex industry occurred in or started from West Java in the cities or regencies
of Bandung, Garut, and Subang. Three cases were in Bitung, a regency in North Sulawesi. The
others were from Jakarta, Makassar in South Sulawesi and Batam in the Riau Islands.
The most popular destinations for trafficking in the sex industry were Papua (three cases), Bali
(three cases) and two cases to Malaysia. Victims were also sent to Banggai Laut (Central
Sulawesi), Tretes (East Java) and Ambon (Maluku). In two cases victims were trafficked to
Papua from Bitung, North Sulawesi. The victims brought to Bali were from Garut and Subang
140
in West Java and from Jakarta. One organisation describes Papua as a sex trafficking
destination:
Ada sebuah kota di Papua, itu kota – kota brothels. Untuk melayani pekerja tambang – tambang
(ORG #1)
In English: There is a town in Papua that is a brothel city. To serve those who work in the mining industry.
(ORG #1).
So, in Papua the brothels were established to serve those who work in the mining industry.
Those brothels recruited women and girls from anywhere in Indonesia.
In human trafficking for the sex industry, the victims were not always transported from one
city to another. Somestime they were trafficked inside the same city, or even within the same
village, as happened with cases in Tulung Agung (East Java), Indramayu (West Java) and
Bengkulu city (Bengkulu). The action sometimes does not even involve the transportation of a
person to a different city or area. In these cases the victims were normally sexually exploited
in hotels, brothels, private apartments, spa places, or cafes. There are six cases according to
court documents that record sex trafficking that did not involve any movement elsewhere – in
Padang (West Sumatra), Bandung (West Java), Batam (Riau Islands), Karawang (West Java),
Tegal (Central Java), and Ketapang (West Kalimantan).
Most of the victims who were trafficked to other cities or provinces were transported by plane
- for example, the cases of trafficking from Garut (West Java) to Bali, Jakarta to Nabire
(Papua), and Bandung (West Java) to Pontianak (West Kalimantan). The victims from Bitung
(North Sulawesi) were transported by ferry or boat to Papua or Banggai Laut in Central
Sulawesi. In one trafficking case from Batam to Johor Bahru (Malaysia), the victim was also
transported by boat before continuing with land transportation to the destination. Although it
takes longer, bus was also a common mode used by traffickers to transport their victims - from
Subang (West Java) to Bali, for instance, and from Banjar (West Java) to Tretes (East Java). In
two cases the victims were transported by motorcycle.
6.4. Organisational Structure
This section explores the characteristics of the groups of traffickers. As described above in the
literature review in Chapter 3, there are different ways that traffickers work with others when
trafficking. Some work alone, some as a small group, and others in big groups. Sometimes
141
these groups are ad hoc or a loosely structured group of associates while others are highly
organised. This section looks at the types of organisational structure of people involved in
trafficking for the sex industry and domestic labour in Indonesia, and investigates whether
there are any differences in terms of organisational structure and group characteristics between
these two forms of trafficking.
6.4.1. Group Characteristics and Division of Labour
The data from the court documents and interviews shows that in Indonesia there are various
kinds of human trafficking groups. However, most of them are people who know each other,
individuals or family-run businesses with loose structures and non-hierarchical relationships
rather than an established and formal organised criminal group. The data also shows that
traffickers in domestic labour tended to work in bigger groups with a more complex division
of labour than trafficking for the sex industry. It is more common to find sole perpetrators in
trafficking for the sex industry.
A. Domestic Labour
People in Indonesia who took part in domestic labour trafficking were involved in medium to
large groups which on average consisted of three to ten people operating inside Indonesia
alone. Only in two cases was it run by just two people, one a manager and an employee in a
recruitment company trafficking only within Indonesia (CDB #4) and one the recruiter plus
someone who helped to deal with the passport and transportation (CDB #18).
Although those who were involved in trafficking for domestic labour worked together and had
trafficking as their aim, it is still unclear if they are part of a highly structured organised crime
group. Some groups may fit the criteria of organised crime as defined by UNTOC (see Chapter
3). However, a better definition provided by Van Duyne (1996) draws on the German Federal
Criminal Police Office’s definition and says that organised crime is carried out by more than
two people who cooperate with division of labour and for a long time using: 1) commercial or
commercial like structures; 2) violence or other types of intimidation; and 3) influence on
politics, media, public administration, justice and the legitimate economy (Van Duyne 1996,
p. 203). Hence, it is not clear that the groups of traffickers in Indonesia are part of established
organised crime as described by the criteria above, as they work in informal structures, have
no hierarchy and it is hard to prove that they used the three elements in Van Duyne’s definition.
142
In addition most offenders seem to take part in trafficking only because they have “a chance to
be involved”, meaning that they do not belong to any particular group for a long period of time.
Levi and Maguire (2004) feel that when the structure is flatter and the offenders team up with
one another, it may be difficult to properly classify the activities as “organised crime” even if
the crime is well organised and the members are continuing offenders (Levi & Maguire 2004,
p. 399). As Surtees (2008) explains, although many criminal syndicates are involved in cases
of human trafficking, the link between human trafficking and organised crime is not always
continuous. Human trafficking can happen outside organised crime (Surtees 2008, p. 47). In
Indonesia, each offender worked based on the opportunity to do the job and gain a quick profit.
Most group members work because they were offered the opportunity by other offenders to be
involved in a particular trafficking job. For them, it did not seem to require hard work, as many
people intend to work overseas or in another city.
One lawyer that I interviewed explained that the traffickers’ networks in domestic labour
trafficking are a kind of cooperation between an agent in Indonesia and an agent overseas. An
agent in this sense means a person or a company that can help to provide and distribute labour
(Lawyer #7).
Hubungan saling mengenal saja, agen yang di sana mengenal agen yang ada di Indonesia. Seperti
hubungan antar PT. Karena saya kenal dengan agen ini dan sudah percaya. Ada banyak agen di
sana, di sini juga. Sesama agen satu dengan yang lain tidak terstruktur, jadi berdiri sendiri – sendiri.
(Lawyer #7)
In English:
They just know each other. The agent overseas knows the agent in Indonesia. So, it is like
cooperation between companies. Because you know the agent in that country well and trust them,
you can cooperate. There are many agents there and here. Each agent works independently and
unstructured (Lawyer #7)
The lawyer mentioned that the agents work individually. They are able to cooperate because
an agent knows and trusts another agent in another country. His explanation indicates that this
type of cooperation between agents does not fit the concept of organised crime. Instead, it is
managed through personal connections, which are flexible and loosely interconnected.
It seems that there is no clear proof that trafficking in domestic labour in Indonesia is
committed by formal or high-level organised crime groups. However, some of the organisation
participants interviewed stated that big organised crime syndicates are involved in trafficking
143
in Indonesia (ORG #3; ORG #4; ORG #9; ORG #10; ORG #13; ORG #14), although it is
unclear what makes the perpetrators seem a part of organised crime groups to those NGOs. For
some of them the explanation is the involvement of police or immigration officers (ORG #4;
ORG #9), and government officials (ORG #14).
In the 22 cases of domestic labour trafficking from the court documents, five offenses were
committed with labour companies as an agent. From those five cases, three cases were
trafficking inside Indonesia. The rest of the 17 cases were committed by one individual alone
or with one person as an agent who liaised or worked with an individual in the receiving
country. One example is Merry, an agent in Jakarta. She went looking for someone to work in
China as a domestic worker. She asked a contact in Indramayu, West Java if there was a woman
in that area who would be interested in work in China. The recruiter found the victim,
introduced her to Merry and brought her to Jakarta. Merry also asked two other people for help
in dealing with the victim's passport, holiday visa, and other necessary documents. After they
arrived in Jakarta, the victim was taken to the airport for departure to Shanghai, China. In doing
this, Merry cooperated with Lisa, an agent in China. Lisa picked up the victim at the airport
and provided her with accommodation for a while until finally she found an employer for the
victim (CDA #11).
A person who becomes an agent can also be someone who was previously a migrant worker
overseas. Because they have established links and have worked with people in that country,
they feel like they can ‘help’ other people in Indonesia who need a job overseas, while also
receiving some benefit from the recruitment. One lawyer gave the case of her client who came
back from Saudi Arabia. She had established a relationship with an agent in Saudi Arabia. So,
when she returned to Indonesia, she worked in collaboration with that person and recruited
people to work there (Lawyer #4).
Agents in Indonesia routinely worked with other people who helped them to recruit and traffic
people. Most agents were located in Jakarta and Batam, Riau Islands. So they worked in
cooperation with people who were located in places where many people want to work overseas,
such as West Nusa Tenggara, Nusa Tenggara, and West Java. These people helped the agent
to recruit others. In one case of trafficking, an agent had between one and three recruiters
helping at various times. The agents were also assisted by other people who helped with
victims' health check-ups, dealing with passports and falsification of documents, providing
144
accommodation in a safe house, dropping off to the airport, picking up at the airport and from
other transit points. An agent might also have assistance from someone at the airport to help
with the flight check-in. For example, Sally was an agent in Jakarta who sent a victim to
Morocco. Initially she asked Fahri and Mirna who were located in Dompu, West Nusa
Tenggara to recruit someone who wanted to work abroad. Ahua, another person helping Fahri
and Mirna, made first contact with the victim who was willing to go abroad. Mirna and Fahri
took over the victim from Ahua and interviewed her. They also helped in the medical check-
up and later dropped her at the airport. Bakri was involved in this offense by dealing with
victims' travel documents. The victim flew in transit to Batam where she was picked up by
Talib, who also went to Malaysia with her and dropped the victim off at Kuala Lumpur airport
for the flight to Morocco (CDA #19).
Although most female traffickers worked as recruiters, some female traffickers also had a role
as an agent. Female traffickers also did other different jobs such as accompanying the victims
for a medical check-up, bringing the victims to the agent’s house, dropping the victims to the
airport or harbour, accommodating victims at the safe house and arranging passports. For male
traffickers, their jobs were more about handling passports and false documents, dropping off
and picking up at the airport, accompanying victims from one place to another, monitoring the
overall process and also taking part in the recruitment process.
Although the traffickers cooperated with each other, it is unclear if each member knows every
other person within their trafficking ring. Normally they worked in the group because they
were asked by other traffickers to do one particular job such as recruiting people in the
community or falsifying the documents. For example, in a case of trafficking from Sukabumi
to Malaysia, Yurina the recruiter introduced the victim to Ali and Jami who were located in
Jakarta and brought the victim to them. In Jakarta, the victim met Jami and Ali. Jami then
informed Iman who was managing the whole process. Another person named Alif assisted in
falsifying the victim's documents. The victim was brought to Batam and then Bengkalis before
being being picked up from there by Sunardi and taken to Kuala Lumpur. In Kuala Lumpur,
another person, Taufan received her and brought her to the actual employer who later exploited
her. In this case, Yurina’s role was just to recruit the victim and she only knew Jami and Ali.
She did not know about all the other perpetrators - Ilman, Alif, and Taufan. Similarly, Alif,
who made the false documents only knew Jakin as someone who asked him to make
documents. He did not know the other traffickers (CDA #17).
145
B. Sex Industry
It is easier to describe the characteristics of human trafficking for the sex industry in Indonesia.
Compared to trafficking in domestic labour, the perpetrators of trafficking for the sex industry
worked in smaller groups. The standard number of persons in each trafficking network was
one to three people, except for the cases of trafficking from Garut to Bali and trafficking in the
spa center in Karawang that involved more people.
Because most trafficking in the sex industry happened inside the country, the traffickers could
have a simpler structure. They could also use a simple process that did not require long
planning, and could act spontaneously when the opportunity arose. Most of the victims were
also transported directly to their destination without any delays or transits through somewhere
else.
Trafficking in the sex industry was committed by café or pub owners, brothel owners, spa
centre owners, and individual traffickers. Most of the individual traffickers are pimps who want
the victims so they can offer them to the clients they find for them. They usually operate alone
or with at one other person to put the victim where they can be exploited. On the other hand,
five of the eight cases of trafficking for café or pub sex work were carried out by three people.
These groups have a similar structure - café owner, café employee and recruiter, or café owner
and two recruiters. Similarly, in the cases of trafficking for the sex industry in a brothel, the
trafficking was usually organised by the brothel owners with assistance from recruiters or other
intermediaries. One case of trafficking from Garut to Bali had a more complicated structure,
as it consists of one brothel owner, one middleman, two recruiters, a manager for the recruiters
and a person that makes false documents and handles flight tickets (CDB #10). Three cases of
trafficking in spa centres were found and they involved spa owners, spa managers, spa
employees, and recruiters.
146
Figure 13: Forms of Trafficking in the Sex Industry in Indonesia
As the diagram above shows, many victims in Indonesia were trafficked into cafés or pubs and
generally the victims were trafficked by an individual who made all their own arrangements.
Hence, further policy for the prevention of trafficking in the sex industry might focus more on
cafes and on the individuals who are trafficking for their own benefit.
Unlike trafficking for domestic labour, there are no particular roles for women in trafficking
for the sex industry. The numbers of women and men in the various roles as café owners,
brothel owners, recruiters, and individual traffickers were almost equal.
6.5. Traffickers’ Profit
Not all court documents mention the money received by each offender. However, from the
court documents, it can be seen that three people earned under IDR 1,000,000 for the role as a
recruiter for trafficking in domestic labour. Ten people earned around IDR 1,000,000 to IDR
2,000,0000. Four people earned IDR 2,000,000 to IDR 5,000,000 and two people were paid
between IDR 5,000,000 and IDR 10,000,000. Some recruiters sometimes also had other jobs,
such as bringing the victims to the airport, putting the victims into accommodation in the safe
house, and also dealing with their documents. As someone who had the limited role of helping
at the airport, one person received IDR 500,000. But another case shows that a person received
IDR 5,000,000 for the same job. Those who arranged passport and made false documents
received the smallest payment. The four people that arranged passports and/or false documents
Trafficking for café/pubs Trafficking for brothels Trafficking for spa center individual trafficking
36.7%31.8%
13.6% 18.2 %
147
were paid IDR 150,000, IDR 300,000, IDR 500,000 and IDR 1,800,000 for their work. For
those traffickers organising accommodation for the victims and ensuring their successful
departure at the airport or harbour earnings were IDR 4,000,000, IDR 3,000,000 and IDR
2,000,000. One labour company earned IDR 2,000,000 for recruiting a victim to work abroad.
An NGO in Jakarta said that a recruiter earned IDR 2,000,000 to 3,000,000 for each person; an
NGO in Jember put the payment for recruiting people at IDR 2,500,000; an NGO in Cirebon
said it was around IDR 3,000,000 to IDR 5,000,000, while an NGO in Blitar estimated that the
fee was around IDR 500,000 for recruiting one person.
People involved in trafficking for the sex industry received very little benefit when compared
to those who work in trafficking for domestic labour. These traffickers usually received less
than IDR 500,000 per person. The major exception was the case of trafficking from Garut,
West Java to Bali that involved six people including the brothel owner and in this the main
recruiter received IDR 1,500,000, the middleman who brought the victims to the brothel owner
received IDR 4,000,000, and IDR 150,000 was paid to the man who dealt with the tickets and
false documents. In other cases of sex trafficking, a recruiter received from IDR 100,000 to
IDR 120,000 for sending victims to brothels and two brothel owners received IDR 150,000 to
250,000. Those who recruited persons to work for a café (four different cases) received at most
IDR 500,000. One recruiter admitted that she did not receive any benefit as she just wanted to
help the café owner who had been kind to her so far. Meanwhile, the recruiter in trafficking for
a café in Malaysia received IDR 1,000,000 and the agent in Indonesia received MYR 300, the
equivalent of IDR 1,015,000.
Those who traffic people into the sex industry individually without any affiliations with
brothels, café or spa received the least benefit. Four traffickers in this sort of case only received
IDR 50,000, two traffickers received 100,000 and one trafficker received 500,000 from
trafficking their friends, family or other people. Only two traffickers received more than IDR
500,000, (IDR 700,000 and IDR 800,000) from their trafficking. The two last amounts were
higher because the victims owed a debt to both traffickers, and the money given to the
perpetrators include the payment of debt from the victims.
148
A spa center in Karawang, West Java received IDR 110,000 every time its staff gave a sex
service. Meanwhile a recruiter for spa center in Indramayu, West Java received IDR 1,000,000
for each woman or girl he could bring to the spa owner.
An ex-trafficker who at the time of the interview was working for an NGO said that in the
1990s when he was actively recruiting girls in the village, he received IDR 10,000 for each
hour that his victims worked (ORG #6).
Iya, chanel seperti pegawai negeri, nongkrong aja digaji. Anak buah 10 hitung saja. Setiap hari kalau
anak – anak itu dapat 20 jam, jadi 20 jam dikali 10 ribu. (ORG #6)
In English:
We, the channel / recruiter felt like a government employee back then. We didn’t do anything but
got paid. You can calculate how much I earned if in one day those girls worked for 20 hours. 20
hours x IDR 10,000. (ORG #6)
The statement above shows that sometimes the trafficker received payment based on each
transaction that the victim made.
While an NGO in Bandung, West Java said that from 2010 to 2013 recruiters normally earned
IDR 500,000 to IDR 1,000,000 for recruiting one victim. (ORG #5)
6.6. Conclusions
The data shows that there are several important differences in characteristics between people
involved in trafficking for domestic labour and for the sex industry in Indonesia in terms of
age, origin and place of residence, occupation, the form of relationship with the victims, the
characteristics of the group they work in, the recruitment methods and trafficking routes.
People trafficking for the sex industry are relatively younger. Many of the people involved in
sex industry trafficking originally come from and many still live in West Java. In contrast, most
of the people involved in trafficking for domestic labour come from and still live in East Nusa
Tenggara or West Nusa Tenggara. In terms of occupation, people trafficking in the sex industry
gave their job as a civil servant, as student, as well as unemployed, while there were some
farmers found among traffickers for domestic labour. Other people engaged in trafficking for
the sex industry were the owners or employees of the spa centres, cafés and brothels where the
victims would work. Meanwhile some of those who involved in domestic labour trafficking
worked in recruitment agencies. Immigration officers, police officers, local government
149
officials (mayors or regents, community leaders, and village leaders) and faith leaders were
also implicated in human trafficking for domestic labour. A previous relationship with the
victim was common among offenders of trafficking for domestic labour.
The methods of recruitment used by human trafficking offenders for the sex industry are more
diverse than those for human trafficking in domestic labour. While most of the offenders in
domestic labour trafficking use iming-iming to lure their victims with promises of high salaries
and good living conditions, in the case of the sex industry, the offenders also use deception at
the beginning of recruitment, force or coercion and sometimes abduction. In terms of transport
and trafficking routes, human trafficking for the sex industry normally has shorter routes and
simpler transportation modes compared to trafficking for domestic labour, but this is because
most of cases of sex trafficking are within the country while the majority of trafficked victims
for domestic labour were sent overseas with major destinations the neighbouring countries or
Islamic countries, such as those in the Middle East. Often, the victims were taken in transit
through Batam in Riau Islands before continuing their journey overseas. Hence, more diverse
transportation modes are used to traffic people for domestic labour.
Traffickers in domestic labour tended to work in bigger groups with more complex division of
labour than trafficking for the sex industry. Sole perpetrators are more commonly to be found
in trafficking in the sex industry. The data shows that the majority of human trafficking
offenders for the sex industry and for domestic labour were not professional criminals. Instead,
they got involved in trafficking if given an opportunity to recruit other people, or in response
to an order from another person (to help at the airport for instance, or make false documents).
Most human trafficking cases were operated by loosely structured groups with more ephemeral
and non-hierarchical relationships rather than formal and hierarchical-type organised criminal
groups, although some organisation representatives explained that this type of organised crime
groups were involved in some trafficking offenses. Hence, the variation in offenders of human
trafficking for domestic labour and the sex industry in Indonesia is similar to the picture
presented in the study by Viuhko (2018), that the diversity of these offenders has to be
acknowledged. Remaining stuck in the stereotypical discourse of “innocent victims” and
completely “evil and inhumane traffickers” without understanding their real background and
characteristics will only lead to inappropriate policies and programs in the future.
150
With this understanding of the differences in the socio-demographic characteristics of people
involved in trafficking for the sex industry and for domestic labour, as well as the differences
in their methods of operation, and in their groups, it is clear that prevention efforts to deter the
perpetrators of human trafficking perpetrators cannot be generalised but must be tailored
specifically to fit the different forms of human trafficking. They need to be designed in light
of the specific context in which the trafficking occurs.
All the discussion and recommendations on further efforts to prevent people from trafficking
are presented below in Chapter 8 of this thesis. The next chapter (Chapter 7) will discuss the
the traffickers’ motivations and perspectives, and the other factors that make people commit
these offenses and become involved in human trafficking for domestic labour and the sex
industry.
151
Chapter 7: Motivations, Perspectives and Other Factors
Influencing Individuals’ Involvement in Human Trafficking for
the Sex Industry and Domestic Labour in Indonesia
7.1. Introduction
In the previous chapter, I discussed the characteristics of people convicted of human trafficking
for the sex industry and domestic labour in Indonesia. The chapter examined various socio-
demographic variables, their modus operandi, organisational structures, and the profits they
earned. This chapter will answer the second research question: “What are the motivations,
perspectives, and other key factors influencing individuals’ involvement in human trafficking
for the sex industry and domestic labour in Indonesia?” As human trafficking is often regarded
mainly as a transnational organised crime, financial gain is seen as the major reason why people
traffic others (Shelley 2010; Wheaton, Schauer & Galli 2010; Kara 2011; Varney 2013). In
some media and government reports, traffickers are often depicted as criminals making a
billion dollars profit a year (ILO 2014; UNODC 2007). However, studies such as those of
Molland (2011) and Keo (2013) have shown that this is not always the case, especially in
developing countries where traffickers earn minimal profits. This chapter seeks to gain an
improved understanding of the participants in human trafficking, one that is not founded on
stereotypes. It shows that people committed and involved in human trafficking in Indonesia
are not entirely individuals that aim for bigger profits but inclined to commit trafficking due to
number of various economic socio cultural factors.
Currently there are few studies that consider the factors other than economic factors that trigger
people into committing the offense. Shively et al. (2017), Molland (2011), Serie et al. (2018),
and Webb and Burrows (2009) show that people who have committed trafficking for the sex
industry think of their actions as a way of helping others. Likewise Asbill (2017) explains that
in Bulgaria people decide to commit trafficking due to support or influence from their family
(Asbill 2017, p. 29). Hence, this study will contribute to current knowledge by giving an insight
into what motivations and factors influenced people to become involved in human trafficking
for domestic labour and the sex industry in Indonesia. These will be looked at from various
angles with consideration given to economic, socio-cultural and other relevant factors. It is
152
hoped that the resulting picture of human traffickers in Indonesia will be more nuanced than
the one that presently prevails.
The exploration undertaken in this chapter is based on themes that appeared out of the 27 semi-
structured interviews held in DKI Jakarta, West Java, and East Java with lawyers and
organisation representatives. The interviews in Indonesia indicated that the factors influencing
people to become involved in human trafficking for the sex industry and domestic labour could
be classified into four categories: economic benefit, socio-cultural influence, victim’s
behaviour, and becoming inadvertently involved in trafficking. Some of the findings are similar
to those already found in the existing literature on people involved in human trafficking,
namely economic motives (maintaining lifestyle; lack of job opportunities; easy way to make
money quickly; the temptation of big money); socio-cultural influences (lack of legal
awareness; intention to help others); and the victims’ own behaviour and influence. However
this research noted other factors and motives, such as other socio-cultural influences (to be seen
as a champion, young girls as breadwinners and a source of family pride in some places in
West Java); and becoming inadvertently involved in trafficking, which can be considered as
new findings.
This research noted that the main reason why people are involved in human trafficking in
Indonesia is for economic benefit or money. Even though this is the main motivation for most,
it is also different from the dominant idea that millions of dollars of profit are involved. There
are also some differences in the motivation of gaining financial benefit from trafficking
between people involved in trafficking in the sex industry and for domestic labour. In the sex
industry people committed trafficking for insignificant or modest amounts of money, because
of lack of other job opportunities or as an easy way to make money quickly. In contrast, those
who were involved in trafficking in domestic labour participated in the crime due to the
temptation of larger profits.
Besides economic motivation as a primary factor, there are found a number of secondary
factors for people becoming involved in human trafficking which fall under the category of
socio-cultural influence, namely lack of legal awareness and the intention to help others to get
a job. The intention to help others get a job was found more among people involved in
trafficking for domestic labour. However in some cases in parts of West Java, girls are
trafficked for the sex industry by the family due to their pride in their daughter, because it
153
implies that they are beautiful and wanted. In addition, girls in the West Java culture are also
expected to contribute as a breadwinner to the family and this pressures them to take work as
domestic workers and prostitutes, and thus makes it more likely that they will become victims
of trafficking. There are other secondary reasons that contribute to the desire to earn money,
such as the wish to maintain a certain lifestyle. Sometimes it the victim’s own behaviour that
acts as a secondary factor in making people decide to traffic others.
Lastly, another factor noted, admittedly not that significant, is the wish to be perceived as a
champion in their society as they ‘help’ people get a job. There are also the cases where people
have become inadvertently involved in trafficking without realising it. One of the contributions
of this thesis is an improved understanding of all those factors which have hitherto largely been
overlooked in the studies of human trafficking in Indonesia.
In line with the explanation given above, this chapter will be divided into six sections. After
this introduction, the traffickers’ motivation to gain economic or financial benefit is elaborated
in Section 7.2. Section 7.3 will describe those factors contributing to people’s participation in
trafficking from the angle of community attitudes and perception. Where the victims’ own
behaviour causes people to become involved in trafficking will be explained in Section 7.4.
The last factor, inadvertent involvement in trafficking, will be elaborated in Section 7.5.
7.2. Economic Benefit
There is no doubt that economic benefit is often considered as the main reason why people
commit human trafficking (Shelley 2010; Wheaton, Schauer & Galli 2010; Kara 2011; Varney
2013). Similarly, the 27 interviews conducted with lawyers and organisation representatives
show that the majority of traffickers engaged in human trafficking for economic benefit. Money
is the main factor underlying why people commit trafficking offenses and are involved in
trafficking for the sex industry and domestic labour in Indonesia. According to the studies on
human trafficking, often people engaging in trafficking for economic benefit are affected by
other economic factors, such as poverty and lack of job opportunities (Keo 2011; Broad 2013;
Shen 2016; MacCarthy 2016; Asbill 2017; Levenkron 2007), desire to maintain a lifestyle
(Shen 2016; Rijken, Muraszkiewicz & Van de Ven 2015), desire to earn big profits (Levrenkon
& Codish 2007), and desire to gain money easily (Rijken, Muraszkiewicz & Van de Ven 2015).
Similarly, in the 27 interviews when talking about the Indonesian traffickers’ motivations to
154
gain money the same reasons were put forward - the need to maintain their lifestyle, lack of
job opportunities, the temptation to make money easily, and the lure of big profits. Of those
four supporting factors, lack of job opportunities or the need to earn to survive, and easy money
were identified as the main factors rather than maintaining a lifestyle or earning big profits.
This section shows that three of these reasons - to maintain a lifestyle, to survive economically,
and to earn money easily applied to trafficking for both domestic labour and the sex industry.
However involvement in human trafficking in order to earn a big profit seems to be a factor
found only in human trafficking for domestic labour, as the data from the interviews does not
clearly show big profits as a reason for becoming involved in human trafficking for the sex
industry.
7.2.1. Maintaining Lifestyle
In addition to the more commonly cited economic factors like poverty that lead to people
becoming involved in trafficking, another reason to engage in trafficking that has been found
in Indonesia is to maintain a certain lifestyle. This reason was also found by Shen (2016) in
research on trafficking by women in China, and Rijken, Muraszkiewicz & Van de Ven (2015)
too note that one of the reasons people are involved in human trafficking in Romania is to
improve their lifestyle (Rijken, Muraszkiewicz & Van de Ven 2015, p. 54). In this particular
case of trafficking in the sex industry the lawyer who handled the case felt that the offender
already had enough resources to meet their daily needs, but she needed more money to sustain
her desired lifestyle:
Tapi saya lihat, dia memang orangnya hedon dan gayanya ‘wow’. Jadi menurut analisa saya, dia
melakukan itu karena gengsi. Teman-temannya juga bergaya seperti itu. Sehingga kalau
pekerjaannya hanya menjual pop ice, dia tidak cukup, karena bergaulnya sama orang-orang seperti
itu. Dia juga mengakui kalau dia sebenarnya tidak berniat menjual, tapi butuh untuk gaya hidup.
(Lawyer #2)
In English: I saw that she is a kind of hedonist and had an intense fashion style. So according to my analysis,
she did it because of prestige. Her peers also behaved like that. So, if her job was only selling
milkshakes, it will not be enough for her, because she socialised with those kind of people. She also
confessed that she did not intend to trade the girl. But she needed to do it to sustain her lifestyle.
(Lawyer #2)
As the lawyer explains it, the offender trafficked a girl for sex services to maintain a certain
lifestyle. The offender was seeking money to pursue a more comfortable lifestyle because of
155
the influence of her peers. While her basic daily needs were met, she needed more income to
maintain the higher lifestyle that she wanted.
In like manner, people also became involved in human trafficking for domestic labour because
they were influenced by their neighbours or friends who had became successful as a result of
trafficking and could buy the things that they dreamed of. So those people started to imitate the
behaviour of their peers by trafficking others. As described in interview by a lawyer:
Jadi ada pengaruh orang lain tentunya, biasanya dari kawan-kawannya yang sudah sukses. Yang
tadinya tidak punya apa-apa, sekarang punya apa-apa. Tadinya tidak punya motor, sekarang punya
motor baru. Kan jadi tertarik ya.(Lawyer #5)
In English: So, surely there is an influence from other people, normally from those who already successful.
Those who had been poor and had now become rich. Those who did not have a motorcycle, and
now have a new motorcycle. So that was attractive to them. (Lawyer #5)
As the lawyer implies, some people were tempted to become involved in trafficking as they
saw the success and the changes in lifestyle it had brought their neighbours, as exemplified by
owning a new motorcycle. The improvement in lifestyle of their peers pushed them to take up
the same activity i.e. trafficking.
7.2.2. Lack of Job Opportunities
Research on human traffickers in Europe shows that people become traffickers due to the
economic conditions in their country such as widespread poverty or lack of job opportunities
(Asbill 2017, p. ii). Similarly, research in various countries also shows that traffickers
themselves participated in human trafficking out of desperation due to unemployment or
poverty. There are examples from the research by Shen (2016) on child trafficking in China
where the traffickers were poor peasant workers and farmers; from Keo (2011) on people
undertaking human trafficking in Cambodia due to poverty and destitution; from Broad (2013)
on human trafficking in the UK carried out by immigrants who were finding it difficult to
obtain a livelihood and the means to survive; from McCarthy (2019) on child trafficking in
Russia, where parents would sell their child due to financial difficulties; and from Levenkron
(2007) on human traffickers in Israel who experienced financial hardship and bankruptcy
before they began trafficking.
The semi-structured interviews with organisation representatives and lawyers in Indonesia
revealed that human traffickers in Indonesia also participated in the offense for economic
156
survival, and that this applied to both forms of human trafficking. One underlying factor is
difficulty in finding a proper job. Some participants talked about the experience of traffickers
in the sex industry that decided to traffic others due to economic hardship and the difficulty of
finding a job. Sometimes the traffickers had a job before trafficking but the income from those
jobs was not enough to live on.
Ya awalnya memang mereka sulit mencari pekerjaan. Mereka memiliki pekerjaan tapi tidak
mencukupi (Lawyer #1)
In English: It started when they felt it difficult to find a job. They had a job but it was not enough to meet their
daily needs (Lawyer #1)
Iya, latar belakangnya karena ekonomi. Karena susah cari kerja dan cari mata pencaharian. Jadi
mereka cari cara gampang dengan menjual anak orang. Uangnya dapat, semuanya dapat. (Lawyer
#2)
In English: Yes, the background is economic. He had difficulty finding a job and making a living. So he took
an easy way by selling girls. He got money and everything by doing that. (Lawyer #2).
Just as in trafficking for the sex industry, other participants also identified the shortage of job
opportunities and lack of economic resources as trigger factors for why people decided to
become involved in trafficking for domestic labour.
Karena himpitan ekonomi, lapangan pekerjaanpun tidak ada. Apapun cara untuk mendapatkan uang
pasti mereka lakukan. (Lawyer #11)
In English:
Due to economic pressure, and there was no job opportunity available. So they do anything they
can to get money. (Lawyer #11)
In some parts of Indonesia, the general education level is low and this affects the ability of
people to get a proper job. Due to their lack of education, it is more difficult for them to get a
job or start a new business. The low average income in areas like this makes people choose to
get involved in trafficking.
Secara teknis, mungkin karena rata-rata tingkat pendapatan masih rendah. Ini sangat berpengaruh
secara ekonomi. (ORG #11)
In English: Technically, maybe because the average income level is low, and it affects their economic ability.
(ORG #11)
A lawyer talked about repeat offenders who commit the offense more than once because of the
difficulty to find a proper job after they are released from the jail:
157
Setelah keluar penjara biasanya mereka berfikir “Aduh cari kerja itu susah, ya sudah coba-coba lagi
lah. Mudah-mudahan aman”. (Lawyer #5)
In English: After released from the prison, they normally think that finding a job is a hard thing, so they will
try to do it again (traffic others) and hope this time they are safe. (Lawyer #5)
It means that the lack of job opportunities also affects whether people becoming recidivists.
The lack of jobs not only inspires people to participate in trafficking but can also bring people
to reoffending after they are released from the prison. Therefore, increasing job availability and
job skills should become a high priority in any efforts to prevent human trafficking. The lack
of job opportunities and limited family incomes have tempted people to participate in
trafficking, both for domestic labour and for sex trafficking. In Indonesia, this lack of job
opportunities also leads to people seeking work outside their town or overseas and that makes
them susceptible to being trafficked, when others who have decided to stay in their home town
can easily took advantage of their situation by participating in human trafficking.
7.2.3. Easy Way to Make Money Quickly
As seen in the research by Rijken, Muraszkiewicz & Van de Ven (2015), some interview
participants also noted that trafficking in human beings can be a shortcut to getting money.
Rijken, Muraszkiewicz & Van de Ven (2015) describe participation in human trafficking as an
opportunity to earn money easily just by sitting in a train for no more than a few hours (Rijken,
Muraszkiewicz & Van de Ven 2015, p. 54). The people who committed the offense normally
want to gain money quickly and easily, and through something that does not require hard work.
Two interview participants talked about how people in Indonesia are motivated to traffic others
for the sex industry in order to gain money easily:
Adakalanya dia ingin pekerjaan yang ringan, tapi gajinya besar untuk mencukupi kebutuhannya
yang sesuai dengan lingkungannya. Sedangkan dia tidak mencukupi dari taraf pendidikan (Lawyer
#1)
In English:
Sometimes she wanted an easy job but with a high income that could meet her standards.
Meanwhile her education level does not support that. (Lawyer #1)
In another case, a lawyer explained why an offender would prefer to traffic, rather than
undertake other forms of more laborious work:
Kemungkinan dia sudah keenakan karena tidak merasa capek melakukan hal itu (Lawyer #9)
In English:
158
Possibly he felt comfortable as he was not feeling physically tired from doing that. (Lawyer #9)
Similarly, the traffickers in domestic labour also committed their offenses because they could
get money easily rather than by working hard.
Ketika mereka memperkerjakan, apalagi memalsukan data, mereka tau bahwa itu adalah unsur
tindak pidana. Mereka mau melakukan karena tergiur dengan gampangnya mereka menganggap
cari uang. Mereka tidak mau kerja yang legal. (Lawyer #5)
In English: When they employed the people and falsified their data, they knew that it was a criminal offense.
They were willing to do that because they were tempted by the idea of gaining money easily. They
don’t want a legitimate job. (Lawyer #5).
Further, he also informed that:
Mereka tertarik dengan gampangnya mendapatkan uang dengan merekrut. Tinggal mengiming-
imingi, mencari orang, dan menyerahkan, mereka sudah mendapat sekian. (Lawyer #5).
In English:
They were tempted by the ease of gaining money by recruiting others. They just induced people,
got people who needed a job, and handed them over. They already earned money by doing that.
(Lawyer #5).
These examples above reveal that some people were inspired to take up human trafficking
because it allows them to gain money easily. As one interview participant said, all the people
committing trafficking had to do to earn some money was recruit the victims and hand them
over to someone else. They are happy to do this, as they do not need to do any hard work
(Lawyer #9).
7.2.4. Big Profits
As a serious crime, it has been reported that human trafficking has generated billions in profit
for the traffickers (Keo 2011; Belser 2005; FATF-APG 2018; Kara 2009; Aronowitz,
Theuermann & Tyurykanova 2010). While some academics and practitioners dispute that this
applies in all cases (Keo 2011; Molland 2014; Bouhours et al. 2012), in some cases the amounts
of money to be earned still make it an attractive choice. For example, research by Levrenkon
& Codish (2007) shows that some traffickers chose to commit trafficking because they wanted
to be rich (Levrenkon & Codish 2007, p. 76). The same thing also happens in Indonesia where
the large amounts of money, far beyond the average wage, encourage people to participate in
trafficking. However, as explained in the previous chapter, in Indonesia the higher rates of
income from trafficking are mostly received by people from trafficking for domestic labour,
and the people trafficking in the sex industry normally earn less money. Therefore, the
159
temptations of big profits do not appear to be the main reason for them to traffic others for the
sex industry.
Some participants revealed how people were attracted by the amount of money they would
earn if they were involved in trafficking for domestic labour.
Kembali lagi ke masalah ekonomi. Dengan uang 2200 USD, itu sangat menggiurkan bagi dia.
Mungkin itu yang melatarbelakangi. (Lawyer #4)
In English: Back to the economic problem. 2200 USD is very tempting for her. Maybe that is the underlying
reason. (Lawyer #4)
Others described how big a profit the traffickers make by calculating how many people they
have successfully recruited. For example:
Kalau dia bisa meyakinkan orang yang mau pergi, dia mendapat 500 ribu. Kalau dapat sepuluh
kira-kira dia akan mendapat lima juta. Jadi berfikirnya seperti itu. (ORG #7)
In English: If he can convince a person to go, he will get 500 thousand rupiahs. If he gets ten, that means he
will get five million rupiahs. So that is the way he thinks. (ORG #7)
As described in the previous chapter, the traffickers earn a significant amount of money for
successfully recruiting people, as they get paid for each person they are able to recruit. Another
participant expressed the opinion that the profit they earn makes them forgot that they are
trading a human being:
Beberapa orang masa bodoh, yang penting keuntungan besar. Karena bisa kami simpulkan, ini
adalah sebuah bisnis yang menggiurkan. Tapi dia lupa yang diperdagangkan itu siapa, yang
dibawa itu siapa? Manusia. (ORG #3)
In English: Some people just don’t care as long as they can earn a big profit. Because we can see that this is a
lucrative business. However, do they forgot what they are trading, the one they are transporting?
A human. (ORG #3)
The statements above describe people becoming involved in human trafficking for domestic
labour with the intention of earning a big profit. On the other hand, it is rare to see people in
human trafficking for the sex industry in Indonesia with the aim of earning big money. Most
of those engaged in trafficking for the sex industry are driven by poverty and the need to secure
a livelihood.
160
7.3. Socio-Cultural Influences
In Indonesia, there are socio-cultural conditions within the society that have influenced
individuals to participate in human trafficking. People were inspired to become involved and
participate in this crime due to a particular perception in their society which made trafficking
somehow seen as a non-harmful act and even in some cases a good deed. The socio-cultural
factors leading to trafficking appear in the majority of the interviews, and apply to both forms
of human trafficking. In this chapter, how social and cultural influences affect the decision of
people to become involved in trafficking will be explained in four aspects: a lack of legal
knowledge so that many people were not aware that their actions constitute human trafficking;
helping others to get a job; to be seen as a champion; and a situation only found in West Java
where the daughter is seen as a breadwinner and a source of family pride.
Lack of legal awareness as an influence on people committing human trafficking apparently
happens in both human trafficking for domestic labour and for the sex industry. The motivation
to help others find work, and to be seen as a saviour are also equally applicable to those who
are involved in human trafficking in domestic labour and for the sex industry. The perspective
that a girl is a breadwinner in the family also brings people, even family members, to put the
girl in the family into trafficking for domestic labour and the sex industry. However, the other
motivation, that of pride in the daughter’s beauty, is only a consideration for trafficking in the
sex industry. The perception of a girl as a breadwinner in the family, and a girl as a matter of
pride in the family because they are in demand and beautiful are considered as major factors in
why people in West Java are particularly involved in trafficking for the sex industry.
7.3.1. Lack of Legal Awareness
Lack of legal awareness has brought people to commit human trafficking offenses in Indonesia.
In this case, a lack of legal awareness is defined as a situation where the traffickers did not
realise that what they did constituted a human trafficking offense. Similarly, a study of
convicted human traffickers in the US by Shively et al. (2017) reveals that the vast majority of
offenders did not believe that their actions constituted human trafficking, and the traffickers
sought to justify what they had done by blaming others and rationalising their own behaviour
(Shively 2017, p. 18).
161
The majority of interview participants were of the opinion that many traffickers did not know
or may not have known the action they did was an act of human trafficking or that they were a
participant in that crime. This lack of awareness regarding human trafficking was apparent in
both forms of trafficking, for domestic labour as well as for the sex industry.
Some participants expressed the view that lack of education among the traffickers has led to
misinformation and a lack of understanding of what it is meant by human trafficking. As one
NGO representative explained:
Si pelaku kadang sadar atau tidak bahwa dia adalah pelaku trafficking, karena keterbatasan sumber
daya manusia. Kadang-kadang dia tidak mengetahui bahwa dia adalah pelaku trafficking. (ORG
#11)
In English:
The perpetrators were sometimes unaware that they were committing a trafficking offense, because
of their limited knowledge and capacity. Sometimes they did not know that they are trafficking
perpetrators (ORG #11)
Although there is still a general lack of understanding about human trafficking among people,
one organisation representative felt that people had gained a greater understanding of what
constitutes human trafficking than before:
Jadi untuk saat ini sudah mulai muncul kesadaran itu. Kalau dulu-dulu mereka mungkin belum
melihat itu sebagai suatu kejahatan, ya. Dua atau tiga tahun lalu itu mungkin masih banyak yang
belum paham dengan hal itu. (ORG #4)
In English:
So nowadays awareness (about human trafficking) has increased. Before, they probably did not see
it as an offense. Two or three years ago maybe many people still did not understand about it. (ORG
#4)
According to one participant the trafficking offenders in the sex industry were likely to think
that their action did not constitute human trafficking, because it was mutually beneficial for
both them and the victims. They claimed that the victims also enjoy what they are doing (suka
sama suka) and there was no coercion placed on the victims (Lawyer #10). In another case,
another offender justified their actions in that they were only looking for a person to work in
their own business and so did not think that it was human trafficking (Lawyer #3). One lawyer
said that his client who worked in a red-light industry area as a brothel manager never thought
that he was committing a human trafficking offense because he thinks that what he did is legal
in that area (Lawyer #9). Other offenders claimed that they did not traffic people, but only
“offered” them to those who wanted to use their services (Lawyer #2).
162
Two lawyers told about a situation where the trafficker thought that she had not trafficked a
girl because the trafficker also enjoyed the work:
Dia melakukan praktek itu, karena pengalaman dia dulu seperti itu. Nggak maksa orang, nggak ada
unsur pemaksaan. Suka sama suka ya sudah. Nggak ada komplain, nggak ada pemaksaan.
Dipikirnya sesuatu yang tidak melalui pemaksaan itu tidak melanggar hukum. Pemahamannya rata-
rata seperti itu. (Lawyer #10)
In English: She committed that practice (recruiting others to sex industry) because she has experienced it before
(as a prostitute). She did not coerce the victim, there is no coercion element. She thought that the
victim was also enjoying it. There is no complain from the victim, there is no coercion. She thought
that something that is not using coercion does not break the law. That kind of understanding is what
most people have. (Lawyer #10)
The offender's own experience in sex industry has made her decide to traffic a girl. As the
lawyer said, the offender confessed that she trafficked the girl without coercion and because
she did not use any coercion during the trafficking process, she thought that her actions were
not illegal.
In another case, an offender offered the justification that she was only looking for a girl who
wanted to work and had no intention to traffic her. As her lawyer said:
Klien saya sebenarnya tidak tahu menahu. Dia hanya mencari saja sebenarnya. Begitu. (Lawyer #3)
In English: My client did not know the problem. She was only looking for someone to work. That’s it.(Lawyer
#3)
Further, the lawyer also said that she did not realise she had done anything illegal until the
police came to her house and apprehended her. So far the offender had only been looking for
someone who could be a sex worker in the café, as asked for by the café owner. Little did she
know that her actions constituted human trafficking. Similarly, another lawyer said that two
trafficking offenders justified their actions and explained that they only “offer” a girl to the
clients who want to use her services. One of the offenders explained it like this:
“Maaf ya bu, saya tidak tahu tindak pidana perdagangan orang itu apa. Yang saya tau saya tidak
menjual, hanya menawarkan.” kata klien saya. (Lawyer #2)
In English: “Sorry mam, I do not know what human trafficking is. What I know is I did not sell, I only offered
them to the people who wanted their services” said my client. (Lawyer #2)
This lack of understanding of the rule of law among sex traffickers can also happen as they live
in the sex industry area or sometimes called a red-light district. A lawyer explained that his
client felt that he had not committed an offense because that kind of activity that exploits
163
women and girls is common in that area. Therefore, he did not feel that he broke the law, as he
thought that it was something that was perfectly acceptable to people in that area. The lawyer
explains why his client engaged in trafficking, making reference to a well-known red-light
district in Surabaya, known as Dolly:
Karena di sana sudah dianggap legal kalau menurut pemahaman mereka. Sudah jadi budaya untuk
di sana. Karena di situ lingkungan prostitusi, sama seperti Dolly. (Lawyer #9)
In English:
Because according to their understanding, that activity is considered legal in that area. It is already
entrenched there. Because that is a prostitution area like Dolly. (Lawyer #9)
From his explanation, it seems that to recruit a girl or woman and pay them very little in return
is common in that red-light area. Therefore, the trafficker did not feel that he had committed a
trafficking offense. Instead, he thought that what he had done was legal because that activity
was well entrenched and had been the custom in that area for a long time.
The area or complex where the trafficker ran his business was in the Tretes area of Malang city
in East Java. Tretes has been a place where many young girls work in the sex industry, which
means it has also been a destination for young girls who have been trafficked for the sex
industry. Because the prostituted workers are young, this area has been famous for charging
high tariffs (ILO 2004, p. 36). Trafficking for the sex industry is a common occurrence in East
Java. The prostituted workers in the sex industry complexes in East Java are often on rotation
from one place to another, perhaps even being sent to another province. One of the reasons for
this is to diversify the options for the buyers (Dasgupta et al. 2006, p. 179 - 182).
According to the law, prostitution is illegal in Indonesia. However, implementation of the law
is often regionally specific. The policy response in regard to the prostitution tends to be left in
the hands of local government on the assumption that local government can better understand
the complexity of the sex industry in their area than the national government. Hence, national
guidance is not utilised in the policy action and decision making process (Riswanda, McIntyre-
Mills & Corcoran-Nantes 2017, p. 535). Also, the strict letter of the law to criminalise
prostitution conflicts with its tacit acceptance by society in areas where the prostitution
complexes are located (Riswanda 2015, p. 29).
To complicate matters the New Order government had also promoted the establishment of sex
industry complexes, the so-called lokalisasi. Lokalisasi were set up in the early 1960s as a way
164
to promote social discipline and control. In those complexes, large number of brothels lined
the streets and were maintained by the local government (Hull 2017, p. 79), These became an
important aspect of the sex industry in Indonesia (Rosenberg et al. 2013, p. 64), and at the same
time supported the emergence of human trafficking of women and young girls. Many girls have
plied their trade in these kinds of sex industry complexes since they were 15 or 16 years old
and are subject to debt bondage (Rosenberg et al. 2013, p. 84). The government has been
closing down lokalisasi throughout the country since 2014 and returning thousands of
prostituted workers to their families in line with the government plan to be free from lokalisasi
by 2019.
As in trafficking for the sex industry, people participating or involved in trafficking for
domestic labour often felt that they had not committed a human trafficking offense, because of
their lack of legal awareness and their limited understanding of human trafficking. Likewise
those involved in trafficking for domestic labour often said that they only "employ", or "help"
the process to allow the victims to work overseas or in other provinces. A lawyer’s view, from
a lawyer who handled trafficking cases like this:
Beberapa orang bilang, “saya hanya mencari pembantu rumah tangga. Saya carikan dan saya kasih
(ke agent).” Mereka berfikir hanya menunjukan atau mencari, padahal mereka masuk dalam
pelanggaran hukum. (Lawyer #7)
In English: Some people said, "I just sought for a domestic worker. I tried to find and handed them over (to the
agent)." They think only showing or finding someone who wanted to work was okay, but in fact it
was a violation of the law. (Lawyer #7)
The statement from the lawyer above shows that some of those who participated as recruiters
in trafficking for domestic labour think that they are only trying to search out a person who
intends to work as a domestic worker. In many cases, they did not realise that they are involved
in or participating in a human trafficking offense. Other justifications are given such as
employing people instead of trafficking them:
“Saya tidak menjual, hanya memperkerjakan.”, kata mereka. Padahal itu mengekspoitasi. (Lawyer
#7)
In English:
“I did not traffic, I only employ them," they said. But actually, that was exploitation. (Lawyer #7)
A lawyer did say that the recruiters too are sometimes the victims, when the person who
engaged them knows that what is being asked for is illegal but the recruiter doesn’t know that
they are participating in trafficking and committing an offense. This lawyer gave an example
165
of a situation where her client did not know that what she did was a human trafficking offense.
The only thing she knew was how much money she got if she could recruit a person.
Dia adalah korban ketidaktahuan dari orang yang tau, dari orang yang menyuruh. Ya dia nggak
tau apakah pekerjaan yang saya lakukan ini melanggar hukum, melanggar undang-undang atau
bahkan ketika bahkan mereka tidak tau sangsinya. Tapi yang mereka tahu adalah berapa hasil
yang saya dapat ketika merekrut satu orang. Hal tersebut dijadikan sumber penghasilan tapi dia
nggak tau resikonya. Itu yang kemudian menjadi penilaian kita. (Lawyer #4)
In English: She was a victim of lack of knowledge while the people who asked her to do that were aware it
was human trafficking,. She did not know whether her job was legal or not, whether it breaks the
law or not, she did not even know the consequence. The only thing she knew was how much
money she will receive if she can recruit one person. That finally became her income, but she did
not know the risk. So, it is important for our assessment. (Lawyer #4)
In conclusion, a lack of legal awareness that led people to traffic others occurred in both forms
of trafficking in Indonesia. Hence, it is important that in the future there is an attempt to
improve people’s legal awareness and understanding of human trafficking, not just to prevent
people from being the victims but also to discourage participation of people in the offense.
In criminal law, there are two elements in a crime, the actus reus, and the mens rea. These
originate from the Latin phrase, ‘Actus reus non facit reum nisi mens sit rea' which means that
a man is not liable for his guilty acts unless he also acts with a guilty mind (Carr & Johnson
2013, p. 33). Both elements, the actus reus (the physical elements) and the mens rea (the mental
elements) are needed for an accused to be found responsible for a criminal offense (UNODC
2009, p. 19). In human trafficking, the actions and means elements of human trafficking are
considered as the actus reus of the offense, while the purpose of exploitation is regarded as the
mens rea (Gallagher 2010; Demetriou 2019). The requirement of a mental element such as the
intent to exploit the other person is needed in prosecution of human trafficking cases. In other
word a person needs to intend to "exploit" the victims to commit an offense. This is what the
lawyer above is referring to when he says “It is important for our assessment.”
The Trafficking Protocol requires that countries only criminalise people for human trafficking
when they did it intentionally as per Article 5(1). However, countries are not hindered from
allowing the mens rea requirement to be established on a lesser standard, such as via criminal
negligence, recklessness, and wilful blindness (UNODC 2009, p. 11). Therefore, in the case of
Indonesia, as long as the perpetrators understand that they are participating in the recruitment
process and getting a benefit from that, and know that their method of recruitment is illegal,
166
they will be considered as ‘understanding’ their participation in trafficking and convicted as
guilty, although they have no understanding on what human trafficking is (Lawyer #7).
7.3.2. Helping Others
The research by Serie et al. (2018) on sex trafficking reveals that the nature of the offender-
victim relationship in the Netherlands can be described as a "helping relationship", in which
the traffickers present themselves as persons who help the victims by providing them protection
with a place to sleep and provide for their needs (Serie et al. 2017, p. 173). Similarly, Molland
(2011) on his study on sex traffickers in Laos, also describes that the personal engagement
between the traffickers and victims allows the recruitment to occur in the form of helping. For
the traffickers, recruiting a girl or woman into the sex industry is a way to help them to escape
from poverty (Molland 2011, p. 244). Cases where the traffickers were involved in trafficking
because their intention was to help the victims can also be found in the studies of Rijken,
Muraszkiewicz and Van de Ven (2015), David, Bryant and Larsen (2019), David (2012),
Antonopoulos and Winterdyk (2005), and Shively et al. (2017).
These situations in previous studies where the traffickers claim their actions are helping the
victims have similarities to the situation in Indonesia. Some traffickers said that they were
helping others find a job, not trafficking others. In Indonesia this perspective of helping others
is mainly put forward by human traffickers in domestic labour. This is the opposite result to
the research by Serie et al. (2017) and Molland (2011) who looked at human trafficking for the
sex industry where the traffickers recruited the victims and rationalised it as a form of helping.
Twelve participants in my study expressed the view that the traffickers were initially aiming to
help someone to get a job by participating in the recruitment process. Eleven of these were
involved in trafficking for domestic labour. How the traffickers aimed to help others was
explained as follows:
Kadang-kadang tetangga minta tolong carikan orang sekian nanti saya kasih uang. Tanpa berfikir
panjang, mereka sudah menjadi pelaku ketika dia merekrut, mengiming imingi dan mendapat
bayaran dari orang yang tadi yang butuh. (ORG #12)
In English: Sometimes, the neighbour ask them to help to find a person who intends to work, and they received
some payment after finding someone. Without really thinking about it, they have already become a
perpetrator when they recruited, induced, and got some payment from that.(ORG #12)
167
A lawyer also explained that these traffickers in domestic labour actually did not know
anything about what human trafficking is. They got involved to help others get a job while also
gaining some benefit from that themselves.
Dia tidak ada sifat jahat sebetulnya. Dia tidak tau perdagangan manusia itu seperti apa, dia hanya
mencari jalan pintas untuk membantu seseorang yang mana dia juga mencari keuntungan dari itu.
(Lawyer #10)
In English: They did not have any evil characteristics actually. They did not know what human trafficking is.
They only tried to help others while also looking to benefit from that activity. (Lawyer #10)
This attempt to help others normally happened within a community, where people wanted to
help their neighbour find work overseas in domestic labour. As mentioned in the statements
above, the intent to help was accompanied by a desire to get compensation from doing that. So
in many cases, the traffickers were also involved in the falsification of documents, to hide the
age, address, or other important information about the victims. The traffickers expected that by
falsifying the documents they were accelerating and simplifying the process to “help” their
neighbour start work overseas. They took the view that “it is not a big problem as long as you
can go overseas and work there” and falsifying documents was part of helping their neighbour
(Lawyer #10). In justifying what they did as helping others, they did not think that they might
be breaking the law (ORG #10), or even becoming involved with dangerous international
syndicates (ORG #11).
The impulse to help also came from people who have a defined role in the society, such as
religious leaders. They naturally wanted to help people in the community or their congregation
find work:
Dulu, dua atau tiga tahun lalu, tokoh-tokoh agama di Nusa Tenggara Timur (NTT) secara finansial
juga terlibat karena awalnya mereka berfikir mereka membantu. Membantu orang-orang di sana,
tetapi karena awalnya mereka nggak paham situasinya, akhirnya banyak yang menyesalkan karena
mereka mengirim atau menyuruh orang ke tempat salah atau berbahaya. (ORG #4)
In English: Previously, two or three years ago, religious leaders in East Nusa Tenggara were also involved
financially because they thought that they were helping. Helping people in there. But because
initially they did not understand what’s happening, they regretted that they sent or asked people to
go to wrong or dangerous places. (ORG #4)
Community leaders or religious leaders would often participate in the trafficking process
because fo the lack of job opportunities in their community. Being empathetic with the people
in the village or the members of their church, those community and religious leaders were
168
trying to find a way to help and unfortunately often got trapped themselves into aiding human
trafficking activity (ORG #4; ORG #7; ORG #14).
Some of the ex-domestic workers overseas who returned to Indonesia also claimed that they
were just helping others to work overseas as they had when they were convicted of human
trafficking. A woman who worked for many years in one of the Middle Eastern country wanted
to help people in her village to working there, due to the good experience she had had when
working in that country. However, as she was working with people who had bad intentions,
what she did was a trafficking offense without her realising it (Lawyer #4).
On the other hand, there is only a little amount of proof that any of the people who supported
trafficking in the sex industry did so purely with an intention to help others get a job. As stated
by a lawyer who assisted a client on sex trafficking charges, it is difficult to say that an offender
in sex trafficking had good intentions, because they should have known that putting someone
into the sex industry in this way would not be in the victim’s best interests. He explained that:
Perdagangan orang untuk tenaga kerja imigran tidak sama dengan kasus mak Tuti ya. Kalau kasus
mak Tuti jelas permasalahannya. Kalau yang ini bisa dikatakan punya sifat jahat, karena dia sudah
tau kalau yang dia jalani itu adalah pekerjaan yang dilarang, apalagi dia menyuruh anak kecil
melakukan hal itu. Tapi kalau trafficking bentuk lain mungkin karena ketidaktahuan. (Lawyer #10)
In English:
Trafficking for the purpose of migrant labour is not the same with the case of madam Tuti. The
Madam Tuti case is clear. We can say that she has a bad intention, because she knew that what she
did is an unlawful act. Moreover she did that to a minor. In contrary, trafficking in other forms might
be because of ignorance. (Lawyer #10)
Nevertheless, a participant admitted that one sex trafficking offender had actually intended to
help someone get a job and finished by participating in human trafficking. Knowing that the
victim needed a job, she helped her find work at a café which turned into making the girl
participate in providing sex services. As her lawyer described:
Karena dia sebenarnya hanya menolong korban. Menurut korban, dia tidak ada pekerjaan, dia
broken dikeluarganya, dan baru putus sama pacarnya. Jadi dia hanya memerantarakan sebenarnya.
(Lawyer #3).
In English: Because she actually just helped the victims. According to the victim, she did not have a job, she
was the product of a broken home, and she just broke up with her boyfriend. So my client actually
just connected her to (café owner) to get a job. (Lawyer #3)
Therefore, although it is rare, it is still possible to find an offender in a case of sex trafficking
whose initial intention was to help others get a job. Those who intended to help others either
169
did not realise that the persons they helped would end up working in a situation involving sex
work, or because the victim herself was pushing strongly for it to happen..
On the other side, the victims and their families would often start out feeling very much helped
by the traffickers. As the traffickers use a gentle approach with inducements and giving false
hope, and also giving some money, they feel that the traffickers are helping them. As an
organisation representative said, the victims and the family felt comfortable with this approach
because the traffickers offered some help such as giving money, even on the first time they met
(ORG #11).
7.3.3. Seen as a Champion
Where people commit human trafficking offenses with an initial intent of helping others get a
job, that intent can be strengthened because the community then believes that the trafficker is
now their champion; the word in Indonesia is pahlawan, which is not straightforward to
translate, and the closest English word is something like champion or hero. This word was
used to describe some traffickers who believe that they are saving other people’s lives or saving
people from poverty. The traffickers, instead of feeling bad because they are leading people
into a trafficking situation, feel like they are a champion who can help others get a job. Three
participants in this research talked about this phenomenon where the community sees the
traffickers as their champions because they help people to get a job even though it may lead to
trafficking, and in the same way the traffickers also feel like they are champions because they
can “help” people. The interview participants who identified this phenomenon are those who
have dealt with human trafficking for the sex industry and domestic labour in West Java.
Although there is some indication that traffickers are more motivated to commit trafficking
due to this perception as a champion, it is not the main or even an important factor in why they
engage in trafficking. It is worth noting that this phenomenon applies both for those who are
trafficking for domestic labour as well as those trafficking for the sex industry. To the best of
my knowledge, there is no research on trafficking perpetrators in other countries that talks
about traffickers feeling motivated to engage in trafficking because they get perceived as a
champion.
One organisation representative in Cirebon, West Java said that in his area traffickers normally
used a subtle approach to attract their victims. They see the situation in an area or village where
170
people are in a vulnerable position due to unemployment or lack of economic opportunities.
When they come and offer some help, they will automatically be seen as a champion. The
representative explained how the traffickers think:
Kalau saya datang menawarkan sesuatu itu pasti dianggap pahlawan. Misal saya datang ke desa lalu
saya bilang “ada nggak orang-orang yang mau bekerja untuk ini?” Nah sementara kan banyak sekali
yang menganggur. Jadi kalau saya datang itu bukan dianggap dicurigai. Kebanyakan tidak. “Ya
sudah kerjanya di mana, siapkan ketentuannya apa.” Paling begitu. Jadi ketika datang ke desa itu,
saya jadi pahlawan kalau merekrut. Hampir tidak berfikir untuk curiga atau apa. Mungkin yang
berfikir curiga adalah orang-orang yang yang berpendidikan. (ORG #7)
In English:
If I were to come and offer something, I would be seen as a champion. For example, I come to the
village and ask if anybody in this village wants to work. Meanwhile, there are plenty of people
jobless there. So if I come, I would not be suspected. But they will ask me: “Where is the working
place, and what do we need to do to prepare?” Just like that. So, if I come to the village, I will be a
champion if I recruit people. Nobody suspects me. Maybe those who are better educated might
suspect me.” (ORG #7)
So the traffickers are looking for situations where people in a village desperately need work.
As mentioned before, the community sees them as a champion because they have brought hope
to the people in the form of job offers, and they in turn feel that they have done a good deed by
saving people from their lack of opportunity. While most people did not think twice about the
job offer because they need it, those who are more educated might be able to see it as a
something that is not right. Those educated people would normally give advice to the particular
families who got an offer. They might ask them to think twice about the job offer, figure out
the nature of the job, the employer, contracts, and other essential things to avoid the possibility
of fraud (ORG #7).
The feeling of being a champion was also experienced by the traffickers in Bongas village,
Indramayu, West Java, a regular source of trafficking for the sex industry. A participant from
an NGO there who was himself an ex-trafficker explained that a recruiter was considered a
good job and that’s why people wanted to do it. When he was working as a recruiter he was
able to find the girls work in the sex industry, which made him very happy because he could
offer them a job and this made him feel like a champion. Becoming a trafficker there was
equated with being a government officer because they felt they were doing a worthwhile job
from being able to help people while also earning a good amount of money. Hence, being a
trafficker was something that some people were proud of in that community (ORG #6). This
statement from one of the NGO representatives describes how a trafficker feels like a champion
because they can help the girls and their families:
171
Dulu, ketika Pak Sugi bisa mengajak mereka ke Jakarta untuk menjadi pekerja seks komersial
(PSK), sangat senang dan bangga karena bisa memberikan pekerjaan dengan penghasilan yang
lumayan bagus sehingga merasa dirinya menjadi pahlawan atas keluarga mereka. Begitupun
sebaliknya, keluarga para PSK berterima kasih karena telah mencarikan pekerjaan terhadap anaknya
dengan penghasilan yang lumayan bagus dan bisa menghidupi keluarga di rumah.(ORG #6)
In English:
Before, when Mr Sugi (the former trafficker) was able to bring girls to Jakarta to work as prostitutes,
he was happy and proud because he can arrange a job that according to him would also bring in
enough money for them. Therefore, he felt like he is a champion for the girls’ families, and vice
versa the girls’ families were also thankful to him because he helped them to find a job for the girl
that gave her the ability to support her family. (ORG #6)
The case above describes the situation in Indramayu area, where the families were eager to
‘sell’ their daughters into sex industry as it is a belief within the community there that when
people want to “buy” their daughters, it means that the daughters are beautiful and in demand.
Hence, they will see the work of the recruiters or traffickers as an heroic act as they are helping
the girls find work in the sex industry.
A similar thing was also asserted by an NGO participant in Sukabumi. Some traffickers would
feel that they are champions because they can offer people a job somewhere else, even if it is
in domestic labour or forced labour. On the other hand, the victims too think that the traffickers
are champions because they feel they were helped by them. Often, because the victims are
closely related to the traffickers and feel indebted to them for their help, they will protect these
traffickers from prosecution and think that what they experience was only a case of bad luck
(ORG #11). This situation was described by her as follows:
Para perekrut mula-mula merasa seperti pahlawan. Namun, ketika terungkap bahwa itu kasus
trafficking, mereka akan berkilah bahwa mereka hanya menolong. Korban juga biasanya merasa
tertolong dan menganggap perekrut adalah pahlawan. Bahkan saat terungkap bahwa itu adalah
kasus trafficking, tidak jarang korban melindungi trafficker dan cenderung menganggap bahwa apa
yang dialaminya adalah nasib buruk yang harus diterima. Apalagi banyak trafficker yang memiliki
hubungan dekat dengan korban. (ORG #11)
In English:
The recruiters initially felt like champions. But when it is revealed that it is a trafficking case, they
will justify that they were only helping them. The victims normally also had the feeling of being
helped and assumed that the traffickers are champions. Even, when it is revealed that what happened
is a trafficking case, some victims protected the traffickers instead and assumed that what happened
to them was bad luck that should be accepted. This is exacerbated by the fact that victims often have
a close relationship with the traffickers. (ORG #11)
172
7.3.4. Daughter as a Breadwinner and Source of Family Pride in West Java
One of the unique aspects among the motivations and perspectives of traffickers in Indonesia
when compared to other places is the belief in some places that a beautiful daughter is a source
of pride to the family, as well as a breadwinner that can support the family. These beliefs have
become a strong influence for family members particularly parents to put their daughter into
trafficking. There may be similar cases in other developing countries but so far there is a very
little research on human traffickers in other countries that addresses an issue like this. Poverty
and gender injustice in West Java have brought young girls into the sex industry, and make
their families active participants in human trafficking.
In some areas in West Java, a girl can be considered as an important family breadwinner whose
role it to fulfil the needs of the family, including her siblings (ORG #16). Iqbal and Gusman
(2015) stated that this perception of girls as a family asset is a driver for women working abroad
as migrant labour. In parts of West Java such as the Indramayu regency it is common for young
girls to become female migrant workers to support their families financially. This has been
explained by one interview participant, who said that the daughter has to serve the family and
become the backbone of the family. Therefore, every time a family has a baby girl, they are
happier than if they had a baby boy. The girl is considered ready to serve the family after she
has had her first menstruation (ORG #16). One unfortunate situation was described by my
participant as follows:
Ada satu kasus yang kita sebut dia ‘A’. Dia ini di paksa dijual sama neneknya dari usia 12-13 tahun
selama berapa tahun, untuk melayani laki – laki, 10 sampai 15 laki – laki. Salah satu tujuannya
apa? Untuk menyekolahkan kakaknya dan adiknya yang laki-laki. (ORG #16)
In English:
There is one case of a girl, just call her ‘A’. She was sold by her grandmother since she was 12 – 13
years old for a year to serve men sexually, to around 10 to 15 men. One of the reasons was that she
had to pay the school fees for her older and younger brothers. (ORG #16)
Further, the research by Iqbal and Gusman (2015) on Indonesian women migrant workers from
Indramayu, West Java also confirms that although the majority of young girls work in domestic
labour abroad, a significant number of them are sent to work in the sex industry and that
sometimes they are committed to this by their family. The family would normally go to a lot
of effort including conducting a prayer session with their community members so that their
children could be taken easily (Iqbal & Gusman 2015, p. 172). As noted previously in Chapter
173
6, an NGO representative in Bongas village, Indramayu Regency who was a former trafficker
describes how the parents feel proud of their daughter working in the sex industry:
Iya, orang tuanya merasa bangga. Ibunya ga marah “Kurang ajar, saya pukul kamu.” Tidak, mereka
bangga. Mereka ga bangga kalau anaknya sekolah dengan benar. Kalau anaknya nganggur dibiarkan
dibawa orang dan dia dapat 1 juta. (ORG #6)
In English: The parents feel proud if their daughter is sold or works in the sex industry. There are no words
such as “Do not do that or I’ll beat you” No! the only feeling is contentment. There is no pride when
their kids are successful in their study or become a smart person. If they see their daughter is jobless,
they would freely to give her to the recruiter and get 1,000,000 rupiahs as payment. (ORG #6)
The above statement describes the situation in Indramayu, West Java where many parents are
proud and happy if their daughters are recruited to work in the sex industry. The parents feel
proud because it means that their children are beautiful and wanted. The organisation
representative explained how the culture in that community supports people going to work in
the sex industry. There is a particular pride if the young girls find work in the sex industry even
if it means that they become victims of trafficking. This leads to the parents contacting
traffickers and offering their daughter to them (ORG #6).
Even if their conditions are bad, those who have become the victims of trafficking sometimes
did not realise that they are a victim. Many of them may even feel proud because they can work
outside their hometown, regardless of the conditions they are facing. This phenomenon is
strongly supported by the belief in those communities that anyone who gets work elsewhere
whether in other cities or overseas, regardless of their job has gained in prestige. A typical
situation was described by one NGO participant as follows:
Iya ada kebanggaan tersendiri. Bangga sekali meski memiliki hutang yang banyak. Kalau datang
dari Mabes (Mangga Besar) bangga dan sudah berubah wujud dengan rambut merah, terlihat kaya.
Orang-orang akan berkumpul dan melakukan hajatan ketika dia pulang. Seperti kemaren, dia
mengadakan pesta dan menyewa organ mahal sekitar 25 juta. Penduduk di sini datang semua. (ORG
#6)
In English:
There is a particular pride for them (the victims). They are proud although they may have a lot of
debt. If they came back from Mabes (Mangga Besar), they look proud and their appearance has
changed. Their hair has been dyed red and they look like rich people. People will gather to celebrate
them when they come back. Like yesterday, they threw a party and hired musical instruments for
around 25 million rupiahs. Then, people came and gathered. (ORG #6)
The NGO representative has described what people look like when they have gone away as
victims of trafficking to work in the sex industry in Mangga Besar, Jakarta, and then come back
to their home in Bongas village, Indramayu regency. They come back looking different and
174
successful even though they may have large amounts of debt. As a result they are normally
warmly welcomed back by the people in the town, maybe with an expensive party. According
to the interviewee who is also an ex-trafficker, Mangga Besar is a prostitution hotspot in Jakarta
where people from Indramayu work or are trafficked for the sex industry.
Unfortunately, it is not easy to change this practice of working out of town for people in
Indramayu. Although there have been some campaigns and training support provided there, the
perception remains for many in that community that working for the sex industry in the big
city is better than gaining an education. This has been one of the challenges encountered by
organisations working in that area (ORG #6).
During the interviews, participants also expressed their concern that HIV has become prevalent
in that area. The young girls who were sent to the sex industry have become infected and then
brought it back to the community (ORG #6; ORG #16). However, instead of learning from
experience, any such incidents of disease or even death are not seen as things that the
community might avoid or prevent in the future. For the majority of people if someone is
infected with HIV or has any bad experience, it is seen as a part of destiny (Mulyana, Oktavianti
& Bajari 2016, p. 106).
The practice in Indramayu society where many young girls end up working in the sex industry
is called luruh duit. This term refers to an activity to earn money (Bajari 2013; Soekarba &
Kenyowati 2011). The aim of luruh duit has been explained as seeking to gain prosperity in
order to increase your social status in the society, to meet the needs of your family, and to gain
appreciation from people around you. Luruh duit is an inherited practice, one that has been
accepted, learned and practiced from generation to generation (Imelda 2014, p. 64).
Trafficking for the sex industry in the locations mentioned above has also involved parents or
family as perpetrators. There have been stories in some local news outlets in Indonesia of young
girls participating in the sex industry and engaging in sexual activity in their own house. For
example, the story of Sabila in Kampung Cinta, Subang regency who has been providing sexual
services since she was 15 years old. She dropped out of school and since then has been working
to service men in her house to support her family’s living costs. She works outside or in the
same house that her family including her parents live in (Gunadha 2019). A similar story was
also provided by a lawyer who tells the story of a village in Sumedang regency where almost
175
all the families put their children into prostitution at home. As explained by her, the parents
help their daughters to service their customers in the family home.
Kalau di Sumedang ada desa yang semua menjual anaknya. Jadi orang tua ngobrol di bawah,
anaknya melakukan prostitusi di atas. Sehari bisa melayani lima laki - laki. Nanti bayar ke ibunya
di bawah. Jadi ibunya sebagai kasir. (Lawyer #2)
In English: In Sumedang, there is a village where its people sell their children. So in their house, the parents do
their activity downstairs, while the daughter gives sexual service upstairs. In one day she can serve
five guys. Then the guests will pay for the service to her mother downstairs. So the mother had a
role as a cashier. (Lawyer #2)
Her statement describes the situation within a family where the children give sexual services
at home. Not only do the parents provide their full support, and they may even have deliberately
put their children into this situation, but they also have a role in managing the activity – the
mother as cashier for example. When a practice like this is deeply embedded in a community,
it becomes difficult to tackle.
The perception in Indramayu and other places in West Java that a daughter is an asset and the
parents should be proud of them if they take work in the sex industry cannnot be separated
from the historical background where young girls from West Java were sent to the sultanate to
become a member of the sultan’s harem. The parents at that time felt honoured if their daughter
was chosen to become a member of the harem and so the parents would hope for a beautiful
daughter and seek to preserve that beauty. For them, physical beauty is more important than
education (Hidayat & Syamsuddin 2019, p. 19).
As explained in Chapter 4, the sex industry grew rapidly during Dutch colonisation, when the
numbers of Dutch men who were brought by the Dutch government to Indonesia created a
great demand for sex services. Unfortunately, this phenomenon was also supported by the local
society in which many families would sell their daughters to be mistresses of those Dutch men
and earn substantial recompense from them (Hull, Sulistyaningsih & Jones 1997, p. 4). As the
research in this thesis shows, this practice of parents giving away their daughter into the sex
industry has continued to today.
The various socio-cultural aspects that supports people committing human trafficking has made
the crime difficult to define and influences how the prosecution of the traffickers take place.
For example, in Indonesia, there are traffickers who acted as recruiters aiming to “help” others
176
never experienced police investigation, even after years of doing so. Or in cases where parents
were involved in trafficking their children, police have also not taken action.
7.4. Victim’s Behaviour
Without suggesting in any way that victims are responsible for the harms they encounter as a
result of trafficking, it is important to note the findings from my research relating to the
complex relationships between traffickers and victims. In some cases, the attitude of the
victims has facilitated the perpetrators in their trafficking. Some interview participants
expressed the opinion that victims and traffickers need each other and support each other’s
actions and aims, and that is what makes human trafficking happen. From the victims' side,
they need a job either as a domestic worker or working in the sex industry and in many cases
they initiated the approach to the traffickers. This situation obviously is to the traffickers’
benefit and eases their work in the trafficking process. In some studies (Shively et al. 2017;
Rijken, Muraszkiewicz & Van de Ven 2015), some traffickers justified their actions in
trafficking others by claiming that the victims engaged voluntarily or wanted themselves to be
trafficked. In similar vein, Serie et al. (2018) also state that some traffickers were initially
contacted by the girls who wanted to earn some money, or because those girls needed help
(Serie et al. 2018, p. 173).
Some organisations and lawyers said that normally the victims already know the nature of the
job and had asked the traffickers for that job. This happens in both forms of trafficking. An
example from a participants who had dealt with trafficking cases for the sex industry:
Si korban memang mencari (pekerjaan) dan mau. Dia sudah dikasih tahu. Dia sendiri ga ada
paksaan, bahkan dia yang meminta. (Lawyer #3)
In English: The victim also looked for a job and willing (to accept that job). She was told about the job
condition. She accepted without any force. She was even the first to ask. (Lawyer #3)
In some cases, the victim even knew where she would be sent and the work she would be doing.
As mentioned in the previous chapter, there are cases when the victims also had prior
experience in the sex industry. Hence, there was no coercion involved in getting them to work
in the sex industry.
Karena menurut terdakwa, korban sudah tahu mau diantar kemana, mau dipekerjakan seperti.
Sebelumnya juga sama, korban bekerja sebagai PSK. (Lawyer #9).
In English:
177
Because according to my client, the victim already knew where she will be sent, and what kind of
job she will do. It was the same with her previous job, she was working in the sex industry. (Lawyer
#9)
The victims might be looking to help their family out, perhaps because of unforeseen
circumstances such as harvest failure, and this would be the reason why the victims would
approach the traffickers, even going so far as to demand work from them. The two statements
below reveal how the victims approached the traffickers due to their desire to help their family.
Klien saya bilang tidak boleh, tapi dia memaksa karena dia ingin membantu orang tua. Ketika
ditanya apa ada ijin dari orang tua, dia bilang ada. Jadi dia datang sendiri ke rumah klien saya.
(Lawyer #8)
In English:
My client said no to (the victim) coming with her, but she insisted because she wanted to help her
parents. When my client asked if she had permission from her parents, she said yes. She came by
herself to my client’s house. (Lawyer #8)
The above statement describes how an offender refused to give the victim an opportunity to
work with her in Bali, as the offender knew that the victim was still underage. However, the
victim insisted and lied that she already had permission from her parents.
A similar situation:
Anak-anak terjun ke dunia hitam. Namun apa dikata, alasannya selalu membantu ekonomi orang
tua. Karena hutangnya banyak, sawah ga panen. (ORG #6)
In English:
The kids fell into the dark world. But what we can say, they always had the same reason, to help
their parents economically. Because their parents had a lot of debt, because the harvest failed. (ORG
#6)
Similar cases when victims came to the traffickers for a job was also common in trafficking
for domestic labour. The victims were insistent that the traffickers let them go and work either
in another city or another country. One of the examples was given by a lawyer who described
how her client was asked by people to help them find a job as a domestic.
Katanya sih banyak orang yang datang ke dia untuk membantu mereka karena ingin bekerja ke luar
negeri. Gara-gara desakan itu dia akhirnya memutuskan untuk mengirim orang. Menurut dia,
kenapa tidak, karena menurutnya dia membantu dan dan juga mendapat uang. (Lawyer #4)
In English:
She said, there were many people came to her and asked her to help them to work in overseas.
Because of those pressures, finally she decided to send people. She argued that there is nothing
wrong with that because she was helping them while also getting money from that. (Lawyer #4)
178
Some of the interview participants said that even though the victims would be put into a bad
situation, they actually already knew beforehand what the situation would be. In some cases
they were previous victims of trafficking who had returned home but found life at home so bad
that they felt that were better off working overseas again to escape the economic problems at
home. As an example, one lawyer explained the situation as follows:
Korban sebenarnya sudah tahu kondisinya, tetapi karena secara ekonomi terhimpit, mereka
berfikir mending kembali bekerja di sana. Mereka sudah pernah sekali atau dua kali bekerja di
negara lain. Jadi mereka berfikir yang penting pergi ke negara lain, karena tidak mungkin di sana
tidak bekerja. Apalagi di sana ada agentnya. Mau kerja di mana atau seperti apa, meskipun jadi
karyawan gelap mereka pikir itu adalah resiko. (Lawyer #7).
In English:
The victims actually knew the conditions, but because of economic pressure, they thought that it is
better to return there. They had been working overseas once or twice before. So, they thought that
they need to return because it is impossible for them to not be working. Moreover, there is an agent
there who will help. They did not care where they are going to work or what kind of job they will
do, even if they will be an illegal worker, they think that it is part of the risk of working overseas.
(Lawyer #7)
His statement implies that many victims actually know that they might end up in a bad situation
when working as domestic labour overseas. However, they think that it is part of the risk that
everybody faces if they decide to work overseas. Another NGO representative also agreed that
many people think that bad conditions are part of the risk when working anywhere, and people
prefer to take the risk.
Karena dia berfikir setiap kerjaan pasti beresiko. Jangankan ke luar negeri, di dalam negeri saja
kalau bekerja pasti ada resiko. Jadi dia akan ambil resiko itu, yang penting dia mempunyai mimpi
seperti orang-orang itu. (ORG #7)
In English:
Because she (the victim) thought that every job has its own risk. Even a job inside the country is
risky, let alone overseas. So she will take that risk, as long as she can have a dream like others
(working in overseas). (ORG #7)
One representative from an organisation even considers the behaviour of those victims as
ignorant. Although there are a lot of warnings around on the danger of being a migrant worker
overseas and human trafficking, they choose to ignore the warnings.
Masyarakat itu sebenarnya memilih bekerja yang tidak tahu sebenarnya seperti apa, atau mau hidup
di mana. Mereka berfikir apapun akan di lakukan. Informasi bekerja yang aman di luar kota memang
tidak dianggap sebagai informasi yang harus disikapi. Jadi mungkin mereka tahu, tetapi dalam
perilaku mereka memilih untuk tidak mau tahu. (ORG #4)
In English: The people here actually did not even know what kind of work they would do or where they would work. They were willing to do everything they can in order to work. The information about the
safety to find a job or being a safe migrant was not seen as something that they need to consider. So
179
maybe they knew (the threat of human trafficking), but as shown in their behaviour they chose to
ignore that. (ORG #4)
The victims persist in trying to find domestic work away from their hometown or overseas
because they can see the success of their neighbours who had a successful experience as
domestic workers overseas. According to one organisation representative people are of the
mindset that if you want to be rich or successful, one of the ways is by being migrant labour
(ORG #1). So they do not think it through carefully and just want any work they can get, even
just as a domestic worker, as long as they can go overseas or somewhere else in Indonesia.
They ignore the fact that they might find themselves in a difficult situation once they are there
or the big possibility that they might be exploited by untrustworthy people.
Some organisation representatives said that the people who were successful working as migrant
labour abroad made a stronger impression than those who had a hard time working overseas.
As mentioned above, those who were unsuccessful or experienced bad conditions are merely
seen as having had bad luck (ORG #4; ORG #8).
Mindset orang untuk menjadi buruh migran di sana sudah cukup kuat. Masyarakat lebih melihat
mereka yang berhasil daripada yang bermasalah. Orang kalau sudah menjadi buruh migran bisa
membeli sawah, rumah, tapi itu contoh suksesnya. Mereka melihat dari sisi itu. Mereka tidak
melihat bahwa yang menjadi buruh migran bermasalah itu banyak sekali. Tapi mereka tidak melihat
itu dan tidak menganggapnya sebagai sebuah kendala. (ORG #8)
In English:
The people’s mindset to become a migrant labour is quite strong there. The community only looks
at those who were successful rather than those who had a problem. They think that by becoming a
migrant labourer, people can buy a house or rice field. But those are just the successful examples.
They only see it from that side. They don’t see that a lot of people encounter problems while working
as migrant labour. People do not consider it and do not see it as a challenge. (ORG #8)
Unfortunately, it is very difficult to stop the desire of people in Indonesia to become migrant
labour and to make them aware of the threat of human trafficking. Since they do not have many
options available to them, and with the strong perception that working outside the country or
their province provides a better life, people will do anything they can to get work. This
certainly simplifies their path to becoming victims of trafficking and it also makes the
perpetrators’ work easier. In this sort of environment even people who initially might not think
about participating in trafficking would be encouraged to become traffickers as the conditions
and the demands within their community for work abroad influence their actions and decision.
180
Therefore, although human trafficking is seen as a major crime, a deeper understanding of the
behaviour of perpetrators and the behaviour of victims is essential in seeking out the causes of
the crime. In this regard, this research has highlighted that the behaviour of the victims
contributes to the factors that influence people to commit human trafficking. It is wiser to
understand the rationalisations of perpetrators and victims as they come together into
trafficking rather than only looking through the narrow lens of evil perpetrators and innocent
victims.
7.5. Inadvertently Involved in Trafficking
The interviewees identified the influence of other people as one of the main ways that people
become involved in committing human trafficking offenses. Two participants shared
information on how some offenders became involved in human trafficking without even
realising that their actions were considered as a human trafficking offense. Most of them
claimed that they only wanted to help the traffickers who needed their help to recruit people.
They did not realise that by helping them they were participating in a human trafficking
offense. Unlike situations where people became involved in human trafficking due to the
influence of their peers or friends, as documented in the research of Rijken, Muraszkiewicz
and Van de Ven (2015), Warren (2012) and Asbill (2017), this situation happens when the
offenders have no previous relationship with the other traffickers and their involvement is
mostly by accident.
There are different examples of how people inadvertently became participants in both forms of
human trafficking, for domestic labour and for the sex industry. One example of inadvertent
involvement is the driver in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara who helped people (victims of
trafficking) go to the airport. The driver did not know that he was taking victims of trafficking
to the airport but he was still convicted of human trafficking because he was seen as having
been involved in that offense (Lawyer #11).
In another case, a person who worked at a recruitment company was convicted of human
trafficking. This women tried to recruit women from East Nusa Tenggara to work as domestic
workers in Medan, North Sumatra. Her lawyers said that she did not intend to commit
trafficking and was just doing her usual job, but some contacts of hers insisted that she help
181
some underage girls from their village in East Nusa Tenggara find work in Medan. As
explained by her lawyers:
Yang memperkenalkan mereka (korban) ke Ibu Ana adalah para calo. Calo-calo tersebut
memalsukan KTP dan surat kesehatan. (Lawyer #6)
In English:
The ones that introduced them (the victims) to Ms Ana were the recruiters. Those recruiters falsified
their identity, such as national ID and medical certificate. (Lawyer #6)
This piece of the story above shows the recruiters as being the ones actually trafficking and
involving Ms Ana (the owner of the manpower agency) in the trafficking by providing falsified
identity documents for the victims and giving wrong information to Ms Ana.
In another story, a girl became involved in human trafficking for sex industry because a café
owner in Bali asked for her help.
Dia itu sebagai penyalur saja. Kemungkinan dia diperalat oleh pemilik café di Bali tersebut. (Lawyer
#8)
In English: She was only acted as a channel. There is a possibility that she was manipulated by the café owner
in Bali. (Lawyer #8)
7.6. Conclusion
This chapter has noted some findings on the motivations and perspectives, as well as the key
factors that lead to the involvement of people in human trafficking in Indonesia for domestic
labour and the sex industry. Although there are many similarities, this chapter found a few
distinctions in the reasons why people in Indonesia commit or are involved in human
trafficking for domestic labour and for the sex industry. The first difference is in the motivation
to earn money. Although people in both trafficking forms expect to obtain some economic
benefit, the people involved in trafficking for domestic labour are more likely inclined to do
that due to because of the relatively large amounts of money on offer. This is different in
trafficking for the sex industry, where people became involved to earn a little money to live
on, often because they are in poverty and/or unemployed, to maintain their lifestyle, and the
easiness to do the job and getting some incentives.
A second major distinction can be seen among the people who committed trafficking for the
sex industry in West Java. Those people even though family members trafficked their daughters
due to pride and the prestige that they will receive in the community. If the girls are able to get
182
a job in the sex industry it shows that they are beautiful and in demand. Hence, it raises their
parents’ prestige in these communities in West Java. The people involved in human trafficking
for domestic labour also tended be more likely to commit trafficking from a perception that
they were helping others find a job than those who participated in sex trafficking. Apart from
those differences, the motivations, the perspectives, and the key factors that influenced people
into committing human trafficking are quite similar for domestic labour and the sex industry.
From the factors listed in this chapter as to why people committed human trafficking for
domestic labour, it is possible to establish a hierarchy of how significant these factors were in
influencing people to become traffickers. This hierarchy is made based on the proportions on
how common the factors have influenced people to commit trafficking. On the first level are
the main factors. The main factors inducing people to commit trafficking for domestic labour
are the temptation of big money to be earned; lack of alternative job opportunities; how easy it
is to gain money by recruiting other people; and in the case of West Java, that a daughter is
seen as a bread winner for the family. Likewise the main factors why people participate in
trafficking for the sex industry are the lack of job opportunities; how easy it is to gain money
only by recruiting other people; in a case of West Java, that a beautiful daughter is seen as a
matter of pride that then compels the parents to put them into the sex industry; and again in
West Java that a daughter is seen as a bread winner for the family.
The second tier are the supporting factors that also influence people to commit trafficking
whether for domestic labour or the sex industry: a general lack of legal understanding and
knowledge about human trafficking; the desire to help others find a job; at the insistence of the
victims; and to earn enough money to maintain a certain lifestyle.
Last come the least significant factors. One of these is the ability to be seen as a champion by
recruiting others and helping them get a job, and another is an external factor where they
become inadvertently involved in trafficking due to the influence of or on request from other
people.
The research findings presented in this chapter make new contributions to our understanding
of trafficking in Indonesia. When compared to other countries, there are factors that are peculiar
to the Indonesian context. First is the perception of a daughter as a breadwinner that compels
families to send the daughters into the hands of traffickers; second, the perception that it is a
183
source of pride to the family to have a daughter working in the sex business; and third, the
desire to be perceived as a champion by recruiting others to work overseas or elsewhere in
Indonesia that makes people more motivated to recruit others and become recruiters without
any of the guilt associated with that role in other countries. Those three factors can be
considered new knowledge, rarely to be found in other research, if at all.
On the other hand, this chapter also noted that from the interviews with lawyers and
organisation representatives there is little evidence that people commit trafficking for domestic
labour and the sex industry in Indonesia due to the influence of friends or peers. In the research
by Asbill (2017), Rijken, Muraszkiewicz and Van de Ven (2015), and Warren (2012) people
get the opportunity to participate in trafficking primarily through peer and friend relationships.
For example, Asbill (2017) states that traffickers in Bulgaria learn about, consider, and decide
to engage in sex trafficking offenses when they associate more with those who habitually
commit the offense and gain profits from it (Asbill 2017, p. 130). Or there is the situation in
Colombia, where people participate in trafficking as an activity performed by all family
members and it is considered a family business (Warren 2012, p. 114). These situations are not
so clear and obvious in the case of Indonesia. However, although no information came from
the interview participants on this phenomenon, this does not close out the possibility that it is
also happens in Indonesia.
Based on this explanation of the motivations, perspectives, and factors influencing people to
participate in human trafficking in domestic labour and the sex industry, and the characteristics
and modus operandi of the traffickers as described in Chapter 6, the next chapter will provide
suggestions on best practice to prevent people committing trafficking in Indonesia. Following
those suggestions, some recommendations to improve Indonesian policy and the related
international practices to counter human trafficking will also be presented.
184
Chapter 8: Improving the Response: Preventing Human
Trafficking by Understanding Traffickers
8.1. Introduction
Chapters 6 and 7 of this thesis examined the socio-demographics and the modus operandi of
human traffickers, and the key factors, perspectives, and motivations that make people become
involved in human trafficking for the sex industry and domestic labour in Indonesia. Having
reached conclusions on the characteristics of people involved in human trafficking in
Indonesia, and the factors, perspectives, and motivations that make them get involved in this
crime, this study goes on to make some recommendations on the best strategies to prevent
people from committing trafficking for the sex industry and domestic labour in Indonesia.
Finally, at the end of this chapter, some proposals are put forward to improve current
Indonesian law and the related international regulations on human trafficking, the UN
Trafficking Protocol and the ASEAN Convention Against Trafficking in Persons, Especially
Women and Children (ACTIP).
The beginning of this chapter describes how the current global efforts and Indonesian efforts
deal with human traffickers mostly through punitive measures, such as prosecution, asset
freezing, and restitution. Although various prevention measures have been applied in the
attempt to reduce human trafficking, the measures to prevent people from becoming traffickers
are still limited. Therefore, this chapter outlines recommendations to prevent people from
committing or being involved in human trafficking in Indonesia based on the characteristics
and key factors that make people become involved in human trafficking, as described in the
previous chapters. In making these recommendations, I draw from policy or programs in other
fields (such as drug trafficking, terrorism, conflict resolution), human trafficking prevention
programs in other countries, economic development programs, the trafficking prevention
literature, the result of the interviews for this research, and my own personal ideas.
The efforts to prevent people from committing human trafficking in Indonesia so far have not
been differentiated according to the type of trafficking, whether for domestic labour for
instance or the sex industry. Most of the efforts made by campaigns and awareness raising
programs in the community are about the potential for becoming a trafficker in general. This
185
chapter however will make these distinctions and thus make more nuanced recommendations
for action.
In explaining the measures to prevent people becoming involved in human trafficking in
Indonesia, I will be drawing on the model of violence prevention by Brantingham and Faust
(1976) in which the measures are developed based on three stages of prevention approach -
primary, secondary and tertiary. Although Brantingham and Faust has developed this
framework based on a public health model, this framework is analogous and useful and
similarly conceived as intervention at different developmental level (Brantingham & Faust
1976, p. 287-288). This model has been seen as one of most common employed approaches
for crime prevention (Gilling 2005, p. 3).
The primary approaches to prevent people from becoming human traffickers in Indonesia are
through improving economic opportunity; enhancing the trafficking free village programs;
increasing job opportunities by creating local businesses; delivering human trafficking
education in the school; enhancing women’s empowerment and participation in anti-trafficking
programs; reforming policy on agencies dealing with labour supply abroad; constant
monitoring of and raising awareness in small cafes, spa business, and brothels. The secondary
approaches aim to change the behaviour of the traffickers by addressing and controlling their
activities. Activities might include face-to-face dialogue between traffickers and community
representatives; focus on those areas where many traffickers reside and operate; measures to
reduce or eliminate corruption in police and immigration bodies. Lastly, the tertiary approaches
focus on long-term prevention and preventing recidivism through rehabilitation in prison;
restorative justice in addition to criminal justice; reintegration support; and support for ex-
traffickers to participate in trafficking prevention efforts.
Approaches developed specifically to prevent people from committing or being involved in
domestic labour trafficking are policy reform for agencies dealing with labour supply abroad;
focus on those areas where many traffickers reside and operate; and measures to reduce or
eliminate corruption in police and immigration bodies. Meanwhile, the approach that is
specifically developed to prevent people committing or becoming involved in trafficking for
the sex industry is the work with small cafes, spa businesses, and brothels.
186
As well as these measures to prevent people from becoming involved in human trafficking in
Indonesia, some improvements to current Indonesian law and international law for human
trafficking are proposed. It is recommended that the international regulations and Indonesian
law on human trafficking should include a provision to acknowledge the factors that make
people vulnerable to being involved in human trafficking; a provision to acknowledge the
rights of the accused and the offenders during the criminal justice process; a provision to
prevent reoffending (including the rehabilitation and reintegration of ex-offenders), and a
provision to prevent human trafficking based on the form of trafficking. Hence, a trafficker-
centred approach is proposed in this research. This approach does not just aim to prosecute the
perpetrators of trafficking and make them accountable for their behaviour, but more
importantly its goal is to prevent people from committing human trafficking and becoming
human traffickers in the first place.
8.2. Current Efforts to Deter Human Traffickers
This section explains the current global and Indonesian efforts to deter the activities of human
traffickers. As noted in Chapter 2 of this thesis, international attempts to prevent people from
committing human trafficking have been limited so far. After this explanation, current
Indonesian efforts at preventing people from becoming involved in human trafficking in
Indonesia are examined and possible areas for improvement noted. It is noteworthy that the
majority of international and Indonesian efforts still rely on punitive measures, although other
measures such as awareness campaigns that seek to prevent people becoming involved in
human trafficking are finding limited application in certain areas.
8.2.1. Global Efforts
In the current international legislation on human trafficking - the UN Trafficking Protocol, the
ASEAN Convention against Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children,
Directive 2011/36/EU of the European Parliament and the Council of 5 April 2011 on
preventing and combating trafficking in human beings and protecting its victims – in all these
the measures to stop the activities of the traffickers predominantly consist of criminalising the
traffickers and freezing their assets for eventual confiscation. The international regulations
regulate that every country should criminalise every person that attempts to commit trafficking,
that participates as a helper, or that takes part to direct other persons to participate in trafficking
(e.g. Trafficking Protocol 2000). In addition, these regulations also instruct countries to
187
conduct identification, tracing, and confiscation of the proceeds of crime that arise from human
trafficking. (e.g. ACTIP 2015). One interview participant thought that the confiscation of assets
is a good mechanism to stop traffickers. Blocking their economic sources will hinder them in
carrying out their activities in the future (ORG #4). Increasing the risks of engaging in
trafficking through prosecution, long prison sentences, asset freezing, and restitution will make
traffickers sacrifice the rewards they have gained, the money and control, which might make
them have second thoughts before starting in the business (Bouché & Shady 2017, p. 104).
Apart from that, the international legislation is silent about solutions to stop trafficking before
it happens by preventing people from becoming traffickers. There is little effort to prevent
people from committing or being involved in human trafficking through any measures that are
not punitive. It is difficult to find any alternative in the regulations to prevent people becoming
involved in or committing human trafficking apart from prosecution, asset freezing, and
restitution.
However, there are some initiatives already applied by some countries as a way to prevent
individuals participating in human trafficking within their jurisdiction. One example is the
effort by Sweden to criminalise the purchase of sex services. In 1999, a Swedish law that
prohibits the purchase of sexual services came into force. The law makes it a crime to seek to
pay any person for a sexual purpose. It was enacted as part of the strategy to counter human
trafficking in Sweden (Ekberg 2004, p. 1191). According to the Swedish National Criminal
Police, the prohibition on the purchase of sex services discourages human traffickers from
setting up operations in Sweden (Government Offices of Sweden 2015). In a similar vein, the
research by Cho, Dreher and Neumayer (2013) also shows that a scale effect leads from
legalised prostitution to increasing prostitution, and thereby increases the incidence of human
trafficking cases (Cho, Dreher & Neumayer 2013, p. 75).
An article by Reyes (2015) summarises some examples of attempts that have been made by
various countries to prevent people committing or participating in trafficking. One example is
that of a faith-based organisation in the United States, in which its workers approach the
traffickers. Instead of calling the police to have them arrested, the workers approach the
traffickers, build trust, and develop a relationship that leads the traffickers to open up about
themselves and find options to leave their criminal behaviour. The ministry established rapport
and allowed the traffickers access to resources such as employment and counseling services
188
that could help them leave the business. In another example, one organisation in Nepal worked
to approach families about to send their daughters off to work as domestic labour. The
organisation offers a piglet or a goat to the families to replace the money that they would have
received and works with them to send the daughters to school instead. The organisation also
created sustainable opportunities to enable the families to become involved in income
generating projects (Reyes 2015).
Another example is an organisation working against trafficking in children for marriage in
Guinea, Gambia, Mauritania, Mali, Guinea-Bissau, and Senegal. The organisation has been
working to address the social norms related to child marriage by working with families and
seeking to create a sustainable solution to end this practice. The organisation considers the root
causes in the trafficking of children for marriage such as lack of proper food, education and
other opportunities. They also support community partnerships so that those involved to
understand the harms of this practice and decide to abandon it (Reyes 2015). These examples
show that although still only a few and mainly from faith-based or non-governmental
organisations there are efforts being made to prevent people from committing trafficking.
Although there are some programs in place around the world to prevent people from becoming
traffickers or stop the activities of the perpetrators, the available data is still limited. There is a
lack of policy guidance and literature on how to prevent people from becoming involved in or
committing human trafficking. This thesis aims to fill that gap, and this chapter in particular
provides some suggestions on what can be done in the Indonesian context to prevent people
becoming involved in human trafficking. These recommendations also take into account the
different forms of trafficking, because so far the efforts to prevent people from committing
human trafficking in Indonesia have not been differentiated according to the type of trafficking.
Hence, this chapter will make these distinctions between forms of trafficking and thus make
more nuanced recommendations for action. These suggestions or recommendations are based
on the research on characteristics, motivations, and perspectives of the individuals involved in
human trafficking in domestic labour and the sex industry in Indonesia as detailed above in
Chapter 6 and Chapter 7.
189
8.2.2. Indonesia’s Efforts
The Law of the Republic of Indonesia number 21/ 2007 on the Eradication of the Criminal Act
of Trafficking in Persons gives no clear instructions on how to prevent people committing and
participating in trafficking offenses. As set out in chapter six of the legislation on the topic of
prevention and treatment, prevention of a trafficking offense should be aimed at preventing the
trafficking offense at the earliest moment possible (Law 21 the Year 2007, art. 56). Further,
the law requires that government including the regional government, together with community
and family members should work to prevent human trafficking offenses and to formulate
policies, programs, and actions to prevent and address human trafficking (Law 21 the Year
2007, art. 57). However, no details are given on how to prevent trafficking. In the same chapter
of the legislation, the Indonesian government is required to form task forces made up of
government, law enforcement agencies, NGOs, professional associations, researchers and civil
organisations to address and prevent trafficking (Law 21 the Year 2007, art. 58). These task
forces have some duties in regards to the prevention efforts: providing advocacy, training,
encouraging cooperation, and raising awareness; monitoring victim protection efforts that
include return, rehabilitation, and social reintegration; monitoring cooperation between law
enforcement agencies; and conducting monitoring and evaluation (Law 21 the Year 2007, art.
58). As we notice, the duties of the task forces in this legislation are broad although there is no
specific mention in the legislation whether those efforts should or should not also include
attempts to prevent people from becoming traffickers.
Law 21 of the Year 2007 regulates the criminalisation of all forms of trafficking and prescribes
penalties of 3 to 15 years imprisonment (US DOS 2019, p. 240), and a fine of at least IDR
120,000,000 (USD 7,951 as at May 2020) (Law 21 the Year 2007, art. 2) as a way to stop the
actions of traffickers. In addition to this, in the event that the trafficking was committed by a
business entity, the government will revoke its business license, confiscate the proceeds,
revoke its legal status, disperse the management, and prohibit them from establishing another
corporate entity for a similar business (Law 21 the Year 2007, art. 15). During the criminal
proceeding, the investigators, prosecutors, or judges can make an order to freeze the assets of
suspects or persons in charge of a human trafficking business (Law 21 the Year 2007, art. 32).
The offenders also need to make restitution to the victims (Law 21 the Year 2007, art. 48). In
the case where the offender fails to act within 14 days of the court announcing that restitution
needs to be paid to the victims, the court will instruct the prosecutor to freeze the assets of the
190
convicted offender. If the offender is not able to pay the restitution, she or he is subject to a
prison sentence of at least one year (Law 21 the Year 2007, art. 50).
While Law 21 of the Year 2007 does not specifically mention efforts to prevent people
committing or participating in trafficking, there are some initiatives made by the government
as a part of its prevention efforts to prevent people becoming involved in trafficking. One
example is the policy from the Ministry of Education and Culture Indonesia that also targets
the perpetrators, as discussed already in Chapter 4. In its Guidelines for Trafficking Prevention
for Central and Regional Governments, it mentions that the target groups for prevention,
besides the victims, also include the various types of perpetrator - individuals (family,
neighbour), pimps, recruiters, agencies that send labour abroad, travel agencies and religious
leaders. Further, in the prevention strategy, the guidelines recommend campaigns, advocacy,
and education in the community to grow their awareness and discourage participation in human
trafficking (Ministry of Education 2017, p. 17-18). Although the guidelines state that the
methodology used should be appropriate to the target group, in reality it is not clear what
approaches to potential perpetrators have actually been implemented. During my fieldwork in
Indonesia in September 2019, I was able to join a campaign event managed by the Ministry of
Culture and Education of Indonesia in collaboration with a local NGO in Trenggalek regency,
West Java. In that campaign, the messages were targeted at groups that were also felt to be
vulnerable to becoming traffickers such as teachers and students in the high schools. The
campaign gave information on how teachers and students might become involved in trafficking
and on how to conduct their activities within the school to prevent this from happening.
Some Indonesian local news outlets also provided information on government efforts to raise
awareness in those vulnerable to becoming involved in human trafficking. For example, in the
news on the Indonesian news portal, berandatimur.com dated 29 October 2019 there was a
story about the local government of Nunukan regency in North Kalimantan province engaging
possible perpetrators such as the agencies or companies that recruit manpower for overseas in
their prevention campaign. A government official from Nunukan said that it is important to
raise awareness of human trafficking among companies and people whose job it is to facilitate
the sending of domestic workers to neighbouring countries such as Malaysia (Rusman 2019).
Apart from the government initiatives to prevent people becoming traffickers, some local
communities in Indonesia have also started their own holistic prevention programs. In the
191
interviews the organisation representatives talked about efforts to prevent people from
participating in human trafficking that involved religious leaders and religious institutions.
Some examples come from West Java and East Java provinces. One NGO representative in
Cirebon regency in West Java said that the NGO has created a book based on Islamic teaching
entitled “Fiqh Anti-Trafficking: Jawaban atas Berbagai Kasus Kejahatan Perdagangan
Manusia dalam Perspektif Hukum Islam” (in English: Fiqh Anti-Trafficking: The Answer on
Various Human Trafficking Offenses from an Islamic Law Perspective). The book was
produced by the NGO for the religious communities within the regency. The book on Fiqh
Anti-Trafficking aims to increase knowledge and provide an understanding of human
trafficking and the prohibition of human trafficking based on the Quran and Islamic teaching.
It is expected that the book would be used by Islamic leaders to share the message in their
community that human trafficking is an act that is prohibited in Islam. The Islamic leaders are
expected to share this message in their activities, such as at the Friday mass prayer or at prayer
sessions in the community. The messages aim to teach the community that a deceptive act such
as human trafficking, although if committed by family members, neighbours, or even village
leaders is against Islamic teaching and has bad outcomes for the victims and their families.
However it requires an understanding of trafficking and cooperation from the community
members to tackle the problem (ORG #7).
In the same way, religious organisations in Indonesia such as Majelis Taklim2 have also taken
a role in sharing the message on human trafficking. An NGO representative who is also a
member of Majelis Taklim Indonesia explained that through this organisation she can always
make public important messages on the dangers of human trafficking and how people should
be aware that they too are at risk of becoming perpetrators by facilitating the sending of a
person to another place. She is also one of the leaders in Majelis Ulama Indonesia (MUI)3 (the
Indonesia Ulema Council) within Sukabumi regency and she is aware that at present Islamic
leaders such as the ulema are being encouraged to share a message on human trafficking and
ots perpetrators in the mass prayers such as the Friday prayers. Islamic leaders like the ulema
are a group of people who command great respect in Muslim communities. Therefore, their
messages are generally accepted and obeyed by the Muslims in Indonesia. The interview
participant said that there are 7,000 or more mosques in Sukabumi which people attend
2 Majelis Taklim is a regular gathering for Islamic learning and activity that is widespread among contemporary
Muslim in Indonesia (Winn 2012). 3 Majelis Ulama Indonesia (MUI) is the leading Indonesian Muslim clerical body.
192
regularly (ORG #11), and so it is expected that the message from the ulemas will be heard
extensively.
The role of Islamic leaders is also claimed as very important in other places such as in East
Java province where there is a majority of Muslim communities. The Muslim leaders not only
help to prevent people from becoming involved in human trafficking but also provide support
in the rehabilitation process for those who have been sentenced. According to an NGO
representative in Jember regency, there were pimps who used to work in the large sex industry
area in Surabaya who repented while in jail and are now dedicating their life for social service.
Before repenting they received religious instruction from Islamic leaders with lessons about
death and punishment after death. The same thing also happened to traffickers in jail in other
places in East Java (ORG #14).
8.2.3. Improving Indonesia’s Efforts
As described above, besides the criminal justice process, which prosecutes the human
traffickers and freezes their assets, the efforts to prevent people from becoming trafficking
perpetrators in Indonesia are based on raising awareness and sharing knowledge. The
awareness campaigns are normally conducted by central government (e.g. through the Ministry
of Education and Culture), local government and religious institutions. The awareness
campaign, however, has not been fully implemented across Indonesia, as most of the anti-
trafficking campaigns in Indonesia have only targeted the places that are known as sources of
migrant workers for overseas (Djaja, Gyamirti & Irawan 2016; ILO 2011). In addition to that,
some interview participants felt that the anti-trafficking campaigns in Indonesia often did not
target the right groups. In many cases, instead of being more usefully directed, the campaigns
are targeted at government officials or civil organisations in respective regencies or villages.
Hence, the community is not directly receiving messages about the threats of human trafficking
(Lawyer #7; Lawyer #10; ORG #11; ORG #12).
Besides the awareness campaign, it is unclear whether there are any other efforts aiming to
prevent people becoming involved in human trafficking. Therefore, it can be said that there are
various aspects of prevention that need to look into to prevent human trafficking by
discouraging people involved in that crime. As mentioned before, Brantingham and Faust
(1976) have created a crime prevention model that is based on the public health model, and has
193
been seen as one of most common employed approaches for crime prevention (Gilling 2005,
p. 3).
1. Primary prevention: an approach to preventing violence before it happens. It identifies the
physical and social environments that provide opportunities for crime;
2. Secondary prevention: approach to change behaviours, such as by addressing barriers and
controlling behaviours;
3. Tertiary prevention: an approach that focuses on the long-term intervention, such as by
rehabilitation, reintegration, or therapeutic interventions that will help to prevent future
offenses.
From that description, it can be said that currently Indonesia is still lacking in all the three areas
of primary, secondary and tertiary prevention. In primary prevention, Indonesia’s effort is still
limited to awareness campaigns and knowledge sharing. Moreover, these campaigns and
knowledge sharing are geographically limited to areas in Java where many trafficked victims
for domestic labour have come from. In general, the campaign has only been shared with local
government officials and the members of civil society organisations so the campaign messages
are not well publicised in the wider community where those who may unwittingly become
traffickers are to be found.
Likewise secondary prevention to date in Indonesia has focused on prosecuting the offenders,
freezing assets and revoking business licenses (for the company) as the ways to control the
behavior of those who commit trafficking. However, more needs to be done to involve the
community in controlling the behaviour of traffickers. Shelley asserts that human trafficking
exists because of the legitimate community’s complicity (Shelley 2007). The media, apartment
owners, and hotels provide places to support sex trafficking, while factories cooperate with
traffickers to provide them with cheap and exploitable workers (Shelley 2007, p. 133).
Moreover, we have learned in Chapter 3 of this thesis and in Chapter 6 on the characteristics
of human traffickers in Indonesia, that many cases of human trafficking were committed by
community members, by relatives, neighbours, friends, even religious leaders, with the tacit
support of local government. Hence, greater involvement of the community is deemed in this
thesis as important to redress the situation and control the behaviour of those who are involved
in the crime.
194
In addition to that, it is still difficult to tell if currently there is any effort made to prevent people
from starting trafficking again after conviction. As mentioned by some interview participants,
some people for various reasons go back to trafficking after they are released from prison
(Lawyer #2; Lawyer #5). Hence, a tertiary prevention method that focuses on long term
interventions such as rehabilitation in prison, restorative justice, and other efforts that will have
a long-term effect needs to be considered for traffickers during and after the sentence period.
8.3. Recommendations to Prevent People Becoming Traffickers
Through the analysis above, we have gained an understanding regarding the extent of current
efforts to prevent people becoming involved in human trafficking in Indonesia. As the current
efforts to prevent people from becoming perpetrators are very limited, some recommendations
to better prevent people’s participation in human trafficking, taking into consideration the
characteristics and motivations as outlined in Chapters 7 and 8, will be given in this section.
8.3.1. Primary Prevention
Primary prevention aims to prevent people from becoming traffickers or to intervene before
they are involved in or commit human trafficking. According to Brantingham and Faust (1976),
it identifies social and environmental conditions that give people opportunity to generate
criminal acts (Brantingham and Faust 1976, p. 290). This section will elaborate on some
recommendations to prevent people from participating in human trafficking in Indonesia
whether for domestic labour and for the sex industry. It includes recommendations to improve
current methods of sharing knowledge on human trafficking; to enhance the trafficking free
village programs; to improve job opportunities by creating local businesses; human trafficking
education at school; women’s empowerment and participation; new regulations for agencies
dealing in labour supply abroad; and approaches to small cafes, spa business, and brothels.
8.3.1.1. Improving the Understanding of Human Trafficking and Increasing the Awareness
in Society of the Risks of Becoming Perpertrators
As explained before, the Indonesian government and community and faith-based organisations
have implemented anti-trafficking campaigns with knowledge sharing as a means of preventing
human trafficking in Indonesia. However, there are a number of known limitations in the
government campaigns: first, the messages focus on preventing people from becoming victims;
second, the messages are only delivered to government officials and organisation members;
195
and lastly, the campaigns only cover 20 regencies or cities in Indonesia, admittedly those where
the majority of trafficking victims come from. What follows are recommendations to improve
the efforts to prevent and counter human trafficking in the community in Indonesia.
First, awareness raising or knowledge sharing on human trafficking should also include
messages on the risk of becoming traffickers. To prevent people from being traffickers or
participating in human trafficking, the anti-trafficking campaigns and knowledge sharing
should also target individuals at risk of becoming perpetrators or traffickers. As seen in the
previous chapter, it is common in Indonesia that people lack legal awareness and a lack of
knowledge on human trafficking has contributed to them committing that crime (ORG #1;
ORG #4). The majority of interview participants in my research expressed the view that the
traffickers did not realise or may not have known that what they did was human trafficking or
that they were participating in an offense (see Chapter 7). Therefore, a message about human
trafficking should also be given clearly to those who are vulnerable to becoming traffickers.
Some efforts to give the message on the possibility of people becoming traffickers, however,
have been made during anti-trafficking campaigns. One example is a campaign that I attended
in Trenggalek regency, East Java. However, the messages on how the people might become a
trafficker were brief and not well explained. Thus, there needs to be greater clarity in the
campaign’s explanation on how people can become involved in human trafficking. People need
to be encouraged just as strongly to avoid actions that might make them participate in or
commit human trafficking as they are encouraged to avoid the possibility of becoming victims
of trafficking. It is important to give the message clearly to all members of the community, so
it also reaches those who also are at risk of being involved in committing trafficking.
Second, the messages should be received by a wider community. So far, the messages of the
campaign by the Indonesian government have been delivered only to the government officials
or civil societies in the respective regencies or villages, instead of to community members
(Lawyer #7; Lawyer #10; ORG #11; ORG #12). Therefore, the messages or knowledge on
human trafficking are not well publicised across the wider community (Lawyer #7; Lawyer
#10). Hence, it is necessary to make sure that the messages are delivered to all community
members and reach people who are most at risk of committing trafficking. An NGO
representative also gave the opinion that the government campaign as presented so far is not
sufficient because the local government officials who received the messages and training on
196
trafficking have little commitment and do not have a clue anyway on what to do afterwards.
They do not know how to set up any program to prevent human trafficking let alone one
targeted at preventing people becoming involved. Hence, assistance and coaching are needed
at local government level after the knowledge has been shared (ORG #10).
Third, there should be more programs sharing knowledge and they should reach more places
in the country, especially where the traffickers reside. The campaigns managed by the
Indonesian government itself have only been conducted in around 20 regencies or cities with
around 100 to 150 audience members at each location each year and that is far from enough
(ORG #4). These campaigns have also targeted the places which are the sources of migrant
workers overseas (Djaja, Gyamirti & Irawan 2016; ILO 2011). The extent of the campaign is
of course not enough compared to the magnitude of human trafficking cases in Indonesia.
Hence, the campaign and knowledge sharing needs to be spread further and reach more people
in order to prevent human trafficking and to prevent people becoming victims or perpetrators.
There also need to some consideration given to carrying out not only in the places which are
the sources of victims for trafficking, but also in the places where many traffickers are located
and in the places that are destinations for human trafficking.
Lastly, there needs to be cooperation with other organisations and faith or religious leaders in
delivering the message. Programs to prevent people becoming involved in human trafficking
whether as perpetrators or victims also can be implemented by cooperating with civil society
organisations and religious leaders in Indonesia to spread the message. In Indonesia, religious
leaders have an important role and their voices are heard the most (ORG #7). In some places
such as Java Island, faith-based organisations and non-governmental organisations have
already started to cooperate with religious leaders such as Muslim Ulema to spread the
messages in mass prayers or other important occasions within the community (ORG #11).
Hence, it is expected that this practice of involving religious leaders such as Islamic leaders or
Christian or Catholic preachers could be implemented at many more trafficking sources and
destinations in Indonesia. Various types of cooperative arrangements between community
leaders, civil society organisations and with faith-based organisations and religious leaders
need to be implemented to increase understanding of trafficking in the Indonesian society at
large.
197
8.3.1.2. Increase the Role of the Village
As human trafficking in Indonesia often happens in less populated areas such as a village,
where people really need to work somewhere to support themselves, the capacity of the village
to prevent and counter human trafficking should be enhanced. As mentioned in Chapter 4, in
Indonesia, there are government initiatives for villages that support the safety and wellbeing of
migrant workers abroad – one called Desa Migran Produktif (DESMIGRATIF) or in English
The Productive Migrant Village, and another Desa Buruh Migran (DESBUMI) or in English
The Village that Cares for Migrant Workers.
DESMIGRATIF was initiated by the Ministry of Manpower Indonesia in cooperation with
other ministries or national institutions to empower, improve the services, and give protection
to prospective Indonesian migrant workers abroad, starting from the villages where many
migrant workers come from. According to a spokesperson from the Ministry of Manpower, it
is expected that this program can help the community in some villages understand the
placement process and the protections in place for the labour force overseas. He also added
that this program aims to support the placement process and protect the prospective workers
who plan to work overseas or elsewhere inside the country, with all these processes starting
from their village or place of origin. The goals of DESMIGRATIF are also to empower
Indonesian migrant workers overseas and their families that they have left behind; support the
active role of government and all stakeholders in the areas the migrant workers come from;
and reduce the number of undocumented migrant workers (Kementrian PANRB 2019). Since
its establishment in 2016, DESMIGRATIF has reached around 400 villages. This program is
also expected to boost remittances from migrant labour to increase economic capacity in the
village and improve the management of that income to ensure more useful and productive
outcomes (Kantor Staf Presiden 2017).
A similar program called The Village that Cares for Migrant Workers (DESBUMI) was
established in 2014 by Migrant CARE, an NGO in Indonesia working for the protection and
care of migrants (Hidayah 2018, p. 225). DESBUMI is another initiative that starts in the
village and it aims to enhance migrant workers' protection especially that of women. Through
DESBUMI, it is expected that the village as an institution can protect its members who want
to go overseas to work. This initiative is a collaboration between civil society organisations,
the community of migrant worker families, and the village government (Migrant Care 2016).
In each area, DESBUMI helps with the documentation, maintains a database of migrant
198
workers, runs a complaints mechanism, establishes rules and regulations, and promotes post-
migration economic empowerment to ensure the safety of migrant workers and ensure that they
have a worthwhile migration experience (Hidayah 2018, p. 225; Hamdi 2020).
Looking at these roles and activities, it seems that DESBUMI has put a higher priority on the
safety of migrant workers than DESMIGRATIF which stresses the economic aspects of
migrant work and the establishment of a productive business by their families. This is not
surprising as according to Hidayah (2018) Migrant CARE established the DESBUMI program
to focus mainly on the village as a basis for protecting migrant workers (Hidayah 2018, p. 228),
since many problems with migration starts right from the village (KEMENPPPA 2018, p. 16).
As one of the interview participants exaplined, the DESBUMI program focuses on the village
because the problems that happen to migrant workers abroad, most of which are human
trafficking related, start right from the village (ORG #13).
As the village is seen as the first area where migrant labour problems arise, as well as the place
that can prevent the problem from the very beginning, it is important to support the village to
strongly engage in prevention of human trafficking. There have been major efforts in human
trafficking prevention in Indonesia implemented at village level involving village stakeholders
(village leaders, religious leaders, and civil society organisations). However the village
programs to counter trafficking in migrant workers, most of whom are going to work in
domestic labour, need to be improved to include initiatives around the traffickers themselves.
Hence, for an existing village program such as DESBUMI, it is suggested to add in activities
to prevent people from becoming perpetrators or traffickers, instead of just seeking to protect
the community from the possibility of being trafficked. It is important for the two major
initiatives to include measures in their program to address traffickers and to prevent people
becoming involved in trafficking. Ensuring the protection of people who will go overseas as
domestic labour is necessary, but approaching the traffickers who are spread through the
villages and encouraging them to stop their illegal activities and find other work is also
important.
The village leaders and other village stakeholders such as the civil society organisations and
the faith-based organisations need to work together in a multidisciplinary approach to prevent
people becoming involved in human trafficking for domestic labour. They need to address the
factors that make people more likely to commit trafficking whether from an economic
199
perspective or peer related. There needs to be interaction and dialogue with all kinds of
traffickers - recruiters, brokers and recruitment agencies - to work out how they can stop their
trafficking activities. There needs to be a sustainable program created for those who have
committed trafficking in the past, so they will not commit the same offense again. As
mentioned before, there is the example of a program created by a faith-based organisation, a
Christian ministry, in the United States, in which its workers approach the traffickers (Reyes
2015). Instead of calling the police to have them arrested, they build trust and develop a
relationship that leads the traffickers to be open about themselves and find options to allow
them to stop committing the crime. The ministry established rapport and allowed traffickers to
access resources such as employment and counselling services that help them to leave the
business (Reyes 2015). A similar program could be tried in Indonesia, where the village
committee might approach traffickers, build rapport, and help them to find a way to leave the
business. Perhaps the starting point is a pilot project to test the efficacy of the idea.
The Village Against Human Trafficking needs strong leadership from village leaders and the
village committee. They have an active role to prevent people from becoming perpetrators and
break the current trafficking activities that are committed by some community members. It is
not an easy task, because, as Hidayah (2018) states, there are problems in Indonesia where
village government officials are also involved in trafficking and act as sponsors and migration
brokers. She also argues that the village entities have also indirectly allowed trafficking to
happen by permitting brokers free rein to offer incentives in a vulnerable society (Hidayah
2018, p. 232). One NGO representative claimed that it is common for village government
officials to participate in trafficking and act as brokers or recruiters themselves (ORG #7).
Hence, any change needs to start from the village government officials themselves to ensure
that they have an understanding of human trafficking and will never participate in it.
It may not be easy to remove human trafficking given the vested interests of local village people
already involved in human trafficking. However, it can be started through some coaching and
monitoring from central government. The central government and Indonesia Anti-Trafficking
Task Force (Gugus Tugas PP-TPPO) need to actively monitor village government involvement
or corruption in those villages where trafficking is rampant. After that, they need to empower
those village governments and lead them in executing the anti-human trafficking program in
their areas. According to an interview participant, the village leaders receive general guidance
to prevent human trafficking from the central government, but in many cases the village leaders
200
do not know what to do after they received this information. Hence, the village leaders will
need some assistance and coaching to work on trafficking prevention (ORG #10). It was
reported that some DESMIGRATIF programs have engaged village leaders who used to be
involved in human trafficking as participants in the program. Engaging village leaders who are
ex-traffickers is seen as a way to increase the commitment to build a new system in the village
against trafficking, and it encourages other village leaders to not be involved in trafficking
(Kantor Staf Presiden 2017).
In the same way, it is also important to establish a village program that works to prevent and
counter human trafficking for the sex industry. Because this thesis has found significant
differences between traffickers for domestic labour and for the sex industry, it is important to
ensure that appropriate strategies are used for addressing each form of trafficking. We already
know from Chapter 7 that there are some villages, for example in West Java, where trafficking
in young girls for the sex industry flourishes. In some cases this trafficking involves family
members and neighbours from the village. Hence, the village has a big role to play and it
requires hard work and cooperation between a range of actors to reform the system at village
level and to change the community’s perspective that young girls working in the sex industry
is a normal thing. Cultural approaches may be needed here to overcome the strong culture and
beliefs that make it easy for girls to become victims of trafficking for the sex industry, and
make family members act as perpetrators. It can be done gradually through sharing knowledge
on the dangers and the more usual stigma attached to girls working in the sex industry, through
increased education to raise awareness and provide more opportunities for the young girls, and
through the religious leaders, the most respected people in the community, taking a strong role
in this.
An organisation working to address trafficking in children for marriage in Guinea, Gambia,
Mauritania, Mali, Guinea-Bissau, and Senegal has addressed the social norms related to child
marriage by working with the family and creating a sustainable solution to end this practice
(Reyes 2015). Some of the programs to strengthen community involvement work on
strengthening community capacity to identify at-risk children; strengthening community
capacity to prevent child migration and trafficking to urban centres; strengthening community
capacity to help children in difficult situations, such as sex abuse and forced marriage;
supporting functional commissions for child protection in the communities (Tostan 2018).
201
Support for communities and villages to stop the practice of child trafficking is vital, and ways
of doing this need to be developed and tested for efficacy. Elements of awareness raising should
include spreading knowledge and awareness of trafficking and its harm to the family along
with providing economic support and increasing the financial capacity of the family and village
members to discourage them from recruiting young girls into the sex industry, educational
support to the children, and moral and religious reinforcement to the family. All these actions
are needed in the villages to end the family practice of sending children to working in the sex
industry in Indonesia.
8.3.1.3. Improve Job Opportunities by Creating and Supporting Local Business
In the previous chapter, we saw that obtaining economic benefit is the most important factor in
why people decide to traffic others. People are encouraged to participate in trafficking for the
sex industry and for domestic labour to maintain a certain lifestyle, because of a lack of job
opportunities, to get money easily, and because they tempted to gain big profits. Therefore,
improving job opportunities so that community members can earn enough to feed themselves
is a necessity to prevent human trafficking for domestic labour and the sex industry.
Some people participated in human trafficking due to the lack of job opportunities, even though
some of them did not even realise that what they were doing was human trafficking. Some
scholars believe that many people commit human trafficking due to their disadvantaged
economic situation, through poverty and lack of job opportunities (Keo 2011; Broad 2013;
Shen 2016; MacCarthy 2016; Asbill 2017; Levenkron 2007). This can be seen as a reality in
Indonesia as well, as many of the traffickers commit the crime because of their disadvantaged
background rather than because they are tempted by the high profits. So it is necessary to
improve economic opportunity to decrease the chance and desire to traffic others.
While it requires sustained long-term efforts to improve economic conditions in a country like
Indonesia at this stage, I argue that strategies need to be put in place to increase job
opportunities in the areas where trafficking is thriving. Some of the areas where trafficking is
rampant in Indonesia are poor areas where people experience severe economic disadvantage.
The province of East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), for example, where many people are trafficked
for domestic labour, occupies one of the lowest positions on the Human Development Index
(Li 2018, p. 251). The province has a high unemployment rate, and most children drop out of
202
school in the first year of junior secondary school. Most of the population there works in the
agricultural sector, but this provides work for less than four months a year (Li 2018, p. 251).
The region is characterised by a dry climate and crop failure is frequent (Colin 2007). One
interview participant talked about the poor housing in NTT where many houses are made from
wood and straw (ORG #1).
One of the ways to increase job opportunities is by providing training to improve the skills and
ability of society to set up small to medium enterprises. In places like East Nusa Tenggara
(NTT) with a lack of job opportunities and little industry to create jobs, people do not have
many options to earn a living. One interview participant described the local initiatives already
in place that try to promote the idea of developing skills and creating industry locally so that
the people in NTT do not need to chase jobs overseas, but can actually build up the economy
locally and stay there with their family (ORG #9). Training and support (including financial
assistance) to enable people to create local businesses is perhaps what is needed the most for
people in NTT at this time, not just to prevent them going abroad or out of the province, but
also to prevent many of them taking to crime to earn money.
One way to improve economic opportunity is through developing an agricultural industrial
zone. This idea comes from a project in Timor-Leste that I was involved with a few years ago.
Timor-Leste is geographically not far from NTT and has a similar situation in terms of
economic and social conditions. The country there also suffers from a lack of economic
opportunities. The aim of creating an agricultural industrial zone is to develop and promote
agricultural products and build farmers’ entrepreneurial capacity (Krismasari et al. 2018, p.
17). Timor-Leste is abundant in agricultural products, such as cassava and banana. However,
there was a lack of knowledge and skills among people on how to develop those natural plants
into something more valuable. Therefore, the agricultural industrial zone program aims to train
and empower farmers and the local community to turn those plants into a more diverse range
products, such as snacks, sweets, flour, and other food products. In the end the farmers can
develop and produce something valuable that can be sold, and generate a new source of income
for themselves (Krismasari et al. 2018, p. 17).
Another organisation has also created a similar program but one that focuses on women.
Women in rural areas of Timor-Leste are taught to maximise the value of their agricultural
products such as coffee, tea, and herbs. They are provided with support to gain the technical
203
skills to develop agricultural products and the training enables them not only to improve their
technical ability but also to generate new sources of income (PARCIC 2020). Adding value to
agricultural products could be applied in NTT as well. There are natural products that grow
well in NTT and can be developed, such as mango, cashew, coffee, peanut, cocoa, banana,
maize, cassava, sweet potato, grain, legumes, and seaweed (Brown et al. 2012). People in NTT,
as in Timor-Leste, would need to be provided with training to develop their skills to process
the natural resources in their areas to make them into something more valuable.
Economic disadvantage is the fundamental driver of human trafficking in NTT, in the opinion
of one of the organisation representatives. Therefore, improving job opportunities by
supporting local people to develop local products and start local businesses is one step in
preventing human trafficking (ORG #9). People need to gain new skills and create a new way
to support themselves, for instance by creating a simple business that fits the local environment
in NTT, so they no longer have to depend on rice farming or becoming migrant workers in
other areas. Hence, some assistance and support to increase the skills of people in NTT, in line
with what some organisations have done in Timor-Leste, is necessary at this stage, so they can
reach economic independence.
Similarly, the same program should be implemented in regions where sex trafficking is
common, so in selected villages in Indramayu, Sumedang, and Subang, West Java. People in
that area need to gain the necessary skills and be given assistance to set up new businesses.
However before looking to assist people to become entrepreneurs the practices and beliefs
embedded in that culture, where people think that working in commercial sex is normal or even
beneficial, have to be broken. As an NGO representative in Indramayu stated, due to the beliefs
within that society, in some cases people are more interested in working in the sex industry
than in other fields of work (ORG #6). Hence, commercial sex as a cultural manifestation is
deeply rooted in that society and this needs to be changed through education, community-
building, negotiation, and other such approaches before the community is provided with skills
or capital to establish businesses.
8.3.1.4. Planting the Seed (Human Trafficking Education at School)
Preventing people from participating in human trafficking through education is recommended
for both types, trafficking for domestic labour and for the sex industry. The school has a role
204
in providing early education on what human trafficking is and how people get involved as
traffickers, and also to give constant reminders about this issue. Chapter 7 of this thesis has
shown that many people committed human trafficking because they did not know that the
activity they were involved in was in fact human trafficking, and they rationalised their actions
as the right thing to do. Hence, teaching an understanding and awareness of human trafficking
as early as possible at school is important.
This relates to the information provide by an NGO participant that young children still at
elementary school have participated in human trafficking offenses. Those children gained
access to information on commercial sex activities from social media and lured their school
friends to work in commercial sex services (ORG #11). In another case, it appears that in some
cases human trafficking also happens with young girls involved with motorcycle gangs (ORG
#5; ORG #16). This was in big cities such as Bandung and Batam and those involved in the
motorcycle gang were around 13 to 20 years old (ORG #16). Those who joined the motorcycle
gang were influenced by other gang members to participate in the sex industry in places like
cafés or pubs (ORG #5).
Given that in some places it is easy for young people to fall into bad company, the school has
a significant role to play to address this issue at a young age and prevent someone from
committing human trafficking. Research suggests that a special education program could be
implemented in schools to prevent criminal behaviour (Faggiano et al. 2005; Borloti et al. 2017;
Frant 2017; Hahn et al. 2007). Hence, I argue that special programs on human trafficking might
also be tried in the schools in areas which are vulnerable to trafficking, to prevent the younger
generation committing trafficking in the future, and to change the bad culture already rooted
within their society.
Research also shows that in some cases people’s level of education determines their
vulnerability to committing a crime (Frant 2017; E’Agostino, Sironi & Sobbrio 2013). The
correlation between education and crime is undeniable. Increased education level helps to
decrease the risk of individual involvement in criminal activities (Frant 2017, p. 3). Through
education, people can be more adaptable to new social stimuli. Thus, prevention of crime can
be achieved through education (Ciorbaru 2018, p 79). It was explained in Chapter 6 that
offenders in human trafficking in the sex industry and domestic labour often have a low level
of education, perhaps only to lower-secondary school level or even just elementary school.
205
Similarly, Li (2018) also documents that in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) many young people do
not complete junior secondary school and that prevents them from obtaining skilled jobs (Li
2018, p. 252) which then makes it more likely that will get involved in crime. Therefore,
improving education levels and increasing the opportunity to gain an education in those areas
where human trafficking is prevalent is a necessary step towards improving conditions.
8.3.1.5. Women’s Empowerment and Participation in Anti-Trafficking Efforts
As we saw in Chapter 6, in Indonesia women rather than men make up a greater percentage of
human trafficking offenders both for domestic labour and for the sex industry. This applies not
only in Indonesia, as the share of women as female offenders in human trafficking globally is
also exceptionally high (Kangaspunta, Sarrica & Johansen 2016, p. 872). As noted in Chapter
3, it is not a new phenomenon that women play a significant role in the recruitment process of
trafficking for the sex industry and other trafficking forms (Siegel & De Blank 2010, p. 438).
Indeed women more commonly act as recruiters, since they may be more easily trusted by the
victims and so can engage with them (Heuni 2015). Hence, the efforts to prevent human
trafficking need to pay special attention to women as a perpetrators and engage them as a part
of the prevention process.
As discussed in Chapter 3, the involvement of women as traffickers cannot be separated from
their experience as victims (Broad 2015, p. 1065). In Indonesia, some of the women involved
in human trafficking whether for domestic labour or the sex industry have had prior experience
as victims themselves or working as prostitutes or domestic workers. Indeed, their experience
may have encouraged them to set up in the business and bring others to work in those illegal
areas (Lawyer #10; Lawyer #4; Lawyer #7; Lawyer #8). According to one interview
participant, many victims end up recruiting other people because they get an incentive payment
for doing so (Lawyer #7). However, although some women traffickers in Indonesia had
previous experience of being victims, this is not the sole factor why women participate in
trafficking. Other interviews have revealed that women can become involved in trafficking at
the request of or through enticement from others (Lawyer #6; #Lawyer #3) and from economic
pressure (Lawyer #2). So these factors too need to be looked at when seeking to prevent women
from becoming traffickers in the future.
206
To prevent women being involved in or committing trafficking, there need to be empowerment
and awareness raising programs for women about the trafficking issue and how they can be
vulnerable to becoming traffickers. Women should be warned that they are not only vulnerable
to becoming victims of trafficking but also to becoming perpetrators. From the information
provided in Chapters 6 and 7, it seems that some women can become involved in human
trafficking in the sex industry and domestic labour in Indonesia when they become a housewife
who stays at home. One interview participant told the story of her client, a single mother who
was working together with a café owner in Papua looking for women or girls to work in the
sex industry. She was in contact with that café owner and participated in the recruitment
process as she needed additional money to live on. She recruited a girl, a friend of her daughter,
and tried to connect her to the café owner and send her to Papua (Lawyer #3).
The data in Chapter 6 shows that eight of the 20 women convicted of human trafficking in
domestic labour, and five of 20 women convicted of human trafficking in the sex industry were
housewives. Some women who stay home commit trafficking because they need additional
money to live on, and another person gave them the opportunity. In some cases, the women
concerned were separated or divorced from their partner and lived alone (Lawyer #2; Lawyer
#3; Lawyer #4; Lawyer #10).
Campaniello (2014) argues that if women have more and better opportunities in the legal labour
market the number of female criminals can be reduced (Campaniello 2014, p. 2). Often women
in Indonesia, especially those in rural areas, have lower education levels and this prevents them
from gaining access to better jobs. Moreover gender stereotypes and traditional views of the
role of women in Indonesia have continuously put women and girls in a disadvantaged position.
This situation makes it difficult for them to have a full and equal participation in social and
economic life (The Asia Foundation 2012). Hence, given their situation, it is not difficult for
others to influence them to participate in human trafficking.
The remedy is to support and enhance the role of women in the economic and social life of the
community as a way to further prevent them from committing trafficking. Efforts to support
women might include training to enhance their skills, teaching and supporting them to set up
and run a small business or allowing them to become involved in activities or groups with
positive goals. Increasing access to capital through micro-credit may also help them to establish
new small and medium enterprises. As mentioned before, there is the example of supporting
207
women to become micro and small entrepreneurs in Timor-Leste. Women who did not have
the technical capability and resources to build a small business were supported and got access
to micro-finance (State Secretary for the Support and Promotion of the Private Sector Timor-
Leste 2013, p. 23). In Indonesia, implementing faith-based financial assistance initiatives such
as Islamic microfinance could also allow women to borrow money and kick start a small
business. Financial inclusion and access to credit can help people build a business and avoid
the need for them to become involved in crimes of desperation. As mentioned by UNU-CPR
(2019), when individuals and families have access to affordable credit and insurance services,
they are in a better position to protect themselves from economic stress, to build assets, and to
provide capital for the future (UNU-CPR 2019, p. 113).
In addition, it might be beneficial to increase the role of religious and community associations
in supporting women within their community to prevent them from engaging in crime. These
groups should offer support to women who are considered vulnerable to committing or
participating in human trafficking, or whose the situation is such that it might make them decide
to engage in crime. This is a case where the role of the religious leaders is important and they
need to be sensitive to the needs of all the people, women as well as men, in their community.
In the efforts to prevent trafficking, women could be included as actors that can share the
knowledge and improve awareness within the society. Therefore, human trafficking
interventions should be designed with women involved in every plan and activity. Women can
talk or communicate better with other women in the community, so that the desired messages
are understood and well received. Involving women in anti-trafficking interventions is
important because they may have a better understanding and can provide input on how to
prevent women in the local community for being involved in human trafficking, and what the
best ways are to support their life economically and as individuals.
8.3.1.6. Recruitment Agencies dealing with Labour Supply Abroad
The cases of human trafficking for domestic labour in Indonesia cannot be separated from the
involvement of the companies or agencies that recruit and send labour abroad. As documented
by Killias (2018), women enter the recruitment agencies where they are trained to become
maids overseas and wait for their placement (Killias 2018, p. 14). Li (2018) in his article
regarding human trafficking in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) states that the main perpetrators of
208
human trafficking in NTT were the recruitment agencies that send labour supply abroad. These
agencies are registered with the Ministry of Manpower Indonesia, but none of them have been
charged for their illegal activities (Li 2018, p. 256). Thus, it is clear that the government needs
to implement a comprehensive strategy to prevent these agencies from participating in human
trafficking (Li 2018, p. 257).
Article 34 of Law no. 39/2004 on the Placement and Protection of Migrant Workers states that
migrants should be informed of the recruitment process, the documentation requirements, their
rights, and the situation in the destination country. However, in the case of domestic labour, a
special regulation applies, in which they have to stay at training facilities run by the private
recruitment agencies. Despite government regulations, the women who are preparing to be
domestic workers are often kept for an unreasonable time and in difficult circumstances,
sharing accommodation with an excessive number of people in a remote location for example.
These arrangements were made by the agency under the pretext that it prepared them well for
working in another country (Rother 2017, p. 963). When the workers have reached the
destination country and start working, they pay a significant amount from their salary every
month as service fees to the recruitment agency (Bachtiar & Tirtosudarmo 2017, p. 150).
In 2017 the government passed the Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers law that
mandates that the provincial government instead of private companies should monitor the pre-
departure training and the placement of workers. The key important provisions written in
Article 30 include a prohibition on any placement costs, and also the creation of a single agency
to license recruitment agencies (US DOS 2020, p. 260). However, until now, although there
are many formally recognised recruitment agencies, the Perusahaan Jasa Tenaga Kerja
Indonesia (PJTKI), agencies still impose placement costs on the workers and use informal ways
of recruitment and commit fraud, such as falsifying the identity documents, all of which places
people into situations where they are trafficked.
At the time I conducted interviews with organisation representatives, those agencies still played
a big role in the recruitment of domestic labour abroad, and undoubtedly, in many cases they
were involved in human trafficking (ORG #2; ORG #3; ORG #4; ORG #7; ORG #13). The
large and formal recruitment agencies or PJTKI who are located in the big cities played a role
in recruiting people from the smaller cities or rural areas. These agencies sometimes work with
smaller agents or have their own channels, perhaps a group of people in the villages who recruit
209
people who want to work. Later on, they will impose a fee on each person they have recruited
after they started working. This situation happens although in reality the employer abroad has
actually already paid a recruitment fee to the agency. Those agencies still include service fees
in the employment contract that must be paid by the workers once they earn their first salary
(Rosenberg 2003, p. 57).
In order to ensure that the migrant workers can work overseas safely, the operation of private
agencies in managing the pre-departure of migrant workers needs to be closely monitored. The
Ministry of Labour or another government body should establish a system that allows them to
monitor every part of the process performed by the agencies that send migrant labour abroad,
to ensure that they are operating according to the set guidelines. The government should
monitor the training provided by the agencies, ensure that the migrant workers are protected
and well treated before departure, ensure their safety with the employer in the country of
destination, and ensure that the migrant worker is receiving an appropriate salary free from any
fee imposed by the agencies in Indonesia. The government should also prohibit the recruitment
companies from employing other parties or persons outside their agencies to recruit people
from rural areas or smaller cities in order to avoid fraud, extortion, and human trafficking of
the workers in the future. This measure would also prevent people from becoming involved in
human trafficking offenses. This will avoid unwanted treatment and exploitation in the sending
countries. In addition, the government should have a list of agencies overseas that are approved
to cooperate with the agencies in Indonesia. This is to prevent the agencies in Indonesia from
working in collaboration with any parties who do not act responsible and who put the migrant
workers into dangerous situations.
An alternative is to minimise the role of these agencies. Wahyu Susilo, the Director of Migrant
Care Indonesia, has stated that formal recruitment agencies such as the PJTKIs are the source
of the problems for Indonesian migrant labour overseas (Wijaya 2013). Therefore, limiting the
role of the PJTKIs might be an option. The sending of unskilled migrant labour overseas would
be done through the government instead of through PJTKIs. The government could create a
single agency in every province in Indonesia to deal with the applications and placement of
migrant labour. In this way, the cases of document fraud, the unwanted service fees normally
imposed by the PJTKIs, debt bondage, and bad treatment during the training might be avoided.
In addition, the government would also vet and guarantee the agencies or employers who will
receive and employ the migrant workers overseas.
210
8.3.1.7. Approaches to Small Cafes, Spa Business, and Brothels
Much of the trafficking to the sex industry in Indonesia happens in small cafés, spas, and
brothels. As frequently mentioned in court documents (CDB #1; CDB #2; CDB #5; CDB #7;
CDB #8; CDB #17; CDB #18; CDB #19; CDB #21; CDB #22; CDB #23), places like cafes,
beauty spas, and brothels have been used as places of prostitution, which are often linked to
human trafficking. As mentioned previously, prostitution is illegal according to Indonesian
law. However, some businesses in the hospitality industries like cafés or pubs organise sexual
activity and employ women and girls as prostitutes. When the girls are below 18 years old, or
if there was deception employed in the recruitment process, or if they are under control and in
debt bondage in their workplace, then it is considered human trafficking.
To prevent human trafficking for the purpose of commercial sex in small cafés, spa businesses,
and brothels in Indonesia, those types of hospitality business need to be monitored regularly,
especially those in the smaller cities or regencies. One interview participant stated that illegal
prostitution in small rural areas often happens due to a lack of monitoring from government.
In those places, small cafes or karaoke places have become a venue for prostitution. Also, this
condition is exacerbated by the lack of legal awareness of the business owners who do not
realise that they are sometimes committing human trafficking. As mentioned by that interview
participant, the business owners think that something that was carried out without force is not
illegal or breaking the law (Lawyer #10). As we know there are some situations where
trafficking happens without the use of force, but when there is deception at the beginning even
though later the victims finally accept their situation, or simply by recruiting girls under 18
years old.
Therefore, those businesses in the hospitality industry that have the potential to be places of
prostitution need constant monitoring. Another approach is to raise awareness in the owners of
the places concerned that prostitution is illegal in Indonesian law, and that prostitution can lead
to human trafficking offenses. Local government would have to play a role to closely monitor
the businesses in their area.
In terms of prostitution in the red-light districts, the Ministry of Social Affairs of the Republic
of Indonesia made an effort to close down all the red-light districts in an initiative called “2019
211
Indonesia Bebas dari Lokalisasi”, in English “Indonesia Free from Red-Light Districts 2019”,
as an attempt to eliminate prostitution. In 2019, 72 out of 168 red-light districts were closed by
the Ministry of Social Affairs, while another 81 red-light districts were closed down by local
government, and 5 more districts were in the process of closing (Latuharhary 2019). With the
closure of the red-light districts, traffickers and brothel owners now have to conduct their
illegal sex business surreptitiously. In this regard, some assistance should be given after the
closures to those who used to manage prostitution, the pimps, brothel owners, and café owners,
to prevent them from continuing to be involved in commercial sex and human trafficking. The
government should provide counselling and alternative solutions to help the business owners
to survive after the closure of the red-light districts. This practice was implemented in
Cambodia where employment and counselling services were given to help those leaving the
trafficking business. By giving an alternative it will help brothel and café owners to stop
running prostitution operations and committing trafficking (Reyes 2015). Giving support and
alternatives to the traffickers so that they can survive after leaving the sex business also helps
to minimise the risk of the emergence and further growth of online prostitution. As explained
in Chapter 4, online prostitution boosted by the closure of the red-light districts has become a
serious issue in Indonesia
8.3.2. Secondary Prevention
Secondary prevention aims to change the behaviour of the perpetrators, whether by addressing
it or controlling it. This level of prevention engages in early identification of potential offenders
and seeks to intervene in their lives so that they never commit criminal acts (Brantingham and
Faust 1976, p. 290). In this section, some recommendations to prevent people from committing
human trafficking will be elaborated. These include recommendations to establish a dialogue
with traffickers; programs in the areas where many traffickers reside; and new regulations for
those who work for immigration and police institutions.
8.3.2.1. Face to Face Dialogue Between Traffickers and Community Representatives
The interviews with lawyers and organisation representatives have shown the government’s
current efforts to deal with perpetrators of trafficking. However, it is hard to know if there is
any dialogue or direct interaction between traffickers and local government or community
representatives in an effort to control their behaviour. Without direct contact with traffickers
and only giving support to the victims, it will be difficult to tackle trafficking. As one NGO
212
representative said, it needs a direct and personal series of advocacy to the traffickers to
encourage them to not conduct human trafficking within their community (ORG #14).
In many cases, although trafficking perpetrators are known to exist in the community, they are
left unreported and not prosecuted. In the understanding that community leaders and members
know some of the traffickers in their area, it is suggested that they might start to approach them
and talk about the problems face to face. This might be easiest to implement in areas where
many traffickers operate and trafficking is rooted in the life of the society, such as in the
villages in Indramayu where many people are trafficked for the sex industry, or in some areas
in East Nusa Tenggara where many people are trafficked for domestic labour.
By talking directly with traffickers, the root causes that have led to them being involved in
trafficking would be acknowledged, and some solutions might also be offered. In doing this,
the community leaders should cooperate with religious leaders such as Islamic leaders or
churches. They need to talk with the traffickers and gain a common understanding, in the hope
of finding a win-win solution to this issue. The message needs to be communicated that their
actions are not only harmful to the people in their community but also to their own life and to
future generations. The perpetrators would need to be given some options on different life paths
that they could take instead of participating in human trafficking offenses.
Even though it might seem challenging for a community to undertake a dialogue such as this,
such dialogues or negotiations with non-armed criminal groups or even organised crime groups
have been done before. For example, negotiations with those involved in gang-related violence
in El Salvador resulted in a positive outcome and saved the lives of thousands of people
(Wennmann 2014, p. 269). Rahman and Vukovic (2019) explain that to engage gangs in a
dialogue, an early step is to understand the interests that they hold and how that might be
translated into a negotiating position. This is called a process of assisted articulation, and it is
a precondition for the next step of negotiation or mediation between gangs and government.
The loss of benefit that gang members bear when stopping criminal activities should also be
considered. The process of assisted articulation is possible when it is focused on the aspects
that motivate individuals to become involved in the criminal groups and the factors that
contribute to the group’s or gang’s viability (Rahman & Vukovic 2019, p. 941-942). On the
other hand, to be successful in such negotiation the government should have the ability to
construct an agenda for the gangs that is feasible and acceptable, which can open a space for
213
an agreement. For example, can the government fulfil demands to develop a neglected
neighbourhood, or provide employment opportunities for young people in a marginalised
community (Vukovic & Rahman 2018).
Although there are no research studies relating directly to such dialogue with traffickers, there
are studies of such dialogues in relation to different types of criminal behaviour that show that
it is possible, and that provide potential models. In these models, the first step of the process is
state-sponsored mediation. This mediation process, that is conducted confidentially, normally
involves the state and gang factions with the aim of ending the violence or crime. The second
step is negotiation. Once reconciliation is achieved and the interest is articulated, the
government can engage directly. In this negotiation phase, the solution is reached contingent
upon following an agreed plan to leave the crime. The third and final step is mainstreaming
and monitoring the implementation. It refers to the integration of gang networks into the society
as legitimate structures with their members leaving their former criminal roles to engage in
positive work within society. The mainstreaming process includes two important elements:
first, the new role of gang structures in the society must fill the gaps that might cause them to
be drawn back to crime, and second, the new societal role and opportunity given to them must
be substantial enough to exceed the opportunity cost associated with the criminal business
(Rahman & Vukovic 2019; Vukovic & Rahman 2018).
In places susceptible to trafficking, such as in NTT, it would be worthwhile to try approaches
to groups of traffickers. These approaches could be made by local government and community
representatives to establish dialogue with local networks or groups. The local government
could take the three steps outlined above, state-sponsored mediation, negotiations, and
mainstreaming and monitoring. In doing that, the local government and community leaders
should seek to understand the interests of the trafficker's group as articulated by the group
members themselves, such as the aspects that motivate them to be involved in human
trafficking and the factors that contribute to the group's viability. The local government and
community leaders should also work with the traffickers to create an agenda or structured plan
agreed to by all that would help the life of the traffickers in the future. For example, the local
government might look to provide job opportunities that are better for them than being involved
in human trafficking or provide some funding to create new legal business opportunities.
214
In Indonesia itself, there are already examples of negotiating with gangs from the experience
of the current president of Indonesia, Joko Widodo who was once governor of DKI Jakarta. In
that position he tried to negotiate with gangsters who occupied and controlled certain areas in
Jakarta. In dealing with them, he used compassionate and personal approaches. After many
visits to the areas in question, he got to know each person personally, remembered their name,
and invited them for series of lunch in the government office to give them an understanding of
the areas that he wanted to develop. He provided those gang members win-win solutions for
their future. This sort of approach has been commonly used by him to deal with conflict with
segments of society such as the gangsters (Faqih 2013; Taufiqurrohman 2013; Kuwado 2014).
The idea of holding a dialogue and find a win-win solution is aligned with a principle that is
inherent in Indonesian society. Indonesians are used to practicing musyawarah and mufakat.
Musyawarah and mufakat mean deliberation and consensus and are a traditional way, still
commonly found in community meetings in the villages, to reach agreement and make
decisions. They are the result of the cooperative spirit that stems from the sense of community
as a part of Indonesian culture. This traditional way of reaching consensus is still preserved in
modern Indonesia today. The musyawarah process avoids all the costs that arise when
majorities impose their views on minorities (Kawamura 2011; Koentjaraningrat 1967).
Understanding that the community in Indonesia is used to conducting musyawarah, it is thus
important to meet and talk with the traffickers through musyawarah to reach some mufakat.
Further in Section 8.3.3.4, it will be shown how discussion and engagement with the traffickers
might also lead them to participate in anti-trafficking programs.
8.3.2.2. Focus on the Areas where Traffickers Reside and Operate
The efforts to prevent human trafficking in Indonesia are often conducted in the places where
the victims come from or in the places where there are many people eager to work overseas or
outside their province, the places often called “kantong TKI”. Law 18/2017 on the protection
of Indonesian migrant workers requires local government to protect prospective migrant
workers from the recruitment process on. Hence, services and programs have been
implemented in the regencies or cities that are considered as “kantong TKI”, areas where
migrant workers come from (Nizar, Inayah & Dwijono 2018, p. 104). So there is already
considerable attention given to the places which may become the sources of trafficked victims,
but little attention has been given to the places where traffickers reside or operate.
215
Observations found from the court documents reveal that people trafficked for domestic labour
were transported through a longer and more complicated route than those trafficked for the sex
industry (see Chapter 6). One of the popular transit areas before the victims sent to their
destination countries overseas was Batam in the Riau Islands. It is interesting to know that
victims need to go through and stay in Batam first for a couple of days before they are sent on
to destination countries such as Malaysia. Some more research is needed to establish why
Batam has become a popular transit place for trafficking in domestic labour.
There are some evidence from the court documents and interviews that the perpetrators in
places like East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), where a lot of trafficking for domestic labour occurs,
are recruiting people on command from the traffickers in Batam. Hence, it is important to focus
efforts on Batam as the place where many traffickers organise trafficking for domestic labour
in Indonesia, rather than just working in the places where the trafficking victims come from.
One example from the court document is a case of trafficking from NTT to Singapore with
transit via Batam. The traffickers who acted as the recruiters in NTT told the victim that the
agent in Batam would offered her work in Singapore as a domestic worker. The agent in Batam
paid all the costs, the air ticket, official documents, and other things needed before she could
start work in Singapore. During the transit in Batam, the traffickers taught the victims to speak
English and use some kitchen appliances (CDA #12). Another court document has shown that
the taxi drivers in Batam seem to be used to working with the traffickers. Some victims in
Sumbawa, NTT were trafficked to Morocco and transited through Batam. Upon their arrival at
the airport, they took a taxi and the taxi driver asked who their sponsor was. After giving the
sponsor’s/trafficker’s details, they were dropped at one of the hotels (CDA #19). This event
shows how the traffickers in NTT liaise with traffickers in Batam and how the traffickers are
well known among people like taxi drivers.
A representative from an organisation also explained that the people involved in the trafficking
networks from Malaysia and elsewhere overseas like to “hang out” in Batam (ORG #1). A
lawyer also shared a personal story from when he was living in Batam many years ago. He had
a meeting with agents from Singapore who offered him the chance to work with them in
recruiting people from other parts of Indonesia to work in Singapore. The agent from Singapore
offered him payment for each person he found for the work, and gave him details of a network
in Java Island, in case he needed some assistance. As he explained, actually the work would
216
have been easy because he just needed to call a few contacts in other places to bring people to
Batam who wanted to work in Singapore, but because he knew that it was a trafficking
syndicate, he rejected the offer (Lawyer #11). Given what is known of this situation, further
attention needs to be paid to Batam as a place where many traffickers reside and it should
become the centre of operations for the effort to control trafficking in domestic labour in
Indonesia.
Many trafficked victims that were transited through Batam were sent overseas. In many cases,
they were sent to Muslim countries such as Malaysia, Syria, and Morocco. When they are being
sent to Morocco or Syria, they transit through Malaysia from Batam. The traffickers in Batam
frequently work in partnership with traffickers in Malaysia. Therefore, there needs to be more
observation and research done on their relationships with traffickers in Malaysia and other
traffickers in the other Muslim countries that are trafficking destinations. The government of
the Riau Islands needs to develop a strategy to break up the trafficking syndicates in Batam
using their knowledge of the traffickers’ institutions, networks, and modus operandi. It may
require cooperation with neighbouring countries such as Malaysia and Singapore to deal with
this issue. A new policy should be enacted for recruitment companies based in Batam as well.
Should the government deal with this issue in Batam, it will possibly impact the growth of
trafficking for domestic labour in other areas such as in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT). As I
explained above, the traffickers in East Nusa Tenggara or West Nusa Tenggara move and
operate in response to orders received from the traffickers in Batam or sometimes from
traffickers in Jakarta. Therefore, to prevent people from committing trafficking in locations
such as NTT, the situation in Batam needs to be improved, and the government should deal
with and break up the operations of the traffickers there.
8.3.2.3. Approaches to Police and Immigration Institutions
Before proceeding, it is worth nothing briefly that, although this section is included in the
secondary prevention, some elements below could also be categorised as primary prevention.
Li (2018) states that a comprehensive strategy is also needed to prevent police, military
officers, and bureaucrats from participating in human trafficking (Li 2018, p. 257). It is no
secret that in Indonesia, human trafficking especially for domestic labour involves those who
work in immigration and police agencies. According to Li (2018), the strong demand for labour
in Indonesia has created opportunities for corruption in the village administration, police sector,
immigration sector, and at the airport (Li 2018, p. 245). Corrupt law enforcement officers ease
217
the recruitment and transportation of trafficked victims, and hinder the investigation and
prosecution of the traffickers (OECD 2016, p. 34). Thus, developing and implementing codes
of conduct to prevent personnel in the police and immigration sector from being involved in
human trafficking is a necessity. Some existing codes of conduct may need to be adjusted to
meet the specific requirements of dealing with human trafficking.
A lot of the cases of police involvement in human trafficking offenses happen in NTT province.
In 2014, the Indonesian President, Joko Widodo stated that NTT is categorised as an emergency
area for trafficking, and that corruption is a supporting factor in why trafficking is prevalent in
NTT. The corruption in NTT not only involves police and immigration officers, but also
regents and government officials (Tempo.com 2018).
In many countries, the police force is commonly seen as one of the most corrupt institutions
(Transparency International 2017b; Lee-Jones 2018) and not only with petty corruption, as
police officers can conspire in organised crime such as drugs and human trafficking (Lee-Jones
2018; DCAF 2012). Somadiyono (2014) explains some of the factors that support corruption
in the police force in Indonesia, - poor recruitment and selection methods, salary structures,
poor working conditions, and organisational problems (Somadiyono 2014, p. 27). Lee-Jones
(2018) describes some methods used by countries to eradicate corruption among police
officers, such as through increasing government commitment to build transparency in the
police sector; improving salaries and working conditions; improving recruitment and selection
methods; training and socialisation; building a new culture; rehabilitation; the involvement of
civil society organisations which includes greater media participation. The role of an
independent commission to eradicate corruption is also recognised for having a significant
impact (Lee-Jones 2018, p. 5-6). In Indonesia, the efforts to eradicate corruption in the country
are managed by the Corruption Eradication Commission, the Komisi Pemberantasan Korupsi
(KPK). However, KPK does not have enough resources or even an accurate definition and
picture of the extent of police corruption. Therefore, KPK cannot play a significant role in
overseeing or preventing corruption among police officers (Somadiyono 2014, p. 27). The
Indonesian government needs to support and increase the role of KPK to also address
corruption in all law enforcement institutions, and to incorporate human trafficking in the anti-
corruption agenda (Transparency International 2011, p. 4). This means that KPK have to
develop guidelines to prevent and monitor corruption among police and these would include
measures to prevent police involvement in human trafficking.
218
As mentioned by an interview participant, it requires cultural changes within the force to
prevent police corruption and involvement in trafficking. Systemic corruption in the police
especially as in NTT cannot be solved merely by increasing police salaries (ORG #9). To
prevent police corruption in Indonesia requires complete police reform, which starts from
proper recruitment and selection, extensive training and development, and constant monitoring
of their performance. However, in a ‘special’ place such as NTT where police officers are
highly involved in human trafficking, it is a more complex thing to deal with police corruption.
In the context of NTT, specific and difficult measures are needed to achieve police reform. The
police agencies require good leadership in which the higher ranks constantly teach, remind,
and monitor the works of their subordinates to maintain the integrity of the police force and to
prevent them from engaging in human trafficking offenses. Prenzler (2009) noted that many
problems in police misconduct almost always point out leadership as a major problem. It is
often that the failure of ethical leadership is correlated to the wider problem of
maladministration (Prenzler 2009, p. 175). Another way to prevent police involvement in
human trafficking is through the media taking an active role. The journalist needs to be trained
to understand, to investigate, as well as to report the processes in human trafficking that involve
the apparatus of the state (Transparency International 2011, p. 5). So far, the Indonesian media
has reported on many trafficking cases in NTT where police officers are involved. For example,
the news from kompas.com in 2014 reported that there was a high indication of police
involvement in human trafficking in NTT because so many cases of trafficking reported to the
police there have never been taken any further (Patnistik 2014). In the same year,
beritasatu.com reported the case of Jhon Killa, the accused trafficker who reported the
involvement of police in facilitating the trafficking operations that he carried out (Kellen 2014).
It is also recommended that a task force be created within the Indonesian police to oversee and
monitor the work of the police in order to prevent involvement in trafficking and facilitation of
crime in general. The task force’s mission would be to ensure the integrity of the police. That
team would also coordinate with other interested parties such as KPK and the Indonesian
Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (INTRAC or in Indonesian PPATK). Police
who are suspected of being involved in trafficking and other crimes should be investigated.
There should be a penalty imposed on those who participated in human trafficking from within
the police.
219
One interview participant knew of a CSO in East Nusa Tenggara that works to prevent
corruption in the immigration service. The immigration service has been involved in corruption
by falsifying documents and allowing people to leave the country illegally which are key
elements in trafficking. One of the methods that the CSO used was to capture photographic
evidence of bribery during the immigration processes which form part of trafficking (ORG #9).
As with the police, a task force might be created within the immigration department as well to
oversee and monitor the work of immigration officers. That task force in carrying out its
activities would need to cooperate with KPK, PPATK and the proposed police task force.
Those who are suspected of being involved in trafficking should be investigated and if they are
proven to be guilty, a penalty or sentence should be imposed.
8.3.3. Tertiary Prevention
To prevent people from committing or becoming involved in human trafficking for a second
time, tertiary prevention is needed. It deals with actual offenders and involves intervention in
their lives in such a way that they will not commit the crime in the future (Brantingham and
Faust 1976, p. 290). This prevention approach focuses on long term intervention, such as
rehabilitation, reintegration, or therapeutic interventions (Krug et al. 2002). Human trafficking
cases can be minimised if the offenders desist from crime. To desist from crime is defined as
abstaining long-term from criminal behaviour by those who have developed offending as their
pattern of behaviour (McNeill et al. 2012). The data from the interviews indicate that some of
those who committed human trafficking committed the crime more than once and developed it
as a pattern of behaviour (ORG #6; ORG #14; Lawyer #2; Lawyer #5). Major factors that
contribute to desisting from crime range from the social environment, social bonds, and life
course transition (Maguire & Raynor 2006, p. 24). This part of the chapter proposes key ideas
to prevent people being involved in or committin human trafficking in the long run. In the
context of human trafficking for domestic labour and the sex industry in Indonesia, this might
be accomplished through rehabilitation in prison, restorative justice, and encouraging the
perpetrators' participation in the prevention effort.
8.3.3.1. Rehabilitation in Prison
As a part of the effort to reduce crime and prevent recidivism, rehabilitation of offenders of
crime while in prison has been implemented in some parts of the world (Bosma et al. 2016, p.
220
1096). In Indonesia, a leadership and self-development program is given to every inmate, in
accordance with a decision made by prison directors at the Lembang conference in 1964
(Suwarto 2007; Surianto 2018). This self-development or rehabilitation program is delivered
in three stages during the offender’s time in prison. The first stage relates to character and self-
development, the second stage is a continuation of the first, and the third stage is reintegration
planning (Government Regulation 31 the Year 1999, Art. 10). The Government Regulation of
the Republic of Indonesia number 31 of 1999 on Education and Counselling of Inmates, sets
out some of the subjects to be offered to the prisoners for their self-development. These include:
religious devotion, studies in nationalism; intellectual capacity; attitudes and behaviour;
physical and spiritual health; legal studies; reintegration to society; work skills; practical
experience of working and production (Government Regulation 31 the Year 1999, Art. 3).
Rehabilitation of trafficking offenders is needed during their time in prison to prevent them
from committing the offense for a second time. In Indonesia there are already special
rehabilitation programs given to particular types of offenders, such as those who were involved
in drug trafficking and terrorism. Drug offenders in Indonesia are given medical and social
rehabilitation to withdraw from their addiction and to restore a normal life. Specifically, the
medical rehabilitation aims to take the offenders through withdrawal from their drug addiction
and social rehabilitation is given as an integrated recovery process physically, mentally, or
socially so former drug addicts can return and integrate back into society (Law 35 the Year
2009, art. 1). On the other hand, the rehabilitation of people involved in terrorism aims for
deradicalisation. Some of the rehabilitation programs for terrorism involve studies in
nationalism; religious studies; and training in entrepreneurship (The Law 5 the Year 2018, art.
vii. a). The rehabilitation of the terrorist aims to address their radical thoughts. In addition
during the rehabilitation process those who were involved in terrorism are also prepared for
reintegration into society (Firmansyah 2019, p. 674).
In the same way as there are targeted rehabilitation programs for the above crimes, there should
be a targeted scheme for convicted human traffickers. Unfortunately, based on the Indonesian
law on combatting human trafficking, there is no specific rehabilitation given to those who
were involved in human trafficking. Rehabilitation targeted to human trafficking offenders
needs to be seriously considered, given that traffickers are likely to commit trafficking again
after they come back to society, especially in places where human trafficking is rampant and
the trafficker is still in contact with other traffickers in their previous trafficking networks.
221
Therefore, I propose that rehabilitation tailored specifically to prevent them from committing
trafficking offenses again in the future should be given to prisoners convicted of human
trafficking in Indonesia
Some rehabilitation programs might be created based on religious teachings or to raise basic
awareness regarding trafficking and slavery. For someone who committed trafficking for the
sex industry, religious teaching regarding adultery or prostitution and teaching programs to
improve awareness, sympathy, and self-control can be given. One of the NGO representatives
said that the advocacy to those who committed trafficking is very personal. One of the ways to
make them repent is constant reminders of the sin of doing this action (ORG #14). Those who
commit trafficking may have once been a victim themselves or been damaged in the past by a
violent upbringing. Therefore, it is necessary to heal past trauma, and encourage self-
development of those former traffickers during their time in prison so that once they are
released from prison they will become a new person and be freshly motivated to live a new and
better life. Another rehabilitation program might include some encouragement and help to
leave or stay away from the trafficking networks or fellow traffickers that they once worked
with as one of the ways of helping them to avoid reconnecting with the criminal networks from
their past.
8.3.3.2. Restorative Justice in addition to Criminal Justice
Many cases of trafficking for domestic labour and the sex industry in Indonesia happen within
a vulnerable society. We have learned from Chapter 7 that there are certain vulnerable places
where people are more susceptible to human trafficking. Those places are usually the origin
points where people become victims of trafficking. Examples are East Nusa Tenggara (NTT)
where people are susceptible to human trafficking for domestic labour, or some places in West
Java, like Indramayu regency, where people are susceptible to human trafficking for sex
industry. In the majority of those vulnerable sites, human trafficking happens regularly in the
community and in many cases is supported by the culture embedded within those communities,
as for example in West Java where it is normal practice for parents to send their children into
the sex industry (see Chapter 7). Understanding this situation and the reality that the traffickers
are also members of the community, I argue that to solve the problem of human trafficking and
prevent the traffickers from committing trafficking again in the future, a restorative justice
process needs to be developed. The current method, where criminal justice is applied for its
222
supposed deterrent effect on those who commit and participate in human trafficking, should be
enhanced with a process of restorative justice.
Restorative justice is a justice model directed at repairing and healing any harms caused by an
offense, and restoring individual and community well-being (Hamilton & Yarrow 2016, p.
303). It provides a different approach to achieving justice within a society. Nowadays this
system is preferred and valued for its participatory characteristics and ability to include
community members and other stakeholders in finding out the most appropriate response to a
crime. Restorative justice programs offer solutions to resolve conflict. This kind of system aims
to find ways to effectively mobilise civil society while also protecting the rights and interests
of victims and offenders (Dandurand 2018, p. 285). One of the popular forms of restorative
justice is victim-offender mediation that involves face to face dialogue between the victim and
the offender. In these situations the main goal is communication, as well as making the
offenders accountable for their actions while making sure that the victim is provided with all
necessary support (Patritti 2010, p. 229). Restorative justice like this is felt to be a way to
reduce the likelihood of further trafficking by traffickers.
While the court system depends on punitive measures and in some cases does not address the
victim’s concerns, in restorative justice the offender can more easily return and reintegrate into
society and all actors - offender, victim, and community – are given an equal and direct voice
in the justice process (Gromet 2009; Kury 2016). This kind of process that brings traffickers,
victims, and society into a decision and resolution can be an option to bring traffickers back
into society after they complete their sentence. It gives traffickers the confidence to change
their behaviour and prevents recidivism. As noted in the previous section many offenders after
release from prison commit trafficking again. Part of the reason for this may be because they
are not well accepted by society because of their past mistakes and they do not have any
opportunities and supports to help them start a new life in their community. This is further
explained by London (2011) who points out that restorative justice benefits all parties through
the restoration of trust that it has generated. The restoration of trust will give genuine recovery
for the material and emotional harm of the victims; it enables the involvement of problem-
solving to achieve safety and resolve ongoing conflicts for the community; it enables the
offenders to regain acceptance in the community as law-abiding people by fulfilling their
accountability for the moral transgressions and material losses (Kury 2016, p. 275).
223
Recent analysis indicates that restorative justice seems to be more effective for cases involving
serious offenders rather than offenders in small crimes. The program is also more effective
when applied after the sentence has been served rather than before sentencing. It is more
successful when offenders and victims had a form of relationship before, even if that
relationship involved violence (Dandurand 2016; Sherman & Strang 2012). Given that
trafficking is a serious criminal offense that abuses individual dignity, restorative justice may
reduce recidivism among trafficking offenders. Moreover, when the offenders had a previous
form of relationship with victims as family, friends, neighbours, or acquaintances, it seems
even more appropriate to apply restorative justice. After the traffickers are released from
prison, they should go through a restorative justice process to restore the situation before
attempting reintegration.
In Indonesia, restorative justice has taken an important role in Indonesia’s criminal justice
system. It started when the Child Protection Law was amended in 2014, in which it was directed
at the children and young persons. However, the Ministry of National Development Planning
(BAPPENAS) has been researching way to implement restorative justice more broadly across
the country. One of the studies is the implementation of restorative justice in Aceh province.
Aceh has a cultural institution called gampong used to settle disputes and arbitrate a wide range
of cases, including theft, assault, harassment, adultery allegations, family and community
disputes, property disputes, land and forest conflicts, and other cases (Nasrulloh 2018).
The implementation of a restorative justice program in Indonesia specifically for trafficking
would of course have to be based on the willingness and uncoerced agreement of the victim.
A study by Yu et al. (2018) on alternative forms of justice for human trafficking in the US
reveals that the victim's preferences for restorative justice are different based on the type of
human trafficking. The study says that the victims of labour trafficking preferred to have an
opportunity to confront their traffickers. Meanwhile, only half of the victims of sex trafficking
were willing to have a dialogue with the traffickers. Those who wanted to confront the
traffickers were eager to show that they had survived despite their victimisation, and wanted
the traffickers to understand the negative impact that their actions had caused for those victims
(Yu et al. 2018, p. 10). Hence, given that some victims feel the need to confront the traffickers
to heal their emotions, restorative justice might be useful. However, there may need to be more
research carried out to develop culturally appropriate forms of restorative justice for the
Indonesian context and culture, as well as training for the facilitators.
224
Patritti (2014) in her study in the United States noted that only a small number of trafficked
victims were willing to participate in victims-offenders dialogue in the restorative justice
process, as confronting the offenders was a traumatic event in itself. However, this opportunity
still needs to be offered to those victims who feel ready and want to share their thoughts and
feelings with the offenders (Patritti 2014, p. 233). The victims need to be emotionally stable to
confront the offenders (Patritti 2014, p. 236). In facilitating the mediation process, victims and
offenders need to be extensively prepared for the session, and facilitators would need to have
the necessary skills, experience, and understanding in dealing with human trafficking cases.
As the victims may be fragile, the use of mediation needs to be approached carefully and
mindfully. Further, as not every human trafficking case is suitable for victims-offenders
mediation, then careful consideration needs to be given as to whether it is appropriate.
Restorative justice should not be used based on the type of trafficking that has occurred, but on
the trafficked victims and how they are affected by the crime (Patritti 2014, p. 243).
8.3.3.3. Reintegration Support
The ex-convicts who are released from prison and return to the society are often seen as
outsiders and regarded as ones who cannot be trusted to live by certain rules accepted by the
society (Becker 1973; Ganapathy 2018). To enable past human trafficking offenders to regain
acceptance from their family and community and to prevent them from reconnecting with their
old criminal group or committing the crime again, they need support to ensure a positive
reintegration. Social reintegration targets individuals who have been in conflict with the law,
to prevent them from reoffending (UNODC 2012; Dandurand 2016). As stated by Dandurand
(2016), positive reintegration can be achieved when the factors influencing someone to
criminal behaviour are addressed, and when their physical and social needs are provided for
(Dandurand 2016, p. 295).
The United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the so-called
Nelson Mandela Rules) established the provision of meaningful rehabilitation programs in
prisons as being crucial to achieving the main purposes of imprisonment, which are to reduce
recidivism and to improve public safety (UNODC 2018, p. 4). On the other hand, the United
Nations Standard Minimum Rules for Non-custodial Measures (the Tokyo Rules) also stress
the need for social reintegration of offenders and call for public participation when
225
implementing alternatives to imprisonment as an opportunity for community members to be
involved in protecting their society (UNODC 2018, p. 5). Both the Nelson Mandela Rules and
Tokyo Rules strongly advise participation of the community in the social reintegration of ex-
convicts and application of community-based interventions (UNODC 2018, p. 51).
To support successful reintegration of an individual at risk of reoffending, the intervention of
the justice system and social agencies, NGOs, communities and families is needed (UNODC
2018; Dandurand 2016). One important finding is that family is an important element in this
process. Those ex-offenders who have supportive families are more able to refrain from re-
offending. (Beichner & Hagemann 2016, p. 98). Many ex-offenders return to society without
receiving enough support from their family. Instead of making a successful transition from
prison to home, the pressure from the family at home means the ex-offenders face further
difficulties. The poor quality of relationship and communication between ex-offenders and
their family often leads to conflict that then results in the ex-offenders’ reoffending behaviour
(Ganapathy 2018, p. 155). Hence, the local government and community leaders, with some
supports from NGOs and religious leaders need to guide ex-trafficking offenders who have just
been released from prison. They also need to guide their family so they can be ready to receive
the ex-offenders back home and provide them with the necessary support.
In this regard, the Indonesian-Anti Trafficking Task Force (Gugus Tugas TPPO) at regency
level and the local government officials should consult with communities and families that will
receive the ex-traffickers on release. Sumpter (2017) says that in the case of religious
radicalism or terrorism, an agency in Indonesia such as the Indonesian national
counterterrorism agency (BNPT) engages the families of people convicted of terrorism. As part
of its role the BNPT also engages with the receiving communities to help remove suspicion
and promote acceptance of the returning prisoners (Sumpter 2017, p. 136). The same things
need to be done by the Anti-Trafficking Task Force and local government as part of an effort
to reintegrate ex-trafficking offenders back into society. Dialogue and an approach to the
family and community needs to be done to ease the ex-offender’s start to their new chapter of
life.
There are some other domains identified as factors influencing the reintegration process,
among others, personal conditions, social network and social environment, housing, the
criminal justice system, support on rehabilitation and counselling, and support on training and
226
employment (Graffam et al. 2008, p. 147). Personal conditions are explained as a readiness to
change, and it is supported by physical and mental health. Personal conditions are also strongly
correlated with financial condition and the need to enhance education and training (Graffam et
al. 2008, p. 155). Regarding social condition and social environment, some factors such as
social isolation, lack of positive contact with the family and poor conditions in the community
have the potential to threaten positive reintegration and transition. To support the transition
process, the offenders have to cut off their contacts with previous negative acquaintances
(Graffam et al. 2008, p. 156-157). The availability of housing also impacts the smooth
transition and reintegration process (Graffam et al. 2008, p. 157). Hence, the offenders need to
be sure that they have a house or accommodation available after they are released from prison.
The criminal justice system, such as the police understanding of offenders and their culture,
likewise affects the offender's reintegration (Graffam et al. 2008, p. 160). Support for
rehabilitation and counselling need to be given after sentence to offenders. At the same time,
support to the offender for training and employment needs to be considered based on each
offender’s situation before they are released from prison. Just as there are a variety of
traffickers, some involved in big networks others just individuals not even aware that they are
traffickers, so different remedies might be appropriate for the different types of traffickers.
It is also noted that where the ex-offenders are returning to socio-structurally marginalised
areas the result of attempts to desist from crime are more likely to be unfavourable. Ganapathy
(2018) sees a strong connection between marginalised society, re-offending, and a delinquent
subculture (Ganapathy 2018, p. 155). To overcome this unfavourable result, there is a need to
develop and fix up conditions that the ex-offenders are returning to. If the ex-traffickers come
back to places suffering from economic disadvantage or a high crime rate, that will make it
easy for the traffickers to return to their past criminal behaviour. Support from the family added
to other support in areas such as employment and building an environment conducive to a life
without crime will help the ex-offenders in their attempts to desist from crime.
8.3.3.4. From Perpetrators to Facilitators
Once the ex-offenders have been successfully reintegrated into society, they should be given
an option to support and take part in community efforts to prevent human trafficking. The
Department for Child Protection and Family Support (2015) calls this a perpetrator
intervention. This term refers to actions, initiatives, and responses to increase and promote the
227
safety of women and children through those who are at risk of or using the violence. Hence,
perpetrator interventions can be included not only in the tertiary prevention but also as part of
the primary prevention to involve those who are at risk (Department for Child Protection and
Family Support 2015, p. 7).
The ex-offenders’ involvement in the community can be facilitated through cooperating with
civil society organisations. One example is one of the NGOs that I visited during fieldwork in
Indramayu that has a staff member who used to be a trafficker. This ex-traffickers was engaged
in trafficking for the sex industry for some years. He acted as a recruiter to bring girls around
15-16 years old in their community into the sex industry. He liaised with the girls’ families and
gave them money so they were more willing to let the girls go. He also liaised with pimps from
other places who were trying to find young girls from that area and received a share of their
fee for that. For example, at one point he took an order from a pimp on Sumatera Island who
was trying to find three young girls to work in her place, and recruited some girls for her.
After stopping his activity as a recruiter in early 2003 due to his increasing awareness of the
consequences of committing trafficking, this ex-trafficker joined a local organisation to fight
against human trafficking in his community. For a start his involvement in that organisation
was voluntary. Now the ex-trafficker is a field coordinator in that organisation, and actively
shares his knowledge on human trafficking and is actively involved in trafficking prevention
through improving the education and vocational skills of the young girls in the community.
However engaging ex-traffickers into a program to counter trafficking is not easy. In some
situations such as the one in Indramayu regency mentioned above, it can be successful and
create a useful approach to countering trafficking. For example, the ex-trafficker says that it is
easier for him to negotiate with traffickers or recruiters to try to get back a girl who has been
recruited into the sex industry because of his history as someone who was once involved in
trafficking. As an ex-trafficker he is respected by the recruiters in that area. This may be an
example for other anti-trafficking organisations and communities to approach ex-traffickers,
with a view to working with them so they might be empowered to take part in the efforts to
counter trafficking.
228
8.4. Proposed Improvements to Indonesian and International Law
The beginning of this chapter explained how Indonesian and international regulations relating
to human trafficking lack provisions regarding the prevention of people becoming involved or
participating in human trafficking. Given this problem, some recommendations to prevent
people becoming involved in or participating in human trafficking for domestic labour and the
sex industry in Indonesia have been developed. Based on those recommendations, some
proposals to improve the current Indonesian and international regulations on human trafficking
are put forward to improve the current efforts at preventing human trafficking.
8.4.1. Provisions to Acknowledge the Factors That Make People Vulnerable to Being
Involved in Human Trafficking as Perpetrators.
Both the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons Especially Women
and Children, normally referred to as the UN Trafficking Protocol, adopted in 2000 and the
ASEAN Convention against Trafficking in Persons Especially in Women and Children
(ACTIP) adopted in 2015 acknowledge the factors that make people vulnerable to being
victims of human trafficking. For example, the UN Trafficking Protocol advises the states that
are party to the protocol to take measures to alleviate factors that make persons, especially
women and children, vulnerable to trafficking, such as poverty, underdevelopment, and lack
of equal opportunity (Trafficking Protocol 2000, Art. 9.4). However, these international
regulations do not give any particular stipulations for the states as to how to address and
overcome the factors that make persons vulnerable to committing or being involved in human
trafficking. As we saw in Chapter 7, there are number of factors that are an influence on why
people traffic others, factors such as economic disadvantage, socio-cultural influence, and
encouragement from the victims among others, but it is rare to see these factors that influence
people to commit or be involved in human trafficking acknowledged and written into the
relevant human trafficking international regulations. Although ACTIP in Article 11 advises
that member states need to strengthen their educational, social, and cultural measures to
discourage the factors that foster human trafficking (ACTIP 2015, Art. 11.5), it does not
provide similar advice about addressing and eliminating factors that make people commit and
be involved in human trafficking.
Therefore, I suggest that in the future international anti-trafficking regulations should include
provisions to address and alleviate the factors that support people in committing human
229
trafficking or make them vulnerable to becoming a trafficker. This suggestion also applies to
Indonesian law on human trafficking. The current Law 21/2007 on the Eradication of the
Criminal Act of Trafficking in Persons also refrains from giving any provisions to address the
factors that make people vulnerable to committing and participating in human trafficking.
Hence, Indonesian law also needs to include provisions to that effect.
8.4.2 Provisions to Acknowledge the Rights of the Accused and the Convicted During
Criminal Justice Process
Obokata (2015) states that as it is important for international law to protect the human rights
of the victims, it is also important for it to protect the rights of the accused (Obokata 2015, p.
53). Unfortunately, the UN Trafficking Protocol that is attached to the United Nations
Convention against Transnational Crime (UNTOC) limits protection and assistance during the
criminal justice process to the victims of human trafficking only. It means that in its application,
it should be supplemented by other international human rights law (Obokata 2015, p. 52). A
similar situation also occurs in other international regulations, such as in ACTIP, where the
rights of the perpetrators are not mentioned.
Although the prosecution of trafficking offenders in Indonesia is not addressed in this thesis, I
believe that as people, the accused and offenders are entitled to the rights that must be honoured
during the criminal justice process. The rights of the accused and the convicted during the
criminal justice process are outlined in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
(ICCPR). There are some basic rights that are relevant to the location, investigation and
prosecution of crime among which are the right to life, the right to liberty and security of the
person, the right not to be subjected to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment or
treatment, the right to silence, the right to privacy, and the right to a fair trial (Gans et al. 2011).
In countering human trafficking, states are often pressured to prosecute the traffickers and
improve their prosecution rates. However, as noted by Gallagher (2017), it is often for the
underdeveloped states that this occurs and the efforts to improve prosecution rates lead to
serious miscarriages of justice. Also, the pressures to prosecute traffickers may end up
criminalising only the people who work in the front line, the “small fish”, rather than those
who manage or instigate the crime. Hence, the human rights of the accused and the convicted
should become a focus during the criminal justice process. Any criminalisation efforts by the
state should be done without prejudice to any rights afforded to the accused and the offender.
230
Given the necessity to include the rights of the accused and the convicted during the criminal
justice process in the human trafficking-related international regulations, the same thing should
be applied to the Indonesian law. The rights of the accused and the convicted should be
included in Indonesian Law 21/2007 on the Eradication of the Criminal Act of Trafficking in
Persons. This research does not say that ensuring the perpetrators’ rights would stop them
become perpetrators in the future or prevent recidivism, as there is no evidence about it in this
context. However, ensuring and promoting the rights of accused and convicted traffickers is
necessary to avoid miscarriages of justice.
8.4.3. Provisions Related to Efforts to Prevent Reoffending
This chapter has elaborated on various suggestions to prevent people from committing or
becoming involved in human trafficking. One of the efforts is through the tertiary approach,
which aims to prevent people from committing or being involved in human trafficking again
after they are released from prison. This prevention approach focuses on long term
interventions, such as rehabilitation, reintegration, and other interventions. I argue that the
international laws on human trafficking should consider these measures as contributing to
prevention of human trafficking and stipulate that the states should take measures to prevent
reoffending or recidivism. A similar provision should also be stated in Indonesian Law
21/2007.
The current international regulations on human trafficking, such as the UN Trafficking
Protocol, put the protection of victims as the core reason for efforts to prevent the victims from
revictimisation or being trafficked for the second time (Trafficking Protocol 2000, art. 9. 1.).
However, just as it is important to ensure that victims will not experience revictimisation, so it
is also important to ensure that traffickers will not re-offend. Thus, some measures need to be
put in place to prevent them from committing trafficking for a second time.
The Indonesian Law 21/2007 provides clauses that regulate the rehabilitation of victims. The
goal of rehabilitation is to help the victims recover from any physical, psychological, and social
harms to enable them to recover their position in the family and society. Indonesian Law
21/2007 also provides clauses to enable the victims to receive rehabilitation support. On the
other hand, this chapter has explained how the offenders also need to be rehabilitated when
231
they are under sentence to prevent them trafficking again in the future. The ex-offender also
needs to be supported through reintegration to achieve a successful transition back into society.
Therefore, the rehabilitation and reintegration of offenders also need to be included in the
Indonesian law on human trafficking as a measure to help their transition from prison back into
the society and to prevent them from committing trafficking for a second time. Likewise
provision for the rehabilitation and reintegration of offenders should also be added to the
current human trafficking related international regulations.
8.4.4. Provisions to Prevent Human Trafficking Based on the Form of Trafficking
Since this study acknowledges that different forms of human trafficking sometimes require
specific treatment, the international regulations and Indonesian law on human trafficking
should also contain provisions to acknowledge that special prevention efforts should be tailored
and implemented based on the form or the nature of human trafficking. So far, international
regulations such as UN Trafficking Protocol and ACTIP generalise the measures to prevent
human trafficking without recommending to the signatory states to also take special prevention
measures based on the form of trafficking. Thus, future international law and Indonesian law
on human trafficking should include those stipulations.
As this thesis has shown, there are clear differences between the characteristics and motivations
of people committing human trafficking for domestic labour and for the sex industry in
Indonesia. For example, people who commit human trafficking for domestic labour tend to
operate in larger groups while in the sex industry it is performed by individuals or groups of
less than three people (see Chapter 6). People committing trafficking in domestic labour often
have a previous relationship with their victims. In terms of motivation, people committing
human trafficking for domestic labour are more influenced by the desire to gain a big profit
while those who commit sex trafficking mostly receive just a modest payment. Some of these
different characteristics and motivations are important in determining appropriate prevention
responses. Hence, international regulations and Indonesian law should allow for the possibility
that different forms of trafficking require particular prevention measures. Therefore, the
regulations and law should mention that measures to prevent human trafficking need to take
into account the offenders’ characteristics and motivations in the different types of human
trafficking.
232
8.5. Conclusion
This chapter has discussed possible measures to prevent people becoming involved in human
trafficking for domestic labour and the sex industry in Indonesia. So far, the Indonesian and
international policies to prevent or deter someone from committing human trafficking are
through punitive measures, such as through prosecution, asset freezing, and restitution. This
research, therefore, offers a new contribution to the current literature as well as the current
policies on human trafficking prevention by offering approaches to preventing people from
becoming traffickers before it happens, measures to change and control the behaviour of the
traffickers, and interventions to prevent recidivism long-term. Those prevention approaches
are developed based on an understanding of the characteristics of the people involved in human
trafficking for domestic labour and the sex industry in Indonesia, and the key factors,
motivations, and perspectives that lead to them becoming involved in the crime.
Some recommendations to improve the current international regulations and Indonesian law to
counter human trafficking have been proposed in this thesis to prevent people from being
involved or committing human trafficking. As the current Indonesian and international
regulations do not pay attention to preventing human trafficking by addressing the perpetrators,
some provisions are needed to address traffickers as a part of preventive measures. Therefore,
provisions to understand the vulnerability of people to becoming perpetrators and to prevent
recidivism need to be included. It is important, also, to prevent miscarriages of justice, to put
in place provisions to protect the rights of the accused and convicted trafficking offenders
during the criminal justice process. Lastly, the provisions should include advice to the
government to tailor programs to prevent human trafficking based on the form or type of human
trafficking.
233
Chapter 9: Conclusions
9.1. Introduction
This thesis set out to answer these research questions:
1. What are the socio-demographic characteristics and the operational methods of
individuals involved in human trafficking for the sex industry and domestic labour in
Indonesia?
2. What are the motivations, perspectives, and key factors influencing individuals'
involvement in human trafficking for the sex industry and domestic labour in
Indonesia?
3. In what ways do Indonesian and international human trafficking policies need to be
improved, based on an increased understanding of people involved in human
trafficking for domestic labour and the sex industry in Indonesia?
3.1.What are the current practices implemented in Indonesia to counter human
trafficking? Are there any measures to prevent individuals from becoming
traffickers?
3.2.What are the best practices needed to prevent individuals becoming involved in
human trafficking in Indonesia?
3.3.In view of existing research and the findings of this thesis, in what ways should
international and Indonesian anti-trafficking regulations be improved?
The above questions were identified because there are few studies of the people who commit
or participate in human trafficking, especially in Indonesia. Yet Indonesia has become a place
where trafficking is rampant. Each of the 34 provinces of Indonesia is both a source and a
destination for people subject to trafficking in Southeast Asia (US DOS 2017, p. 210). Apart
from that, the current international approach on human trafficking, namely the human rights-
based approach, has paid little attention to understanding the traffickers or the other people
who participate in the crime as a path to preventing trafficking. The human rights-based
approach focuses more on the victims and does not pay enough attention to understanding the
causes or reasons why people commit trafficking. To fill this gap left by the current studies and
policy in our understanding of the people who commit human trafficking, this study examined
the individuals involved in human trafficking in Indonesia, to research their characteristics and
the motivations and perspectives that influence their criminal behaviour. Through this study,
234
some recommendations were provided on how to prevent people committing human trafficking
in Indonesia and worldwide. In addition, some suggestions to improve current Indonesian and
international anti-trafficking laws were also made, taking into account existing research and
the findings of this thesis.
In this chapter, the first section summarises the theoretical and practical contributions that this
research has made. The research findings based on the research questions are outlined in the
next section. Lastly, this chapter details the limitations of this study and looks at avenues for
future research.
9.2. Research Contributions
Research on the people who commit or participate in human trafficking is still considered very
rare, especially in the Indonesian context. This study represents one of the first studies on
human traffickers in Indonesia. Accordingly, this thesis makes a fundamental contribution to
current scholarship on human traffickers as well as to relevant policy and practice. The details
of the theoretical, practical, and methodological contributions that this study has made are
explained below.
9.2.1. Theoretical Contributions
This study has made a contribution by providing a recommendation that the current approach
or framework to counter human trafficking, the human rights-based approach, should be
enhanced to also focus on the factors that make people commit human trafficking and measures
to prevent them from becoming traffickers. In using a human rights-based approach and
implementing the 3Ps framework of prevention, prosecution, and protection (see Chapter 2),
there is a limited discussion on how to prevent trafficking by discouraging individuals from
committing human trafficking. The human rights-based approach focuses more on the victims
and does not put a significant effort into understanding the causes or reasons why people
commit trafficking. This study, therefore, contributes through its recommendation to expand
the current human trafficking policy or approach to include consideration of the factors that
make people decide to commit or participate in trafficking as a part of its prevention measures.
This study also contributes to the growing research on people committing or participating in
human trafficking by looking at the motivations or perspectives that influence people to traffic
235
others. While there is much research looking at the background and characteristics of people
committing human trafficking, there is a limited research that aims to understand the reasons
or motivations of the traffickers (e.g. Rijken, Muraszkiewicz & Van de Ven 2015; Asbill 2017;
Shen 2016). As noted by Choi-Fitzpatrick (2016), greed and moral failing are often the only
motives that are attributed to traffickers. However, the reality is more complex and needed to
be researched further (Choi-Fitzpatrick 2016, p. 5). Hence, by providing an analysis on what
motivates or influences people to commit trafficking in Indonesia, this study makes a
contribution to the scholarship on human traffickers. The factors other than economic
advantage that influence people to become involved in human trafficking as identified by this
study will broaden the understanding of why people commit or are involved in human
trafficking.
Another contribution from this study is that it is reasearch on human traffickers based on the
form or type of human trafficking i.e. trafficking for the sex industry and trafficking for
domestic labour. So far studies on human traffickers have analysed the characteristics and
background of those involved without considering the form or type of trafficking. This study
demonstrates that there are difference in every trait of human traffickers depending on the type
or form of trafficking they commit - differences in background, characteristics, and even the
motivations and key factors that influence people to become involved in trafficking in its
various forms Therefore, further efforts to prevent people from becoming perpetrators should
be tailored by considering the form of human trafficking.
Hence, a trafficker-centred approach is proposed in this research, which aims to look deeper at
the traffickers’ activities and the factors that make people commit and participate in human
trafficking, and the conditions that can help to prevent them from committing the crime. This
approach will enable anti-trafficking programs to have a more effective response rather than
depending on prosecution and criminal justice efforts.
9.2.2. Practical Contributions
The practical contribution of this study lies in the recommendations provided by this thesis on
how to prevent human trafficking, especially for the sex industry and domestic labour, by
preventing people from committing human trafficking. This study provides recommendations
that will help local and national governments, as well as international agencies, and other
236
organisations (NGOs and CSOs) to curb people’s participation in human trafficking. The
recommendations given by this study envisage three stages of prevention, a primary prevention
approach, a secondary prevention approach and a tertiary prevention approach (Chapter 8).
Those recommendations build upon the findings that this research has made.
Moreover, this study provides specific inputs for current Indonesian and international anti-
trafficking regulations (such as the UN Trafficking Protocol and the ASEAN Convention
Against Trafficking in Persons) in preventing human trafficking by considering the people who
are involved in the offense and also the rights of these people during the criminal justice
process. Taking guidance from the results of this study and other existing research, some
provisions should be added to current anti-trafficking laws so the government can act to counter
human trafficking more effectively by considering the people who commit or participate in it,
and not rely solely on prosecuting those who commit or participate in the crime. As the current
Indonesian and international regulations do not pay attention to preventing human trafficking
by addressing the characteristics and the motives of perpetrators, some provisions to deal with
the traffickers are needed as a part of preventive measures.
9.2.3. Methodological Contributions
Studies on human traffickers have normally been conducted based on data gathered from court
documents (e.g. Siegel & De Blank 2010; Warren 2012; Leman & Janssens 2006; Huang 2017;
Levenkron 2007), criminal justice officials (e.g. Colluccello & Massey 2017; Busch-
Armendariz et al. 2009; Broad 2015; Levenkron 2007; Viuhko 2018), and the traffickers
themselves (e.g. Troshynski & Blank 2008; Antonopoulos & Winterdyk 2005; Keo 2013;
Molland 2012; Shen 2016). This study has brought a contribution to the methodological
approaches in the study of human traffickers by gathering data from lawyers (see Chapter 5).
The experience of lawyers in assisting trafficking offenders during the criminal justice process,
and also the close interaction that happens between lawyer and client enable lawyers to
understand the perspectives and reasons why people commit trafficking. Therefore,
information from lawyers can be used for research on human traffickers to understand the
traffickers’ background, motives and perspectives. This approach can be considered for use in
future research on individuals committing or participating in human trafficking.
237
9.3. Research Findings
It is regularly assumed that organised crime networks are often involved in human trafficking
(David 2012; Viuhko 2018; Shelley 2010; Lee 2011). Public debate, policy statements, and
international instruments often focus on the inseparable connection between human trafficking
and organised crime (Viuhko 2018, p. 177). However, a growing body of research in human
traffickers has shown that there is a different category of people involved in human trafficking,
in that instead of being committed by high level organised crime groups, the offenses were
committed by individuals or small casual networks (e.g. Keo 2011; Molland 2011; Sen & Nair
2005; Shen 2016; Broad 2018; Rijken, Muraszkiewicz & Van de Ven 2015; Viuhko 2018;
Constantinou 2019; Campana 2015; Levenkron 2007; Shively et al. 2017). As part of this
research on human traffickers, this thesis has provided an understanding of the characteristics
of people involved in human trafficking in Indonesia focusing on trafficking in the sex industry
and for domestic labour (detailed in Chapter 6). Further, this research also provides an
overview of the motivations, perspectives or other key factors that influence them to become
traffickers (Chapter 7). Finally this research provides recommendations to prevent trafficking
in light of this improved understanding of the traffickers’characteristics, and the motivations
and perspectives that make them become involved in trafficking for the sex industry and
domestic labour. Some suggestions to improve the current anti-trafficking regulations in
Indonesia and globally are also provided in this study (Chapter 8).
Based on analysis of the data from 60 court documents, 11 semi-structured interviews with
lawyers, and 16 semi-structured interviews with organisation representatives, the findings from
this study can be summarised as follows:
There are differences in socio-demographic background and other characteristics between
people involved in trafficking for domestic labour and those for the sex industry, as explained
in Chapter 6. In terms of socio-demographic variables, the data shows that people involved in
human trafficking for the sex industry are younger, but the traffickers involved in both forms
of trafficking are predominantly female. There are also differences in the stated occupations of
people involved in human trafficking in the sex industry and for domestic labour. The court
documents have people who committed human trafficking for the sex industry as normally
working as cafe owner, cafe staff, brothel owner, brothel staff, spa owner and spa centre staff.
On the other hand, interviews with organisation representatives mentioned people from the
238
public sector, such as immigration officers, police officers, local government officials (mayors
or regents, community leaders, and village leaders), and even faith leaders for their
involvement in human trafficking for domestic labour. The offenders inhuman trafficking for
domestic labour in many cases came from and at the time of the trafficking still lived in the
provinces of East Nusa Tenggara and West Nusa Tenggara. In contrast the data from court
documents shows that the majority of human trafficking offenders in the sex industry were
born and live in West Java (Chapter 6).
A number of trafficking offenders in Indonesia had also been victims of trafficking had or
previously worked in domestic labour or the sex industry before committing the offense. Some
traffickers were also closely related to the victims. Generally the victims of trafficking for sex
had not had any sort of previous relationship with the traffickers while most of the victims of
domestic labour trafficking had known or had a previous relationship with the perpetrators.
This fact also supports the findings of the thesis that the two types of human trafficking
perpetrators have different characterisitics (Chapter 6).
The data taken from the court documents shows that in trafficking for domestic labour, 24
(70.6%) victims were trafficked through inducement, iming – iming. The process of iming–
iming normally consisted of the traffickers saying that the victims would receive a big salary
or be employed by very nice employers. Sometimes they also used appeals to religion to
convince the victims. In contrast the modus operandi of recruitment used in human trafficking
for the sex industry are more diverse. While most of the offenders of domestic labour use
iming–iming to lure their victims with promises of high salaries and good living conditions, in
the case of the sex industry, offenders also use deception at the beginning of recruitment, force
or coercion and sometimes abduction (Chapter 6).
According to the court documents dating from 2018 - 2019, many victims of human trafficking
for domestic labour from Indonesia were sent to countries with a Muslim population,
particularly the Middle East. Many victims were also sent to neighbouring countries, such as
Malaysia. Batam in the Riau Islands was the most popular transit point for human trafficking
in domestic labour. Human trafficking for the sex industry normally has shorter routes and
simpler transportation modes as compared to trafficking for domestic labour, because most
cases of sex trafficking occurred inside Indonesia (Chapter 6).
239
In term of organisational structure and the group makeup the data from the court documents
and interviews show that in Indonesia there are various kinds of human trafficking groups.
However, most of them are a group of people who know each other or individuals or a family-
run business rather than a high level organised criminal group. The data also shows that
traffickers in domestic labour tended to work in bigger groups with more complex division of
labour than for the sex industry. The perpetrators of trafficking in the sex industry worked in
smaller groups and sole operators were more common. There is no clear evidence that
trafficking in domestic labour in Indonesia is committed by a tightly structured organised crime
group. Instead these groups have the distinctive features of a loosely structured transnational
group and their nature is quite flexible. According to the information provided a traffickers’
network for domestic labour trafficking is generally a cooperative arrangement between an
agent in Indonesia and an agent overseas. However, despite a lack of concrete evidence from
the court proceedings, some organisations suggested that large organised crime syndicates were
involved in trafficking in Indonesia, at least on some occasions. While evidence and further
insight into this and the extent of it was not uncovered in this study, future studies should
examine this as a possible component of human trafficking in Indonesia. Compare to the
amounts earned in domestic labour trafficking, the people involved in trafficking for the sex
industry received relatively little benefit (Chapter 6).
The interviews in Indonesia indicated the factors influencing people into committing human
trafficking for the sex industry and domestic labour and these factors can be roughly grouped
into four categories - economic benefit, socio-cultural influence, victim’s behaviour, and
inadvertently involved in trafficking. The interviews conducted with lawyers and organisation
representatives show that the majority of traffickers committed human trafficking for economic
motives. The desire to gain some economic benefit was reinforced by other reasons such as the
desire to maintain a certain lifestyle, poverty or lack of work, an easy way to make money
quickly, and the temptation of big money. Three of these reasons to commit or participate in
human trafficking, namely maintaining a lifestyle, surviving economically, and an easy way to
earn money apply to trafficking both in domestic labour and for the sex industry. Meanwhile,
human trafficking to earn a big profit is only found in human trafficking for domestic labour,
as the data from the interview does not show clearly that big profit is a reason why people
become involved in human trafficking for the sex industry (Chapter 7).
240
Socio-cultural conditions in Indonesia also influence people to commit human trafficking.
People were sometimes inspired to become involved or participate in the crime due to a
particular perception in the community so that trafficking is somehow seen as a non-harmful
act and instead is considered as a good deed in some cases. Other socio-cultural factors
affecting the likelihood that people would commit trafficking are a lack of legal awareness
where many people were not aware that their actions constituted human trafficking, the desire
to help others get a job, to be seen as a champion, and a case peculiar to West Java where a
daughter is seen as a breadwinner and as a source of family pride. Those motivations or factors
apply across both forms of trafficking, although one other motivation, the pride in having a
daughter’s beauty recognised by her being offered work in the sex industry only happens with
trafficking to the sex industry in West Java. (Chapter 7).
The attitude of victims has also led the perpetrators to traffic them. Some participants expressed
the view that victims and traffickers need each other and support each other’s actions and
wishes, and that is what makes human trafficking happen. From the victims' side, they need a
job either as a domestic worker or in the sex industry and in many cases, they initiated the
approach to the traffickers. This situation obviously benefits the traffickers and makes their
trafficking work easier (Chapter 7).
The influence of other people has made some people get trapped in trafficking inadvertently.
In some cases, people become involved in human trafficking because they did not realise that
their action was considered a human trafficking offense. Most of them claimed that they only
wanted to help people who were needed their help to find or recruit people. Unfortunately the
people they helped were traffickers and they did not realise that by helping them they were
participating in human trafficking offenses. The same sort of things also happened to people
working in public transportation. They became involved because they did not realise that they
had facilitated the transfer or transportation of trafficking victims (Chapter 7).
Following on from the analysis of the characteristics and the motivations, perspectives and key
factors that make people in Indonesia become human traffickers, some recommendations for
Indonesian and international government are made to prevent people from committing or
becoming involved in human trafficking. Drawing from policy or programs in other fields
(such as drug trafficking, terrorism, conflict resolution), human trafficking prevention
programs in other countries, economic development programs, the literature on trafficking
241
prevention, the results of the interviews for this research, and my own personal ideas, I have
divided the suggested prevention measures into three categories, a primary prevention
approach, a secondary prevention approach and a tertiary prevention approach (Chapter 8).
The primary approaches to prevent people from becoming human traffickers in Indonesia are
through improving economic opportunity; enhancing the trafficking free village programs;
increasing job opportunities by creating local businesses; delivering human trafficking
education in the school; enhancing women’s empowerment and participation in anti-trafficking
programs; reforming policy on agencies dealing with labour supply abroad; constant
monitoring of and raising awareness in small cafes, spa business, and brothels. The secondary
approaches aim to change the behaviour of the traffickers by addressing and controlling their
activities. Activities might include face-to-face dialogue between traffickers and community
representatives; focus on those areas where many traffickers reside and operate; measures to
reduce or eliminate corruption in police and immigration bodies. Lastly, the tertiary approaches
focus on long-term prevention and preventing recidivism through rehabilitation in prison;
restorative justice in addition to criminal justice; reintegration support; and support for ex-
traffickers to participate in trafficking prevention efforts. Those recommendations are also
made by considering Indonesian socio-cultural context (Chapter 8).
In addition to these recommendations to the Indonesian and international governments on how
to prevent trafficking by preventing people from becoming perpetrators, this study also
presents a proposal to improve the current Indonesian and international trafficking related laws
by considering the factors that make people become involved in trafficking, and the human
rights of the traffickers. These recommendations to improve anti-trafficking laws or regulations
include provisions to acknowledge the factors that support people in committing human
trafficking or make them vulnerable to becoming a trafficker; provisions to acknowledge the
rights of the accused and the offenders of human trafficking during the criminal justice process;
provisions related to efforts to prevent reoffending; and provisions to prevent human trafficking
based on the form of trafficking (Chapter 8).
9.4. Limitations and Avenues for Future Research
While the findings from this study have made a contribution to the literature and policy on
human trafficking, there are also some limitations in this study to be noted. First, the researcher
242
is aware that in collecting the data about people involved in trafficking for the sex industry and
domestic labour in Indonesia, the researcher did not conduct any direct interviews with
individuals accused or convicted of human trafficking. Instead, this thesis relies on information
from court documents, from lawyers with experienced of assisting convicted and accused
traffickers, and from representatives of organisations running programs to prevent human
trafficking. Conducting human trafficking research may lead to harms and discomforts for
participants and researcher alike. Therefore, solutions to minimise these risks were carefully
considered in designing this research project. Given that the researcher did not have any
experience in interviewing with criminals, direct interviews with human traffickers were
deferred at this stage for the safety and well-being of both perpetrators and the researcher.
However, not hearing directly from the traffickers may have affected the richness of the data
that might have been achieved from direct interviews with the traffickers, especially in terms
of the motivations and perspectives of the traffickers in committing the crime.
Other methodological issues are also seen by the researcher as a limitation of this thesis. The
researcher analysed 60 court documents, 30 relating to cases of trafficking in domestic labour
and 30 for trafficking in the sex industry for the period 2018 to 2019. Considering the limited
sample size (60 court documents), it may be difficult to generalise the findings. Moreover, the
this study only examined individuals involved in human trafficking in domestic labour and sex
industry inside Indonesia. The researcher did not access and analyse any information about
traffickers who committed trafficking of Indonesian people but who are located in overseas.
Hence, the recommendations are made based only on an understanding of the people involved
in human trafficking inside the country. The researcher also acknowledges some difficulty in
collecting reliable data on the involvement of high-level organised crime. Although some
organisations suggested that there is involvement by this type of group (see Chapter 6), there
was no clear information on how those groups operated, or indeed whether the structure of the
group did make it an ‘organised’ crime network as claimed.
The researcher also acknowledges the limitations in terms of the geographical area where the
fieldwork was conducted. For safety reasons, the researcher did not visit places like East Nusa
Tenggara (NTT) province in Eastern Indonesia that have become well known as places where
human trafficking for domestic labour occurs. In conducting this research, the researcher only
spoke with lawyers and organisations on Java Island (East Java, West Java, and DKI Jakarta
provinces). These organisations and lawyers are to some extent also connected to trafficking
243
cases in NTT, but it can be imagined that direct information from organisations and lawyers in
NTT itself might enrich the data of this research.
The finding of this study shows that there is a difference of characteristics and motivations
between the people involved in trafficking for domestic labour and sex industry. This has
brought a new perspective to the study of human traffickers, that the characteristics and
motivations of traffickers differ depending on the form of offense they commit. Until now the
study of human traffickers has only focused on the background or characteristics of the
traffickers in particular country or region without specifically looking at the type or form of
trafficking they were involved in. This study therefore has opened up possible avenues for
future research in terms of more detailed explorations of people involved in other forms of
trafficking, such as forced labour (in plantations or the fishing industry), marriage trafficking,
and trafficking for organ removals. Studying the people involved in trafficking based on the
form of trafficking will bring broader understanding of the characteristics of human traffickers
and the reasons they become involved in the crime.
244
References
Abels, G. and Behrens, M. (2009) Interviewing Experts in Political Science: A Reflection on
Gender and Policy Effects based on Secondary Analysis. in A. Bogner, B. Littig and W. Menz
(eds) Interviewing Experts. Houndsmill, Baskingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan: ECPR Research
Methods Series, pp. 138-56. w
Adams, C. (2011). Re-trafficked victims: How a human rights approach can stop the cycle of
re-victimization of sex trafficking victims. The George Washington International Law Review,
43(1), 201-234.
Agustinanto, F. (2003). Riau. In R. Rosenberg, Trafficking of Women and Children in
Indonesia.. Jakarta: International Catholic Migration Commission and the American Center for
International Labor Solidarity.
Ahmady, et al. (2010). Java Collapse: Dari Kerja Paksa Hingga Lumpur Lapindo.
Yogyakarta: Insistpress
AISR (2010). Prevention Strategies: Involving and Engaging Perpetrators. Barton: Australian
Attorney-General’s Department.
Allain, J. (2012). The International Legal Regime of Slavery and Human Exploitation and its
Obfuscation by the Term of Art. Slavery-like Practice in CRDF, (10).
Allain, J. (2015). The Law and Slavery: Prohibiting Human Exploitation. Leiden: Brill.
Allain, J. (2017). Genealogies of Human Trafficking and Slavery. In Piotrowicz, R. (2017).
Routledge Handbook of Human Trafficking (1st ed.). Routledge.
Amnesty International (2006). The Great Palm Oil Scandal: Labour Abuses behind Big Brand
Names. London: Amnesty International.
Andrevski, H., & Lyneham, S. (2014). Experiences of exploitation and human trafficking
among a sample of Indonesian migrant domestic workers. Trends and issues in crime and
criminal justice, (471), 1.
Anti-Slavery International. (2021). What is Bonded Labour? Retrieved from
https://www.antislavery.org/slavery-today/bonded-labour/
Arista, Y. (2017). DESBUMI dan Desmigratif Akan Bersinergi di Desa Kuripan. Retrieved
from https://migrantcare.net/2017/01/desbumi-dan-desmigratif-bersinergi-di-desa-kuripan/
Aronowitz, A. A., Theuermann, G., & Tyurykanova, E. (2010). Analysing the Business Model
of Trafficking in Human Beings to Better Prevent the Crime. Vienna: OSCE/Office of the
Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings
245
AS, Y., Yuliastini, A., & Setiawati, R. (2020). The Handling of Human Trafficking with Mail
Order Bride Mode in West Kalimantan. International Journal of Law Reconstruction, 4(2), 69-
80.
Asbill, M. A. (2017). Becoming a human trafficker: qualitatively examining social learning
theory and social opportunity structure among Bulgarian human traffickers (Doctoral
dissertation, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign).
Attwood, R. (2021). A very un-English predicament:‘The White Slave Traffic’and the
construction of national identity in the suffragist and socialist movements’ coverage of the
1912 Criminal Law Amendment Bill. National Identities, 1-30.
ASEAN Convention Against Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children 2015.
Auerbach, C. F., & Silverstein, L. B. (2003). Qualitative data: An introduction to coding and
analysis (Qualitative studies in psychology). New York: New York University Press.
Austin, M. (2017). Defending Indonesia’s migrant domestic workers. In B. Berenschot, H. S.
Nordholt, & L. Bakker (Eds.), Citizenship and democratisation in Southeast Asia (pp. 265–
288). Leiden, Netherlands; Boston, MA: Brill.
Austin, R., & Farrell, A. (2017). Human trafficking and the media in the United States.
In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice. Retrieved from
https://oxfordre.com/criminology/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190264079.001.0001/acrefore-
9780190264079-e-290
Avdan, N. (2012). Human Trafficking and Migration Control Policy: Vicious or Virtuous
Cycle? Journal of Public Policy, 32(3), 171–205.
Bachtiar, P., & Tirtosudarmo, R. (2017). From domestic workers to care workers,
understanding the dynamics of Indonesia's overseas labour mobility. Asia Pacific Journal of
Social Work and Development: Migration and Care Work: Policies and Practices in
Asia, 27(3-4), 142-158.
Bajari, A. (2013). Women as Commodities, the Analysis of Local Culture Factor and
Communication Approach of Women Trafficking in West Java, Indonesia. Research on
Humanities and Social Sciences, 3(5), 193-200.
Bales, K. (2005), Understanding Global Slavery. Berkeley and Los Angeles, CA: University
of California Press.
Banks, D., & Kyckelhahn, T. (2012). Characteristics of suspected human trafficking incidents,
2008-2010. In Newton, H. Human Trafficking : Scope and response efforts. New York: Nova
Science.
Bassiouni, C., Rothenberg, D., Higonnet, E., Farenga, C. & Sol Invictus, A. (2010).
Addressing International Human Trafficking in Women and Children for Commercial Sexual
Exploitation in the 21st century. Revue internationale de droit pénal, 3(3-4), 417-491.
246
Baxter, A. (2019). When the Line between Victimization and Criminalization Blurs: The
Victim-Offender Overlap Observed in Female Offenders in Cases of Trafficking in Persons for
Sexual Exploitation in Australia. Journal of Human Trafficking, 1-12.
Becker, H. S. (1973). Outsiders: Studies in the sociology of deviance. New York: Free Press.
Beichner, D., & Hagemann, O. (2016). Incarcerated Women: Their Situation, Their Needs and
Measures for Sustainable Reintegration. In Women and Children as Victims and Offenders:
Background, Prevention, Reintegration (pp. 85-116). Cham: Springer Publishing Press.
Bell, J. (n.d.) Contemporary Slavery and International law. Human Rights and Human Welfare.
http://www.du.edu/korbel/hrhw/researchdigest/slavery/law.pdf
Belser, P. (2005). Forced labour and human trafficking: Estimating the profits. IDEAS Working
Paper Series from RePEc, IDEAS Working Paper Series from RePEc, 2005.
BNP2TKI. (2011). Kebijakan dan Strategi Pencegahan dan Penanggulangan HIV/AIDS
dalam Penempatan dan Perlindungan TKI keluar Negeri. Presentation Slide. Retrieved from
https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---asia/---ro-bangkok/---ilo-
jakarta/documents/presentation/wcms_159849.pdf
Boomgaard, P. (2003). Human capital, slavery and low rates of economic and population
growth in Indonesia, 1600–1910. Slavery and Abolition, 24(2), 83-96.
Borloti, E., García, M. V. H., Jiménez, V. S., & Sudbrack, M. F. O. (2017). Drug use prevention
projects in schools in Vitória, Brazil: quality analysis and improvement proposals. Psicologia:
Reflexão e Crítica, 30.
Bosma, A, Kunst, M, Dirkzwager, A.J.E., & Nieuwbeerta, P. (2016). Prison-based
rehabilitation: Predictors of offender treatment participation and treatment completion. Crime
and Delinquency, 62(8), 1095-1120.
Bosma, U. (2019). Trafficking, Slavery, Peonage: Dilemmas and Hesitations of Colonial
Administrators in Indonesia, the Philippines, and Malaysia. In The Palgrave Handbook of
Bondage and Human Rights in Africa and Asia (pp. 113-135). New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Bouché, V., & Shady, S. (2017). A pimp's game: a rational choice approach to understanding
the decisions of sex traffickers. Women & Criminal Justice, 27(2), 91-108.
Bouhours, T., Broadhurst, R., Keo, C., & Bouhours, B. (2012). Human trafficking and moral
panic in Cambodia: The unintended consequences of good intentions. Available at SSRN
2190704.
Bowen, G. A. (2009). Document analysis as a qualitative research method. Qualitative
research journal, 9(2), 27-40.
Brantingham, P. J., & Faust, F. L. (1976). A Conceptual Model of Crime Prevention. Crime
and Delinquency, 22(3), 284–296.
247
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using Thematic Analysis in Psychology. Qualitative Research
in Psychology, 3(2), p.77-101
Bravo, K. E. (2011). The Role of the Transatlantic Slave Trade in Contemporary Anti-Human
Trafficking Discourse. Seattle Journal for Social Justice, 9(2), 3.
Broad, R. (2013). A Study of Individuals Convicted for Human Trafficking Offences Through
the UK Criminal Justice System: Characteristics, Relationships, and Criminal Justice
Perspectives. Ph.D. Dissertation. Manchester University.
Broad, R. (2015). ‘A Vile and Violent Thing’: Female Traffickers and the Criminal Justice
Response. British Journal of Criminology, 55(6), 1058-1075.
Broad, R. (2018). Assessing Convicted Traffickers: Negotiating Migration, Employment and
Opportunity through Restricted Networks. The Howard Journal of Crime and Justice, 57(1),
37-56.
Brown, S., Kristedi, T., Waldron, S., Ross, C., Johnstone, R., Levitan, F., & Zimmerman, M.
(2012). Analysis of Agribusiness Development Opportunities in Eastern Indonesia. A literature
Review of Key Commodities. A report prepared for the Australian Centre for International
Agricultural Research (ACIAR). Retrieved from https://ei-
ado.aciar.gov.au/sites/default/files/docs/agribusiness_opportunities_in_eastern_indonesia_lite
rature_review.pdf
Bryant, Antony, & Charmaz, Kathy. (2019). The SAGE handbook of current developments in
grounded theory. London: SAGE Publications.
Brysk, A., & Choi-Fitzpatrick, A. (Eds.). (2012). From human trafficking to human rights:
Reframing contemporary slavery. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Burke, M. (2013). Human Trafficking Interdisciplinary Perspectives. New York: Routledge.
Burke, R. (2014). An introduction to Criminological Theory (Fourth ed.). Abingdon, Oxon:
Willan.
Busch-Armendariz, N., Nsonwu, M., & Cook Heffron, L. (2009). Understanding Human
Trafficking: Development of Typologies of Traffickers Phase II. In First Annual
Interdisciplinary Conference on Human Trafficking, 2009 (p. 9).
Busch-Armendariz, N. B., Nsonwu, M., & Cook Heffron, L. (2018). Human Trafficking:
Applying Research, Theory, and Case Studies. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
Busch-Armendariz N, Nsonwu M, Cook Heffron L, Garza J & Hernandez M. (2009).
Understanding Human Trafficking: Development of Typologies of Traffickers. Austin: Institute
on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, Center for Social Work Research School of Social
Work, University of Texas http://www.utexas.edu/ssw/dl/files/cswr/
institutes/idvsa/publications/humantrafficking.pdf
Campana, P. (2015). The structure of human trafficking: Lifting the bonnet on a Nigerian
transnational network. British Journal of Criminology, 56(1), 68-86.
248
Campaniello, N. (2019). Women in crime. IZA World of Labor, (105v2).
Carpinteri, A., Bang, B., Klimley, K., Black, R. A., & Van Hasselt, V. B. (2018). Commercial
sexual exploitation of children: an assessment of offender characteristics. Journal of Police
and Criminal Psychology, 33(2), 150-157.
Carr, C., & Johnson, M. (2013). Mens rea. In Beginning Criminal Law (pp. 55-70). Routledge.
Cassell, J. (1982). Harms, benefits, wrongs, and rights in fieldwork. In The ethics of social
research (pp. 7-31). Springer, New York, NY.
Chapsos, I. & Hamilton, S. (2018). Illegal fishing and fisheries crime as a transnational
organized crime in Indonesia. Trends in Organized Crime, 22(3), 255–273.
Cho, S. (2015). Evaluating Policies against Human Trafficking Worldwide: An Overview and
Review of the 3P Index. Journal of Human Trafficking, 1(1), 86-99.
Cho, S. Y., Dreher, A., & Neumayer, E. (2013). Does legalized prostitution increase human
trafficking?. World development, 41, 67-82.
Choi-Fitzpatrick, A. (2016). The Good, the Bad, the Ugly: Human Rights Violators in
Comparative Perspective. Journal of Human Trafficking, 2(1), 1–14.
Choi (2010). Human Trafficking for Sexual Exploitation in the UK: Case Study of Eastern
Europe and the Baltic States' Women. International Area Review, 13(1), 105-126.
Chuang, J. (2006). Beyond a snapshot: Preventing human trafficking in the global
economy. Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies, 13(1), 137-163.
Chuang, J. (2006). The United States as global sheriff: Using unilateral sanctions to combat
human trafficking. Michigan Journal of International Law, 27(2), 437-494.
Chuang, J. A. (2020). Preventing Trafficking Through New Global Governance over Labor
Migration. Ga. St. UL Rev., 36, 1027.
Ciorbaru, A. N. (2018). Crime Prevention Through Education. Law, Society &
Organisations, 3(5), 75-79.
Clarke, R. V., & Felson, M. (2017). Introduction: Criminology, routine activity, and rational
choice. In Routine activity and rational choice (pp. 1-14). Routledge.
Clarke, V., & Braun, V. (2017). Thematic analysis. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 12(3),
297-298.
Coluccello, S., & Massey, S. (2007). Out of Africa: The human trade between Libya and
Lampedusa. Trends in Organized Crime, 10(4), 77-90.
Constantinou, A. G. (2019). The roles and actions of sex traffickers in Cyprus: an
overview. Trends in Organized Crime, 1-26.
249
Corbin, J., & Strauss, A. (2008). Basics of qualitative research: Techniques and procedures
for developing grounded theory (3rd ed.). Los Angeles, Calif.: Sage Publications.
Cornell, S. (2009). “The interaction of drug smuggling, human trafficking and terrorism.”
In Human trafficking and human security, ed. Jonsson A. New York: Routledge; 48–66.
Creswell, J. W. (2007). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five
approaches (2nd ed.). Los Angeles: SAGE Publications.
D'Agostino, E., Sironi, E., & Sobbrio, G. (2013). The role of education in determining the
attitudes towards crime in Europe. Applied Economics Letters, 20(8), 724-727.
Dalrymple, J. K. (2005). Human Trafficking: Protecting Human Rights. In The Trafficking
Victims Protection Act: Human Traffic: Sex, Slaves & Immigration. By Craig Mcgill. Boston
College Third World Law Journal, 25, 451-499.
Dandurand, Y. (2016). Alternative Approaches to Preventing Recidivism: Restorative Justice
and the Social Reintegration of Offenders. In Women and Children as Victims and Offenders:
Background, Prevention, Reintegration (pp. 283-299). Cham: Springer International
Publishing.
Dark Bali. (2020). Who We Are. Retrieved from https://www.darkbali.org/about/
Dasgupta et al. (2006). Ketika mereka dijual. Perdagangan perempuan dan anak di 15 propinsi
di Indonesia. Jakarta: ICMC & ACILS.
David, F. (2012). Organised crime and trafficking in persons. Trends and Issues in Crime and
Criminal Justice, 436, 1–12.
David, F., Bryant, K., & Larsen, J. (2019). Migrants and Their Vulnerability to Human
Trafficking, Modern Slavery and Forced Labour. Geneva: IOM
David, F., Gallagher, A., Holmes, P., & Moskowitz, A. (2011). Progress Report on Criminal
Justice Responses to Trafficking in Persons in the ASEAN Region. Jakarta: Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
David, P., David, F., & Gallagher, A. T. (2012). ASEAN Handbook on International Legal
Cooperation in Trafficking in Persons Cases. Jakarta: Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN).
Davidson, J. O. (2017, October 19). The Presence of the Past: Lessons of History for Anti-
Trafficking Work. openDemocracy. Retrieved from
https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/beyond-trafficking-and-slavery/presence-of-past-lessons-
of-history-for-anti-trafficking-work/
Davy, D. (2015). Human Trafficking and Slavery in Australia: Pathways, Tactics, and Subtle
Elements of Enslavement. Women & Criminal Justice, 26(3), 1-19.
250
Demetriou, D. (2019). The Mens Rea of Human Trafficking: The Case of Migrant Domestic
Workers. International Criminal Justice Review, 29(3), 262-283.
Denton, E. (2016). Anatomy of Offending: Human Trafficking in the United States, 2006–
2011, Journal of Human Trafficking, 2:1, 32-62
Denzin, N. K., & Lincoln, Y. S. (2005). The SAGE handbook of qualitative research (3rd ed.).
Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.
Department for Child Protection and Family Support (2015). Practice Standards for
Perpetrator Intervention: Engaging and Responding to Men who are Perpetrators of Family
and Domestic Violence. Perth, Western Australia: Western Australian Government.
Derks, A. (2000). Combatting trafficking in South-East Asia: A review of policy and
programme responses. IOM Migration Research Series 2/2000. Geneva: IOM.
Derks, A., Henke, R., & Vanna, L. Y. (2006). Review of a decade of research on trafficking
in persons. Phnom Penh: Asia Foundation.
Di Nicola, A. (2007). Researching into Human Trafficking: Issues and Problems. In Lee, M.
Human trafficking. Cullompton, Devon, U.K.: Willan.
Djaja, M., Gyamirti, B. & Irawan, E. (2016). Telaah Kebijakan Kajian Persepsi Orang Tua
Terhadap Tindak Pidana Perdagangan Orang (TPPO) di Kabupaten Lebak, Provinsi Banten.
Jakarta, Indonesia: Yayasan Melati Delapan Tiga.
Döringer. (2021). “The problem-centred expert interview”. Combining qualitative
interviewing approaches for investigating implicit expert knowledge. International Journal of
Social Research Methodology, 24(3), 265–278.
https://doi.org/10.1080/13645579.2020.1766777
Dottridge, M. (2007). Measuring Responses to Trafficking in Human Beings in the European
Union: An Assessment Manual. Brussels: European Commission.
Drescher, S. (2009). Abolition: a history of slavery and antislavery. New York: Cambridge
University Press.
Dutta, M. (2011). Cultural Dimension of Human Trafficking in India. International Journal of
Arts & Sciences, 4(13), 93-102.
Dwyer, S., & Buckle, J. (2009). The Space Between On Being an Insider-Outsider in
Qualitative Research. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 8(1), 54-63.
ECPAT (2011). Sex Trafficking of Children in Indonesia. Factsheet. Retrieved from
https://www.ecpat.org/wp-content/uploads/legacy/Factsheet_Indonesia.pdf
ECPAT (2020). Tentang Kami Retrieved from https://ecpatindonesia.org/tentang-kami/
251
Ekberg, G. (2004). The Swedish Law that Prohibits the Purchase of Sexual Services: Best
Practices for Prevention of Prostitution and Trafficking in Human Beings. Violence Against
Women, 10(10), 1187-1218.
Elias, J., & Louth, J. (2016). Producing Migrant Domestic Work: Exploring the Everyday
Political Economy Of Malaysia's ‘Maid Shortage’. Globalizations, 13(6), 830-845.
Ellis, T., & Akpala, J. (2011). Making Sense of the Relationship between Trafficking in
Persons, Human Smuggling, and Organised Crime: The Case of Nigeria. The Police Journal:
Theory, Practice and Principles, 84(1), 13–34.
Ezeilo, J. (2015). Achievements of the Trafficking Protocol: Perspectives from the former UN
Special Rapporteur on Trafficking in Persons. Anti - Trafficking Review, (4), 144-149.
Faggiano, F., Vigna‐Taglianti, F., Versino, E., Zambon, A., Borraccino, A., & Lemma, P.
(2005). School‐based prevention for illicit drugs' use. Cochrane Database of Systematic
Reviews, (2).
Fanany, I., & Fanany, R. (2017). Indonesian Maids in the Arab World: Hopes, Dreams, and
Disillusionment. In The Politics of Women and Migration in the Global South (pp. 49-69).
Palgrave Pivot, London.
Faqih, F. (2013, November 30). Jokowi tahu nama-nama preman seJakarta. merdeka.com.
Retrieved from https://www.merdeka.com/jakarta/jokowi-tahu-nama-nama-preman-se-
jakarta.html
Farhana, F. (2018). Responsive Legal Approach to Law of Human Trafficking in Indonesia.
Journal of Social Studies Education Research, 9(1), 214-227.
Farr, K. (2005). Sex Trafficking: The global market in women and children (Contemporary
social issues (New York, N.Y.)). New York: Worth.
Farrokhzad, A. (2017). Human Trafficking: A Human Rights Oriented
Approach. International Law Research, 6(1), 132.
FATF-APG. (2018). financial Flows from Human Trafficking, FATF: Paris, France, www.fatf-
gafi.org/publications/methodandtrends/documents/human-trafficking.html
Firmansyah, R. (2019). Rehabilitasi dan Deradikalisasi Terhadap Anak Pelaku Tindak Pidana
Terorisme. Jurist-Diction, 2(2), 669-686.
Fitzpatrick, J. (2002). Trafficking and a human rights violation: The complex intersection of
legal frameworks for conceptualizing and combating trafficking. Mich. J. Int'l L., 24, 1143
Ford, M., & Lyons, L. (2008). Making the best of what you've got: sex work and class mobility
in the Riau Islands. In M. Ford, & L. Parker (Eds.), Women and work in Indonesia (pp. 173-
194). Routledge.
252
Ford, M., & Lyons, L. (2012). Labor Migration, Trafficking, and Border Controls. In Thomas
M. Wilson, Hastings Donnan (Eds.), A Companion to Border Studies, (pp. 438-454).
Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing.
Ford, M., Lyons, L., & van Schendel, W. (2012). Counter-trafficking and migrant labour
activism in Indonesia’s periphery. In Willem van Schendel, Lenore Lyons, Michele Ford
(Eds.), Labour Migration and Human Trafficking in Southeast Asia: Critical Perspectives (pp.
91-110). London and New York: Routledge.
Ford, M., Lyons, L., & Van Schendel, W. (2012). Labour Migration and Human Trafficking:
An Introduction. In Willem van Schendel, Lenore Lyons, Michele Ford (Eds.), Labour
Migration and Human Trafficking in Southeast Asia: Critical Perspectives, (pp. 1-22). London
and New York: Routledge.
FRANŢ, A. E. (2017). Conceptual delimitations regarding the role of education in preventing
crime. Acta Universitatis George Bacovia (Juridica), 6(1).
Gallagher, A. (2010). The International Law of Human Trafficking . New York: Cambridge
University Press.
Gallagher, A. (2011). Improving the Effectiveness of the International Law of Human
Trafficking: A Vision for the Future of the US Trafficking In Persons Reports. Human Rights
Review, 12(3), 381-400.
Gallagher, A. (2012). Human Rights and Human Trafficking: A Reflection on the Influence
and Evolution of the US Trafficking In Persons Reports. In Brysk, A., Choi-Fitzpatrick, A.
(Eds.), From human trafficking to human rights: Reframing contemporary
slavery. Pennsylvania, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press
Gallagher, A. (2015). “Two Cheers for the Trafficking Protocol.” Anti-Trafficking Review,
issue 4, 2015, pp. 14—32
Gallagher, A. (2017, August 16). Four dangerous assumptions about human trafficking.
In World Economic Forum (Vol. 16).
Gallagher, A., & Holmes, P. (2008). Developing an Effective Criminal Justice Response
Human Trafficking: Lessons from the Front Line. International Criminal Justice
Review, 18(3), 318-343.
Ganapathy, N. (2018). Rehabilitation, reintegration and recidivism: A theoretical and
methodological reflection. Asia Pacific Journal of Social Work and Development: Innovative
Approaches in Community and Institutional Rehabilitation of Offenders, 28(3), 154-167.
Gans, J., Henning, T., Hunter, J., & Warner, K. (2011). Criminal process and human rights.
Annandale, N.S.W.: The Federation Press.
Gayatri, I. (2009). Dynamics of Village Institution: the Gampong under Aceh's Special
Autonomy. Journal of Indonesian Social Sciences and Humanities, 2, 203-212.
253
Gerasimov, B. (2019). ‘Human Trafficking—From a Criminal Justice to Social Justice
Approach’, Keynote speech delivered at the conference Disrupting Traffick? University of
Chicago Delhi Centre, New Delhi, India, 17 May 2019. Retrieved
from https://gaatw.org/advocacy/DT-Keynote%20Speech-BG.pdf.
Gerry, F., & Sherwill, N. (2016). Human trafficking, drug trafficking, and the death
penalty. Indon. L. Rev., 6, 265.
Gilling, D. (2005). Crime prevention: theory, policy and practice. Routledge: London
Gmelch, G., & Gmelch, S. B. (2018). In the field: life and work in cultural anthropology.
Oakland, California: Univ of California Press.
Goehrung, R. (2021). Evaluating the Criminal Justice Approach to Human Trafficking in
Taiwan. Journal of Human Trafficking 7.1 (2021): 53–68.
Government Offices of Sweden. (2011). Evaluation of the prohibition of the purchase of sexual
services. Retrieved from https://www.government.se/articles/2011/03/evaluation-of-the-
prohibition-of-the-purchase-of-sexual-services/
Government Regulation on the Procedure and Mechanism of Integrated Services for Witnesses
and/or Victims of Human Trafficking (Government Regulation No. 9/2008).
Graffam, J., Shinkfield, A., Lavelle, B., & McPherson, W. (2004). Variables affecting
successful reintegration as perceived by offenders and professionals. Journal of Offender
Rehabilitation, 40(1-2), 147-171.
Grijns, M., & Horii, H. (2018). Child marriage in a village in West Java (Indonesia):
Compromises between legal obligations and religious concerns. Asian Journal of Law and
Society, 5(2), 453-466.
Gromet, D. M. (2009). Psychological Perspectives on the Place of Restorative Justice in
Criminal Justice Systems. In M. E. Oswald, S. Bieneck, & J. Hupfeld-Heinemann (Eds.), Social
Psychology of Punishment of Crime (pp. 39–54). Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.
Guest, G., MacQueen, K. M., & Namey, E. E. (2011). Applied thematic analysis. Sage
Publications.
Gunadha, R. (2019, March 2013). Asmara Satu Malam Temaram di Kampung Cinta.
Suara.com. Retrieved from https://www.suara.com/news/2019/03/13/170500/asmara-satu-
malam-temaram-di-kampung-cinta
Guth, A. P. (2010). Human trafficking in the Philippines: The need for an effective anti-
corruption program. Trends in Organized Crime, 13(2-3), 147-166.
Hagan, F. (2018). Research methods in criminal justice and criminology (Tenth ed.). NY, NY:
Pearson Education.
254
Haddadin, Y., & Klimova-Alexander, I. (2013). Human rights-based approach to trafficking:
The work of the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. Judges
J., 52, 22.
Hahn, R., Fuqua-Whitley, D., Wethington, H., Lowy, J., Crosby, A., Fullilove, M., & Snyder,
S. (2007). Effectiveness of universal school-based programs to prevent violent and aggressive
behavior: A systematic review. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 33(2), S114-S129.
Hamdi, A. (2020). DESBUMI: Village that Cares for Migrant Workers. Mampu Project Brief.
Retrieved from https://www.mampu.or.id/en/tag/desbumi-en/
Hamilton, C., & Yarrow, E. (2016). Preventing and Addressing Youth Offending: Restorative
Justice and Family Focused Programming. In Women and Children as Victims and Offenders:
Background, Prevention, Reintegration (pp. 301-339). Cham: Springer International
Publishing.
Hammett, D., Twyman, C., & Graham, M. (2015). Research and fieldwork in development.
Oxfordshire, England; New York, New York: Routledge.
Hanggoro, H. (2013, May 14). Perbudakan di Nusantara. Historia. Retrieved from
https://historia.id/kuno/articles/perbudakan-di-nusantara-DpJBP
Harkrisnowo, H. (2003). Laporan Perdagangan Manusia di Indonesia. Draft 28 February 2003
Sentra HAM UI. Jakarta: Universitas Indonesia.
Hawley, S., Prihantari, A., & Guilianno, A. (2016, February 18). Organ Trafficking Trade
Plays on the Poor and Desperate in Indonesian Village. ABC News. Retrieved from
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-02-18/organ-trafficking-trade-operating-in-indonesian-
villages/7178882
Hearn, J., Andersson, K., & Cowburn, M. (2007). Background paper on guidelines for
researchers on doing research with perpetrators of sexual violence. Sweden: Linkoping
University.
Heil, E. (2017). It is God’s will: Exploiting religious beliefs as a means of human
trafficking. Critical Research on Religion, 5(1), 48-61.
Hesse-Biber, S. N., & Leavy, P. (2007). Feminist research practice: A primer. Thousand Oaks,
Calif.: SAGE.
Heuni. (2015). Trafficking in Persons in Gender. Retrieved from
https://www.heuni.fi/material/attachments/heuni/projects/wmPiHN4hb/Trafficking_in_Perso
ns_and_Gender.pdf
Hickle, K., & Roe-Sepowitz, D. (2017). “Curiosity and a pimp”: Exploring sex trafficking
victimization in experiences of entering sex trade industry work among participants in a
prostitution diversion program. Women & Criminal Justice, 27(2), 122-138.
Hidayah, A. (2018). Restoring the Rights of Indonesian Migrant Workers through the Village
of Care (Desbumi) Program. In A. A, Patunru, M. Pangestu & M. C. Basri, Indonesia in the
255
New World: Globalisation, Nationalism and Sovereignty. Singapore: ISEAS–Yusof Ishak
Institute.
Hidayat, R., & Syamsuddin, S. (2019). Penetrasi konteks sosial budaya dalam membangun
collaborative governance pada gugus tugas pencegahan dan penanganan korban perdagangan
orang kekerasan terhadap perempuan dan anak di provinsi jawa barat. Jurnal Politikom
Indonesiana, 4(1), 240-270.
Hull, T. H. (2017). From Concubines to Prostitutes. A Partial History of Trade in Sexual
Services in Indonesia. Moussons. Recherche en sciences humaines sur l’Asie du Sud-Est, (29),
65-93.
Hull, T. H., Sulistyaningsih, E., & Jones, G. W. (1997). Pelacuran di Indonesia: Sejarah dan
perkembangannya. Jakarta: Sinar Harapan & the Ford Foundation.
Human Rights First. (2014). Background Brief: Who Are Human Traffickers?. Fact sheet June
2014. Retrieved from
https://www.humanrightsfirst.org/sites/default/files/Who%20are%20human%20traffickers.pd
f
ICAT. (2014). Preventing Trafficking in Persons by Addressing Demand. ICAT Paper Series
– Issue 2
Ikeora, M. (2016). The role of African traditional religion and 'Juju' in human trafficking:
Implications for antitrafficking. Journal of International Women's Studies, 17(1), 1-18.
ILO (2004). Child trafficking for prostitution purposes di Central Java, Yogyakarta, and East
Java. A Rapid Assesment. Jakarta: International Labour Organization.
ILO (2017, November 30). Launch of SEA Fisheries Project: Strengthening Coordination to
Combat Labour Exploitation and Trafficking in Fisheries. ILO. Retrieved from
https://www.ilo.org/jakarta/info/public/pr/WCMS_613973/lang--en/index.htm
ILO (2014). ILO says forced labour generates annual profits of US$ 150 billion. Retrieved
from https://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/newsroom/news/WCMS_243201/lang--
en/index.htm
Imelda, I. (2014). Menelaah keberpihakan yesus terhadap perempuan korban kepentingan
penguasa Studi Terhadap Injil Yohanes 7: 53-8: 11. Gema Teologi, 38(1).
IOM Indonesia, Indonesian Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries & Coventry University.
(2016). Report on human trafficking, forced labour and fisheries crime in the Indonesian
fishing industry. Jakarta: IOM
IOM (2009). Guidelines for law enforcement and the protection of victims of trafficking in
handling trafficking in persons cases. Jakarta, Indonesia: IOM.
IOM (2020). Counter Trafficking. Retrieved from https://indonesia.iom.int/counter-trafficking
256
Iqbal, M., & Gusman, Y. (2015). Pull and Push Factors of Indonesian Women Migrant Workers
from Indramayu (West Java) to Work Abroad. Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences, 6(5
S5), 167.
Jiwan, N. (2018). The Political Ecology of the Indonesian Palm Oil Industry. In O. Pye & J.
Bhattacharya, The Palm Oil Controversy in Southeast Asia (pp. 48–75). Singapore: ISEAS
Publishing.
Jobe, A. (2010). The causes and consequences of re-trafficking: Evidence from the IOM
Human Trafficking Database. Geneva: IOM. Retrieved
from https://publications.iom.int/system/files/pdf/causes_of_retrafficking.pdf
Jones, K., Visser, D., & Simic, A. (2019). Fishing for export: calo, recruiters, informality, and
debt in international supply chains. Journal of the British Academy, 7(s1), 107-130.
Jones, S. V. (2014). The invisible women: Have conceptions about femininity led to the global
dominance of the female human trafficker. Alb. Gov't L. Rev., 7, 143.
Jordan, J., Patel, B., & Rapp, L. (2013). Domestic minor sex trafficking: A social work
perspective on misidentification, victims, buyers, traffickers, treatment, and reform of current
practice. Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment, 23, 356–369.
Kangaspunta, K. (2015). Was trafficking in persons really criminalised? Anti - Trafficking
Review, (4), 80-97.
Kangaspunta, K., Sarrica, F., & Johansen, R. (2016). Trafficking in Persons: The Involvement
of Women and Children. In Women and Children as Victims and Offenders: Background,
Prevention, Reintegration (pp. 857-873). Springer, Cham.
Kangaspunta, K., Savona, E., & Stefanizzi, S. (2007). Collecting Data on Human Trafficking:
Availability, Reliability, and Comparability of Trafficking Data. In Measuring Human
Trafficking: Complexities and Pitfalls (pp. 27-36). New York, NY: Springer.
Kantor Staf Presiden. (2017). Pemerintah Siapkan Program Desa Migran Produktif. Retrieved
from http://ksp.go.id/pemerintah-siapkan-program-desa-migran-produktif/
Kapur, R. (2002). Un-veiling Women's Rights in the “War on Terrorism”. Duke Journal of
Gender Law and Policy 9: 211–225.
Kara, S. (2009). Sex trafficking: Inside the business of modern slavery. Columbia University
Press.
Kara, S. (2011). Supply and Demand: Human Trafficking in the Global Economy. Harvard
International Review, 33(2), 66-71.
Kawamura, K. (2011). Consensus and democracy in Indonesia: Musyawarah - Mufakat
revisited. IDE Discussion Paper. No. 308 (2011).
257
Kaye, J., Winterdyk, J., & Quarterman, L. (2014). Beyond Criminal Justice: A Case Study of
Responding to Human Trafficking in Canada. Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal
Justice, 56(1), 23–48.
KEMENDIKBUD. (2017). Panduan Pelibatan Publik Pusat dan Daerah Dalam Pencegahan
Tindak Pidana Perdagangan Orang. Jakarta: KEMEBDIKBUD.
KEMENPPPA. (2018). Pencegahan dan Penanganan Tindak Pidana Perdagangan Orang.
https://www.kemenpppa.go.id/lib/uploads/list/f3b9b-buku-laptah-2018.pdf
Kelen, Y. (2014, December 12). Mafia TKI di NTT, Keterlibatan Oknum Polisi Bertambah.
Beritasatu. Retrieved from https://www.beritasatu.com/nasional/232717/mafia-tki-di-ntt-
keterlibatan-oknum-polisi-bertambah
Kendall, J. (1999). Axial coding and the grounded theory controversy. Western Journal of
Nursing Research, 21(6), 743-757.
Keo, C. (2011). Human traffickers in Cambodia: from assumptions to evidence. Ph.D.
Dissertation. Australia National University.
Keo, C. (2014). Human trafficking in Cambodia. Oxon: Routledge.
Killias, O. (2018). Follow the maid: Domestic Worker Migration in and from Indonesia (Vol.
13). Copenhagen: Nias Press.
Kleemans, E. (2011). Expanding the domain of human trafficking research: introduction to
the special issue on human trafficking. Trends in Organized Crime, 14(2-3), 95–99.
Kloppenburg, S., & Peters, P. (2012). Confined mobilities: following Indonesian migrant
workers on their way home. Tijdschrift voor economische en sociale geografie, 103(5), 530-
541.
Koentjaraningrat. (1967). Villages in Indonesia. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
KOMINFO. (2020). 8 Kementrian Sepakat Tingkatkan Perlindungan TKI Melalui Desa
Migran Produkif. Retrieved from https://kominfo.go.id/content/detail/9743/8-kementerian-
sepakat-tingkatkan-perlindungan-tki-melalui-desa-migran-produktif/0/artikel_gpr
Korsell, L., Vesterhav, D., & Skinnari, J. (2011). Human trafficking and drug distribution in
Sweden from a market perspective - similarities and differences. Trends in Organized
Crime, 14(2), 100–124.
Kosandi, M., Subono, N. I., Susanti, V., & Kartini, E. (2017, December). Combating human
trafficking in the source country: Institutional, socio-cultural, and process analysis of
trafficking in Indonesia. In 1st International Conference on Administrative Science, Policy and
Governance Studies (ICAS-PGS 2017) and the 2nd International Conference on Business
Administration and Policy (ICBAP 2017). Atlantis Press.
258
Krismasari, D., Tadashi, K., Sari, Y., & Dina, S. (2018). Triangular Cooperation for Enhancing
Indonesia-Japan Partnership for Global Development. Jakarta: Japan Interternational
Cooperation Agency (JICA).
Krug EG et al. eds. (2002). World Report on Violence and Health. Geneva: World Health
Organization.
Kulig, T. C. (2018). Understanding the nature of human trafficking: A content analysis
approach. Ph.D. Dissertation. University of Cincinnati.
Kury, H. (2016). Mediation, Restorative Justice and Social Reintegration of Offenders: The
Effects of Alternative Sanctions on Punishment. In Women and Children as Victims and
Offenders: Background, Prevention, Reintegration (pp. 249-282). Cham: Springer
International Publishing.
Kuwado, F. (2014, July 27). Jokowi Dibenci, Jokowi Dicinta… Kompas. Retrieved from
https://regional.kompas.com/read/2014/07/27/14060091/Jokowi.Dibenci.Jokowi.Dicinta
Kwagyang, G. U., & Mahmood, N. (2015). Child Trafficking and Religion: A Case Study of
Almajiri Education in Northern Nigeria. International Journal of Business, Economics and
Law, 8(4), 113-122.
Laczko, F. (2005). Data and Research on Human Trafficking. International Migration, 43(1-
2), 5-16.
Lammasniemi, L. (2020). International Legislation on White Slavery and Anti-Trafficking in
the Early 20th Century. In: J. Winterdyk and J. Jones, (eds.) The Palgrave International
Handbook of Human Trafficking. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan
Langhorn, M. (2018). Human trafficking and sexual servitude: Organised crime's involvement
in Australia. Salus Journal, 6(1), 1–25.
Larsen, J. J., Andrevski, H., & Lyneham, S. (2013). Experiences of trafficked persons: an
Indonesian sample. Trends and Issues in Crime and Criminal Justice, (449), 1-8.
Latuharhary, K. (2019, September 24). Menyoal Dampak Penutupan Lokalisasi di Indonesia.
KOMNAS HAM Republik Indonesia. Retrieved from
https://www.komnasham.go.id/index.php/news/2019/9/24/1170/menyoal-dampak-penutupan-
lokalisasi-di-indonesia.html
Law, J. (2018). Positivist School of Criminology. In A Dictionary of Law (9th ed.). Oxford
University Press.
Law of the Republic of Indonesia number 21 Year 2007 on The Eradication of The Criminal
Act of Trafficking in Persons.
Lawrence, J., & Tar, U. (2013). The use of grounded theory technique as a practical tool for
qualitative data collection and analysis. Electronic Journal of Business Research
Methods, 11(1), 29.
259
Lasocik, Z. (2010). Human Trafficking: A Challenge for the European Union and its Member
States (with particular reference to Poland). In: L. Holmes. Trafficking and Human Rights.
Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing.
Lazos G. (2007) Qualitative research in trafficking–a particular case. In Savona E., Stefanizzi
S. (eds). Measuring human trafficking: complexities and pitfalls. New York: Springer Science
& Business Media, pp 95–106.
LBH Jakarta. (2019). Modus Perdagagan Orang 29 WNI Menjadi Korban Pengantin Pesanan.
Retrieved from https://www.bantuanhukum.or.id/web/modus-perdagangan-orang-29-wni-
menjadi-korban-pengantin-pesanan/
League of Nations. (1926). Slavery convention, Geneva, September 25th 1926. Geneva:
League of Nations.
Lee-Jones, K. (2018). Best practices in addressing police-related corruption. U4 Helpdesk
Answer 2018:5.
Lee, J. J. (2005). Human trafficking in East Asia: current trends, data collection, and knowledge
gaps. International Migration, 43(1‐2), 165-201.
Lee, M. (2011). Trafficking and global crime control. London: Sage Publications.
Lee, M. (2013). Human Trafficking and Border Control in the Global South. In Aas, K.F., &
Bosworth, M. (Eds.), The Borders of Punishment: Migration, Citizenship, and Social
Exclusion, p. 128-148. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Leman, J., & Janssens, S. (2011). Albanian entrepreneurial practices in human smuggling and
trafficking: On the road to the United Kingdom via Brussels, 1995–2005. International
Migration, 50(6), 166-179.
Levenḳron, N. (2007). Another delivery from Tashkent: Profile of the Israeli trafficker. Hotline
for Migrant Workers.
Levi, M., & Maguire, M. (2004). Reducing and preventing organised crime: An evidence-based
critique. Crime, Law and Social Change, 41(5), 397-469.
Li, D. (2018). Globalisation, the role of the state and the rule of law: Human trafficking in
eastern Indonesia. In A. A, Patunru, M. Pangestu & M. C. Basri, Indonesia in the New World:
Globalisation, Nationalism and Sovereignty. Singapore: ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute.
Li, T. M. (2017). The Price of Un/Freedom: Indonesia's Colonial and Contemporary Plantation
Labor Regimes. Comparative Studies in Society and History, 59(2), 245-276.
Li, T. M., Pelletier, A., & Sangadji, A. (2016). Unfree Labour and Extractive Regimes in
Colonial Java and Beyond. Development and Change, 47(3), 598–611.
Limoncelli, S. (2017). The Global Development of Contemporary Anti-Human Trafficking
Advocacy. International Sociology, 32(6), 814–834.
260
Lindquist, J., & Piper, N. (2007). From HIV prevention to counter-trafficking: Discursive shifts
and institutional continuities in South-East Asia. Human trafficking, 138, 147.
Lo Iacono, E. (2014). Victims, sex workers and perpetrators: Gray areas in the trafficking of
Nigerian women. Trends in Organized Crime, 17(1-2), 110-128.
London, R. (2011). Crime, Punishment, and Restorative Justice. From the Margins to the
Mainstream. London, Boulder: First Forum Press.
Lori, N., & Schilde, K. (2021). A Political Economy of Global Security Approach to Migration
and Border Control. Journal of Global Security Studies, 6(1).
Lovejoy, P. (1989). The Impact of the Atlantic Slave Trade on Africa: A Review of the
Literature. The Journal of African History, 30(3), 365-394
Luong, H. (2017) Transnational Narcotics Trafficking and Law Enforcement: A Vietnam
Perspective. Ph.D. Dissertation. RMIT University.
Lutya, T. M., & Lanier, M. (2012). An integrated theoretical framework to describe human
trafficking of young women and girls for involuntary prostitution. In Public health-Social and
behavioral health. Croatia: Intech.
Lyneham, S. (2014). Recovery, Return and Reintegration of Indonesian Victims of Human
Trafficking. Trends & Issues in Crime and Criminal Justice, (483), 1-8.
Lyneham, S., & Larsen, J. J. (2013). Exploitation of Indonesian trafficked men, women and
children and implications for support. Trends and Issues in Crime and Criminal Justice, (450),
1.
Lyons, L. (2005). 'Embodying transnationalism: The making of the lndonesian maid.' Research
Online, Faculty of Arts, University of Wollongong. Available online: http://ro.uow.edu.
au/artspapers/86
Maguire, M., & Raynor, P. (2006). How the resettlement of prisoners promotes desistance from
crime. Criminology & Criminal Justice : CCJ, 6(1), 19-38.
Makarenko, T. (2009). Organized Crime or Crimes Organized? Isolating and Identifying
Factors in the Human Trafficking Chain. In Jonsson, A. Human Trafficking and Human
Security, 26-47. London: Routledge.
Marks, D., & Yardley, L. (2004). Research methods for clinical and health psychology.
London: SAGE.
McAdam, M. (2013). Who’s who at the border? A rights-based approach to identifying human
trafficking at international borders. Anti-Trafficking Review, (2).
McAdam, M. (2018). The International Legal Framework on Human Trafficking:
Contemporary Understandings and Continuing Confusions. In Bryson Clark, J., & Poucki, S.
(2018). The SAGE Handbook of Human Trafficking and Modern Day Slavery. SAGE
Publications.
261
McCarthy, L. A. (2016). Transaction costs: Prosecuting child trafficking for illegal adoption in
Russia. Anti-Trafficking Review, 6, 31–47.
McCarthy, L. A. (2019). A gendered perspective on human trafficking perpetrators: evidence
from Russia. Journal of Human Trafficking, 6(1), 79-94.
McGregor, K. (2016). Emotions and activism for former so-called “comfort women” of the
Japanese Occupation of the Netherlands East Indies. Women's Studies International
Forum, 54, 67–78.
McGregor, K., & Mackie, V. (2018). Transcultural memory and the troostmeisjes/comfort
women photographic project. History and Memory, 30(1), 116-150.
McNeill, F., Farrall, S., Lightowler, C., & Maruna, S. (2012). How and why people stop
offending: Discovering desistance. Insights evidence summary to support social services in
Scotland. IRISS Insights 15, April 2012.
McSherry, B., & Cullen, M. (2007). The Criminal Justice Response to Trafficking in Persons:
Practical Problems with Enforcement in the Asia-Pacific Region. Global Change, Peace &
Security, 19(3), 205-220.
MENPAN. (2019). Berdayakan CPMI, KEMNAKER Kembangkan 400 Desa Migran
Produktif. Retrieved from https://www.menpan.go.id/site/berita-terkini/berita-
daerah/berdayakan-cpmi-kemnaker-kembangkan-400-desa-migran-produktif
Merriam, S. B. (1988). Case study research in education: A qualitative approach. San
Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Merriam, S.B., Johnson-Bailey, J., Lee, M., Kee, Y., Ntseane, G., & Muhamad, M. (2001).
Power and Positionality: Negotiating Insider/Outsider Status within and Across Cultures.
International Journal of Lifelong Education 20 (5): 405–416.
Meshelemiah, J.C.A., & Lynch, R.E. (2019).The cause and consequence of human trafficking:
Human rights violations. Columbus, Ohio: The Ohio State University Pressbook.
Mesra, N., & Rosenberg, R. (2003). Servile Marriage and Mail Order Brides. In R. Rosenberg,
Trafficking of women and children in Indonesia. (pp. 56-102). Jakarta: International Catholic
Migration Commission (ICMC).
Migrant Care. (2016). DESBUMI: Desa Peduli Buruh Migran. Retrieved from
https://migrantcare.net/desbumi/
Migrant Care. (2016). Program. Retrieved from https://migrantcare.net/program/
Migrant Care. (2020). Project Brief: DESBUMI. DESBUMI: Villages that Care for Migrant
Workers. Retrieved from https://www.mampu.or.id/en/knowledge/publication/project-brief-
desbumi/
262
Milda, I., & Kristiyanto. (2016). Online Sex Trafficking Of Women And Children In Indonesia:
Legal Perspectives And Challenges. Asia Pacific Journal of Advanced Business and Social
Studies, 2(1), 251–259.
Milivojevic, S., & Segrave, M. (2012). Evaluating Responses to Human Trafficking: A Review
of International, Regional and National Counter-Trafficking Mechanisms. In J. Winterdyk, B.
Perrin, & P. Reichel (Eds.), Human Trafficking: Exploring the International Nature, Concerns,
and Complexities (pp. 233 - 263). CRC Press.
Miller, R., & Baumeister, S. (2013). Managing Migration: Is Border Control Fundamental to
Anti-Trafficking and Anti-Smuggling Interventions? Anti-Trafficking Review, (2).
Minasny, B. (2020, July 2). The Dark History of Slavery and Racism in Indonesia during the
Dutch Colonial Period. The Conversation. Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/the-
dark-history-of-slavery-and-racism-in-indonesia-during-the-dutch-colonial-period-141457
Molland, S. (2010). ‘The Perfect Business’: Human Trafficking and Lao-Thai Cross‐Border
Migration. Development and Change, 41(5), 831-855.
Molland, S. (2011). ‘I am helping them’:‘Traffickers’,‘anti‐traffickers’ and economies of bad
faith. The Australian Journal of Anthropology, 22(2), 236-254.
Molland, S. (2012). The inexorable quest for trafficking hotspots along the Thai-Lao border.
In W. V. Schendel, L. Lyons, & M. Ford (Eds.), Labour migration and human trafficking in
Southeast Asia: critical perspectives (pp. 57-74). Oxon; New York, NY: Taylor & Francis.
Molland, S. (2012). The perfect business?: Anti-trafficking and the sex trade along the
Mekong. Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press.
Molland, S. (2014). In search of the perfect method: Reflections on knowing, seeing, measuring
and estimating human trafficking. In Human Trafficking in Asia: Forcing Issues (pp. 101-117).
Taylor and Francis.
Mooney, J. (2019). The theoretical foundations of criminology: Place, time and context. Oxon:
Routledge.
Morcom, C., & Schloenhardt, A. (2011). All about Sex?!: The Evolution of Trafficking in
Persons in International Law. University of Queensland Human Trafficking Working Group.
Mullings, B. (1999). Insider or outsider, both or neither: some dilemmas of interviewing in a
cross-cultural setting. Geoforum, 30(4), 337-350.
Mulligan, W. (2013). The Anti-slave Trade Campaign in Europe, 1888–90. In A Global History
of Anti-slavery Politics in the Nineteenth Century (pp. 149-170). London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Mulyana, S., Octavianti, M., & Bajari, A. (2016). Sosialisasi kebijakan penghapusan human
trafficking di Kabupaten Indramayu. Jurnal Manajemen Komunikasi, 1(1).
Munro, P. (2012). Harbouring the illicit: Borderlands and human trafficking in South East
Asia. Crime, Law and Social Change, 58(2), 159-177.
263
Myatt, M. (2018). The Victim-Perpetrator Dilemma: The Role of State Safe Harbor Laws in
Creating a Presumption of Coercion for Human Trafficking Victims. Wm. & Mary J. Race
Gender & Soc. Just., 25, 555.
Myers, M. (2009). Qualitative research in business and management. Los Angeles; London:
SAGE.
Nanu, C. (2011). Preventing Trafficking in Human Beings: Implementing Human Rights and
Social Justice. Doctoral dissertation. The University of the West of England, Bristol.
Nasrulloh, R. (2018, November 15). Indonesia should promote restorative justice and send
fewer people to prison. Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/indonesia-should-
promote-restorative-justice-and-send-fewer-people-to-prison-101276
Neme, L. (2016, June 8). Palm Oil’s Human Cost Alleged in New Report. National
Geographic. Retrieved from https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2016/06/palm-oil-
labor-exploitation-indonesia/
Nizar, M., Inayah, A., & Dwijono, A. T. (2018). Penguatan Peran Pemerintah Melalui
Perlindungan Hukum Terhadap Pekerja Migran Indonesia. Sosiologi: Jurnal Ilmiah Kajian
Ilmu Sosial dan Budaya, 20(2).
Nurbayani, S. The cause of the occurrence of human trafficking in West Java. Jurnal
Civicus, 19(1).
Obokata, T. (2005). Shorter Articles, Comments, and Notes: Trafficking of Human Beings as
a Crime against Humanity: Some Implications for the International Legal System.
International and Comparative Law Quarterly, 54(2), 445-458. doi:10.1093/iclq/lei005
Obokata, T. (2006). A Human Rights Framework to Address Trafficking of Human Beings.
Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights, 24(3), 379–404.
Obokata, T. (2006). Trafficking of Human Beings from a Human Rights perspective: Towards
a More Holistic Approach (Vol. 89). Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff.
Obokata, T. (2015). “The Value of International law in Combating Transnational Organised
Crime in the Asia-Pacific”. Asian Journal of International Law, 7 (2017), pp. 39–60.
OECD (2016). Trafficking in Persons and Corruption: Breaking the Chain. OECD Public
Governance Reviews. Paris: OECD Publishing.
OHCHR (2014). Recommended Principles and Guidelines on Human Rights and Human
Trafficking. Retrieved from
https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Publications/Traffickingen.pdf
OHCHR. (2011). Commentary on the EU Directive - A Human Rights-Based
Approach. Prevent. Combat. Protect. Human Trafficking.
264
OHCHR. (2012). Recommended Principles and Guidelines on Human Rights and Human
Trafficking Commentary. Geneva: OHCHR.
OHCHR. (2014). Human Rights and Human Trafficking. Fact Sheet No. 36. Geneva: OHCHR.
Retrieved from: available at https://www.refworld.org/docid/5566d0e84.html
Ōkubo, S., & Shelley, L. I. (2011). Human security, transnational crime, and human trafficking
Asian and Western perspectives. Routledge. 135-151.
Oliver, L. (2017). ‘Like Pebbles Stuck in a Sieve’: Reading Romushas in the Second-
Generation Photography of Southeast Asian Captivity. Journal of War and Culture Studies,
10(4), 272–286.
Ozano, K., & Khatri, R. (2018). Reflexivity, Positionality and Power in Cross-Cultural
Participatory Action Research with Research Assistants in Rural Cambodia. Educational
Action Research, 26(2), 190-204.
Palmer, W. (2012). Discretion and the trafficking-like practices of the Indonesian state. Labour
migration and human trafficking in Southeast Asia: Critical perspectives, 149-166.
Palmer, W. (2018). Back Pay for Trafficked Migrant Workers: An Indonesian Case
Study. International Migration, 56(2), 56–67.
PARCIC. (2020). Products. Retrieved from https://www.parcic.org/english/product/
Parinama Astha. (2016). The Fight. Retrieved from http://parinama-astha.com/the-fight/
Parkes, C. (2015). The Trafficking Protocol has advanced the Global Movement against
Human Exploitation: The case of the United Kingdom. Anti-Trafficking Review, 4, 150–.
https://doi.org/10.14197/atr.20121549
Pati, R. (2018). Trafficking in Human Beings: The Convergence of Criminal Law and Human
Rights. The SAGE Handbook of Human Trafficking and Modern Day Slavery, 278.
Patnistik, E. (2014, June 3). Oknum Polisi Diduga Dukung Perdagangan Manusia di NTT.
Kompas.com. Retrieved from
https://regional.kompas.com/read/2014/03/06/0812064/Oknum.Polisi.Diduga.Dukung.Perdag
angan.Manusia.di.NTT
Patritti, C. (2010). Restoring Human Trafficking Victims through Victim-Offender
Dialogue. Cardozo J. Conflict Resol., 12, 217.
Pescinski, J. (2015). A Human Rights Approach to Human Trafficking. Our World. Retrieved
from https://ourworld.unu.edu/en/a-human-rights-approach-to-human-trafficking
Picarelli, J. T. (2007). Historical Approaches to the Trade in Human Beings. In M. Lee. Human
trafficking. Devon: Willan Publishing.
Pickering, S. (2010). Women, Borders, and Violence. Current Issues in Asylum, Forced
Migration, and Trafficking (1. ed.). New York: Springer.
265
Piggin, C. (2007). The Role of Leucaena in Swidden Cropping and Livestock Production
Systems in Nusa Tenggara Timur, Indonesia. In M. Cairns. (2007), Voices from the forest:
integrating indigenous knowledge into sustainable upland farming. Earthscan. Washington:
RFF Press Book.
Prenzler, T. (2009). Police Corruption: Preventing Misconduct and Maintaining Integrity.
Boca Raton: CRC Press
Presidential Regulation on the Task Force for the Prevention and Control of Human Trafficking
(Presidential Regulation No. 69/2008).
Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons Especially Women and
Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized
Crime 2000
Purnama, A. (2019). Policy Implementation of Closing Localisation “Indonesia Free of
Prostitution 2019”. Media Informasi Penelitian Kesejahteraan Sosial, Vol. 43, No. 3,
Desember 2019, 227-236
Quek, K. (2018). Marriage trafficking: Women in forced wedlock. Abingdon, Oxon; New
York, NY: Routledge.
Rahman, E., & Vuković, S. (2019). Sympathy for the Devil: When and How to Negotiate with
Criminal Gangs - Case of El Salvador. Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 42(11), 935-952.
Reyes, C. (2015, November 30). End Slavery Now. Trafficking Prevention. Retrieved from
https://www.endslaverynow.org/blog/articles/trafficker-prevention
Rijken, C. (2009). A Human Rights-Based Approach to Trafficking in Human Beings. Security
and Human Rights, 20(3), 212-222.
Rijken, C., & De Volder, E. (2009). The European Union's struggle to realize a human rights-
based approach to trafficking in human beings. Conn. J. Int'l L., 25, 49.
Rijken, C., Muraszkiewicz, J., & Van de Ven, P. (2015). Report on the features and incentives
of traffickers and on the social interactions among them. http://data. trilateralresearch.
com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/TRACE Deliverable-3.1 Final. Pdf.
Riswanda, McIntyre-Mills, J., & Corcoran-Nantes, Y. (2017). Prostitution and Human Rights
in Indonesia: A Critical Systemic Review of Policy Discourses and Scenarios. Systemic
Practice and Action Research, 30(3), 213-237.
Riswanda (2015). Perceptions of Prostitution: a Critical Ethnographic Case Study of Urban
and Regional Areas in Indonesia (Doctoral dissertation, Flinders University, School of Social
and Policy Studies).
Ronel, N., & Segev, D. (2015). Positive criminology (First edition.). Oxon: Routledge.
266
Rosenberg, R. (2003). Trafficking of women and children in Indonesia. Jakarta: International
Catholic Migration Commission (ICMC)
Rossum, M. (2020). The Dutch East India Company and Slave Trade in the Indian Ocean and
Indonesian Archipelago Worlds, 1602–1795. In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Asian
History.
Rother, S. (2017). Indonesian migrant domestic workers in transnational political spaces:
Agency, gender roles and social class formation. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies:
Transnational Perspectives on Intersecting Experiences: Gender, Social Class and Generation
among Southeast Asian Migrants and Their Families, 43(6), 956-973.
Rumah Faye. (2020). Prevention Program. Retrieved from https://rumahfaye.or.id/en/what-
we-do/
Rusev, A. (2013). Human trafficking, Border Security and Related Corruption in the
EU. Migration and the Security Sector Paper Series. Brussels: DCAF
Rusman. (2019, October 29). Nunukan Masuk Daerah Perlintasan Pelaku Perdagangan Orang.
Berandatimur.com, Retrieved from https://www.berandatimur.com/en/nunukan-masuk-
daerah-perlintasan-pelaku-perdagangan-orang/
Samarasinghe, V. (2008). Female Sex Trafficking in Asia: The Resilience of Patriarchy in a
Changing World (Routledge International Studies of Women and Place). Taylor and Francis.
New York: Routledge.
Sanghera, J. (2012) Unpacking Trafficking Discourse. In Kempadoo, Kamala., Pattanaik,
Bandana, & Sanghera, Jyoti. (2012). Trafficking and prostitution reconsidered: new
perspectives on migration, sex work, and human rights (2nd ed.). Boulder, CO: Paradigm.
Sato, S. (2006). Indonesia 1939–1942: Prelude to the Japanese Occupation. Journal of
Southeast Asian Studies (Singapore), 37(2), 225–248.
Schloenhardt, A. (1999). Organized crime and the business of migrant trafficking. Crime, Law
and Social Change, 32(3), 203-233.
Segrave, M. (2009). Human trafficking and human rights. Australian Journal of Human
Rights, 14(2), 71-94.
Sen, S., & Nair, P. M. (2005). A report on trafficking in women and children in India: 2002–
2003. New Delhi, India: Institute of Social Science, National Human Rights Commission &
UNIFEM.
Serie, C. M., Krumeich, A., van Dijke, A., de Ruiter, E., Terpstra, L., & de Ruiter, C. (2018).
Sex traffickers’ views: A qualitative study into their perceptions of the Victim–Offender
relationship. Journal of Human Trafficking, 4(2), 169-184.
Shelley, L. (2003). The trade in people in and from the former Soviet Union. Crime, law, and
social change, 40(2-3), 231-250.
267
Shelley, L. (2007). Human Trafficking as a Form of Transnational Crime, In M. Lee. Human
Trafficking (pp. 128–149). Devon: Willan.
Shelley, L. (2010). Human trafficking: A global perspective. New York: Cambridge
University Press
Shelley, L. (2011). International trafficking: an important component of transnational crime. In
S. Okubo & L. Shelley. Human Security, Transnational Crime, and Human Trafficking: Asian
and Western Perspectives, 135-151.
Shen, A. (2016). Female Perpetrators in Internal Child Trafficking in China: An Empirical
Study. Journal of Human Trafficking, 2(1), 63-77.
Shen, A. (2016). Motivations of women who organized others for prostitution: Evidence from
a female prison in China. Criminology & Criminal Justice, 16(2), 214–232.
Sherman, L. W., & Strang, H. (2007). Restorative Justice: The Evidence. Canberra: Esme´e
Fairbarn Foundation and The Smith Institute.
Shin, Y. J. (2018). A Transnational Human Rights Approach to Human Trafficking :
Empowering the Powerless. Leiden: Brill Nijhoff.
Shively, M., Smith, K., Jalbert, S., & Drucker, O. (2017). Human Trafficking Organizations
and Facilitators: A Detailed Profile and Interviews with Convicted Traffickers in the United
States. Cambridge; New York: National Criminal Justice Reference Service.
Shoaps, L. L. (2013). Room for Improvement: Palermo Protocol and the Trafficking Victims
Protection act. Lewis and Clark Law Review, 17, 931.
Siegel, D., & De Blank, S. (2010). Women who traffic women: the role of women in human
trafficking networks – Dutch cases. Global Crime, 11(4), 436-447.
Siegel, D., & De Wildt, R. (2016). Ethical Concerns in Research on Human Trafficking (1st
ed. 2016 ed., Vol. 13, Studies of Organized Crime). Cham: Springer International Publishing.
Sigmon, J. (2008). Combating Modern-Day Slavery: Issues in Identifying and Assisting
Victims of Human Trafficking Worldwide. Victims & Offenders, 3(2-3), 245-257.
Silaen, P., & Smark, C. J. (2006). The “Culture System” in Dutch Indonesia 1830–1870: How
Rawls’s original position ethics were violated. Faculty of Commerce – Paper. Wollongong
University. Retrieved from https://ro.uow.edu.au/commpapers/135/
Siller, N. (2017). Human Trafficking in International Law before the Palermo
Protocol. Netherlands International Law Review, 64(3), 407–452.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s40802-017-0099-9
Simmons, B. A., Lloyd, P., & Stewart, B. M. (2018). The Global Diffusion of Law:
Transnational Crime and the Case of Human Trafficking. International Organization, 72(2),
249.
268
Simmons, F., O'Brien, B., David, F., & Beacroft, L. (2013). Human trafficking and slavery
offenders in Australia. Trends & Issues in Crime and Criminal Justice, (464), 1-13.
Siskin, A., & Wyler, L. S. (2012). Trafficking in persons: International dimensions and foreign
policy issues for Congress. In Newton, H. Human trafficking: Scope and response efforts. New
York: Nova Science.
Smith, H. (2011). Sex trafficking: Trends, challenges, and the limitations of international law.
Human Rights Review, 12 (3), 271–286.
Soekarba, S. R., & Kenyowati, E. (2011). Tragedi cinta dan rumah tangga dalam lirik lagu
Tarling Indramayuan: Studi kasus terhadap lirik lagu Tarling Indramayan. In Yogyakarta:
Proceeding International Conference on Indonesian Studies.
Sofwan, R. (2016, February 1). Tiga Modus Kejahatan Perdagangan Orang Menurut PBB.
CNN Indonesia. Retrieved from https://www.cnnindonesia.com/nasional/20160201172501-
12-108112/tiga-modus-kejahatan-perdagangan-organ-menurut-pbb
Somadiyono (2014). Police Corruption: Influenced Factors and Suggested Control in
Indonesian Police Department. Journal of Law, Policy and Globalization Vol.24, 2014
State Secretary for the Support and Promotion of the Private Sector Timor-Leste. (2013).
National Strategy and Action Plan for Gender and Private Sector 2014-2017. Retrieved from
http://extwprlegs1.fao.org/docs/pdf/tim150789.pdf
Sultana, F. (2007). Reflexivity, positionality and participatory ethics: Negotiating fieldwork
dilemmas in international research. ACME, 6(3), 374-385.
Sumpter, C. (2017). Countering violent extremism in Indonesia: priorities, practice and the role
of civil society. Journal for Deradicalization, (11), 112-147.
Surianto. (2018). Menata Sumber Daya Warga Binaan Permasyarakatan (Modal Manusia
yang Tersembunyi di Rutan). Makassar: Sah Media.
Surtees, R. (2003). Female migration and trafficking in women: The Indonesian
context. development, 46(3), 99-106.
Surtees, R. (2008). Traffickers and trafficking in Southern and Eastern Europe: Considering
the other side of human trafficking. European Journal of Criminology, 5(1), 39-68.
Surtees, R. (2014). Traffickers and Trafficking: Challenges in Researching Human Traffickers
and Trafficking Operations. Geneva: International Organization for Migration, (IOM).
Surtees, R. (2017) Our Lives. Vulnerability and Resilience Among Indonesian Trafficking
Victims. Washington, D.C.: NEXUS Institute.
Susilo, W. (2018, March 2). Perdagangan manusia dan korupsi di NTT. Tempo.co. Retrieved
from https://kolom.tempo.co/read/1065825/perdagangan-manusia-dan-korupsi-di-ntt
269
Sutinah, S., & Kinuthia, K. M. (2019). Trafficking of women and children in East Java,
Indonesia. Journal of International Women's Studies, 20(9), 94-106.
Suwarto, S. (2007). Pelaksanaan Pidana Penjara Dengan Sistem Pemasyarakatan. Jurnal
Hukum Pro Justitia, 25(2).
Syailendrawati, Marcoes & Sirimorok (2017). Peta Masalah dan Ketersediaan Layanan untuk
Penanganan Trafficking di Sulawesi Selatan. Jakarta: Australia-Indonesia Partnership for
Justice 2 (AIPJ2).
Taufiqurrohman. (2013, November 30). Jokowi Mengaku Kenal Semua Preman Tanah Abang.
Liputan6. Retrieved from https://www.liputan6.com/news/read/761108/jokowi-mengaku-
kenal-semua-preman-tanah-abang
The Asia Foundation. (2012). Gender in Indonesia. Retrieved from
https://asiafoundation.org/resources/pdfs/IDgender.pdf
The Body of Principles of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment adopted
by General Assembly resolution 43/173 of December 1988
The Law of the Republic of Indonesia number 21/2007 on the Eradication of the Criminal Act
of Trafficking in Persons.
The Law of The Republic of Indonesia number 35 Year 2009 on Narcotics
The Law of the Republic of Indonesia number 5 Year 2018 on Combating Criminal Acts on
Terrorism.
The Regulations of the Government of Republic of Indonesia number 31 of 1999 on Education
and Counselling of Inmates.
Thomas, H. (1997). The slave trade: the story of the Atlantic slave trade, 1440-1870. Simon &
Schuster: New York.
Tierney, J. (2013). Criminology: theory and context (Third edition.). Routledge: London.
Todres, J. (2011). Moving upstream: The Merits of a Public Health Law Approach to Human
Trafficking. North Carolina Law Review, 89, 447–506.
Tostan (2018). Child Protection Module. Retrieved from
https://www.tostan.org/programs/projects-modules/child-protection-module/
Transparency International. (2011). Corruption and human trafficking. Working Paper
03/2011, Transparency International, Berlin.
Troshynski, E., & Blank, J. (2008). Sex trafficking: an exploratory study interviewing
traffickers. Trends in Organized Crime, 11(1), 30–41.
Tyldum, G., & Brunovskis, A. (2005). Describing the unobserved: Methodological challenges
in empirical studies on human trafficking. International migration, 43(1‐2), 17-34.
270
UNFPA (2005, March 8). Indonesian NGO Works to Stop Violence against Women by
Providing Shelter, Raising Awareness and Taking Perpetrators to Court. UNFPA. Retrieved
from https://www.unfpa.org/fr/node/6905
UNICEF Indonesia. (2016). Child Marriage in Indonesia: Progress on Pause. Research Brief,
Jakarta: UNICEF Indonesia.
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). (2018). Introductory Handbook on the
Prevention of Recidivism and the Social Reintegration of Offenders. New York: United
Nations.
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). (2016), Global Report on Trafficking
in Persons 2016. Retrieved from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime website
https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-
analysis/glotip/2016_Global_Report_on_Trafficking_in_Persons.pdf.
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Vienna International Ctr, & Austria.
(2009). Anti-Human Trafficking Manual for Criminal Justice Practitioners.
United States Department of State (2008). Trafficking in Persons Report 2008.
United States Department of State (2009). Trafficking in Persons Report 2009.
United States Department of State (2010). Trafficking in Persons Report 2010.
United States Department of State (2012). Trafficking in Persons Report 2012.
United States Department of State (2013). Trafficking in Persons Report 2013.
United States Department of State (2014). Trafficking in Persons Report 2014.
United States Department of State (2016). Trafficking in Persons Report 2016.
United States Department of State (2017). Trafficking in Persons Report 2017.
United States Department of State (2018). Trafficking in Persons Report 2018.
United States Department of State (2019). Trafficking in Persons Report 2019.
United States Department of State (2020). Trafficking in Persons Report 2020.
United States Department of State. (2021). 3Ps: Prosecution, Protection, and Prevention.
Retrieved from https://www.state.gov/3ps-prosecution-protection-and-prevention/
UNODC (2006). Toolkit to Combat Trafficking in Persons, Global Programme against
Trafficking in Human Beings. Vienna: UNODC. https://www.unodc.org/documents/human-
trafficking/Toolkit-files/07-89375_Ebook%5b1%5d.pdf
UNODC (2006). Trafficking in Persons. Global Patterns. Vienna: United Nations.
271
UNODC (2008). Human Trafficking: An Overview. New York: United Nations.
UNODC (2009). Anti-human trafficking manual for criminal justice practitioners. Module 1:
Definitions of Trafficking in Persons and Smuggling of Migrants. Vienna: UNODC. Retrieved
from https://www.unodc.org/documents/human-trafficking/TIP_module1_Ebook.pdf
UNODC (2009). Anti-human trafficking manual for criminal justice practitioners. Module 11:
Victims’ needs in criminal justice proceedings in trafficking in persons cases. Vienna:
UNODC. Retrieved from https://www.unodc.org/documents/human-
trafficking/TIP_module11_Ebook.pdf
UNODC (2009). International Framework for Action to Implement the Trafficking in Persons
Protocol. New York: United Nations
UNODC (2012). International Framework for Action to Implement the Trafficking in Persons
Protocol. https://www.unodc.org/documents/middleeastandnorthafrica//human-
trafficking/International_Framework_for_Action_To_Implement_the_Trafficking_in_Person
s_Protocol.pdf
UNODC (2018). Positivism: Environmental Influences. Retrieved from
https://www.unodc.org/e4j/en/organized-crime/module-6/key-issues/positivism-
environmental-influences.html
UNODC (2018). Definition in the Organized Crime Convention. Retrieved from
https://www.unodc.org/e4j/en/organized-crime/module-1/key-issues/definition-in-
convention.html
UNODC (2019). Forced Marriage. Retrieved from https://www.unodc.org/e4j/en/tip-and-
som/module-11/key-issues/som-or-tip---forced-marriage.html
UNODC (2021). Transnational Organized Crime. Retrieved from
https://www.unodc.org/ropan/en/organized-crime.html
UNU-CPR (2019). Unlocking Potential: A Blueprint for Mobilizing Finance Against Slavery
and Trafficking. United Nations University Centre for Policy Research (UNU-CPR): New
York.
Vaessen, S. (2016, February 22). Organ-Trafficking Syndicate Uncovered in Indonesia.
Aljazeera. Retrieved from https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/2/22/organ-trafficking-
syndicate-uncovered-in-indonesia
Van Der Watt, M., & Kruger, B. (2017). Exploring 'juju' and human trafficking: Towards a
demystified perspective and response. South African Review of Sociology, 48(2), 70-86.
Van der Watt, M., & Van der Westhuizen, A. (2017). (Re) Configuring the Criminal Justice
Response to Human Trafficking: a Complex-Systems Perspective. Police Practice and
Research, 18(3), 218-229.
272
Van Dissel, A. (2012). Pioneering in Southeast Asia in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century.
In C. Atunes & J. Gommans, Exploring the Dutch Empire: Agents, Networks and Institutions
1600 – 2000. London: Bloomsbury Publishing.
Van Duyne, P. C. (1996). Organized crime, corruption and power. Crime, Law and Social
Change, 26(3), 201-238.
Van Kessel, I. (2009). “Courageous but insolent”: African soldiers in the Dutch East Indies as
seen by Dutch officials and Indonesian neighbours. Transforming Cultures eJournal, 4(2).
Vandenberg, M. (2016). Palermo's Promise: Victims' rights and human trafficking. Anti -
Trafficking Review, (6), 138-141.
Varney, J. (2013). Human Trafficking: What Your Community Needs To Know To Assist
You. Journal of California Law Enforcement, 47(2), 6-12.
Väyrynen, R. (2003). Illegal Immigration, Human Trafficking and Organized Crime. WIDER
Discussion Paper Series No. 2003/72. World Institute for Development Economic Research
(UNU-WIDER). Retrieved from https://www.wider.unu.edu/sites/default/files/dp2003-
072.pdf
Villacampa, C., & Torres, N. (2017). Human Trafficking for Criminal Exploitation: The
Failure to Identify Victims. European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research, 23(3), 393–
408. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10610-017-9343-4
Viuhko, M. (2018). Hardened professional criminals, or just friends and relatives? The
diversity of offenders in human trafficking. International Journal of Comparative and Applied
Criminal Justice: Crime and Criminal Justice in Finland, 42(2-3), 177–193.
Viuhko, M., & Jokinen, A. (2009). Human trafficking and organised crime: Trafficking for
sexual exploitation and organised procuring in Finland. Helsinki: European Institute for Crime
Prevention and Control, affiliated with the United Nations (HEUNI).
Vukovic, S., & Rahman, E. (2018). Negotiating with Criminal Gangs. Retrieved from
https://www.oxfordresearchgroup.org.uk/blog/negotiating-with-criminal-gangs
Waisman, V. (2010). “Human Trafficking: State Obligations to Protect Victims’ Rights, the
Current Framework and a New Due Diligence Standard.” Hastings International and
Comparative Law Review 33.2 (2010): 385–.
Wannenburg, G. (2005). Organised Crime in West Africa. African Security Studies, 14(4), 5-
16.
Warren, K. B. (2012). Troubling the victim/trafficker dichotomy in efforts to combat human
trafficking: the unintended consequences of moralizing labor migration. Indiana Journal of
Global Legal Studies, 19(1), 105-120.
Webb, S. & Burrows, J. (2009). Organised immigration crime: a post-conviction study.
Home Office Research Report 15. London: Home Office
273
Weissbrodt, D. S., Anti-Slavery International & United Nations (2002). Abolishing slavery
and its contemporary forms. New York: Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for
Human Rights (OHCHR), United Nations.
Weitzer, R. (2014). New Directions in Research on Human Trafficking. Annals of the
American Academy of Political and Social Science, 653, 6-247.
Wennmann, A. (2014). Negotiated exits from organized crime? Building peace in conflict
and Crime‐affected contexts. Negotiation Journal, 30(3), 255-273.
Wheaton, E. M., Schauer, E. J., & Galli, T. V. (2010). Economics of human
trafficking. International Migration, 48(4), 114-141.
Wicaksono, A.G. (2015). Jawa Timur jadi sentra perdagangan manusia. Koran Opini.
http://www.koranopini.com/nasional/sosial/jawa-timur-jadi-sentra-perdagangan-manusia
Wijaya, S. (2013, April 13). PJTKI adalah Masalah Bukan Solusi. Kompas. Retrieved from
https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2013/04/13/15343711/PJTKI.adalah.Masalah..Bukan.Solus
i
Wijkman, M., & Kleemans, E. (2019). Female offenders of human trafficking and sexual
exploitation. Crime, Law and Social Change, 72(1), 53-72.
Windiarti, S., & Besral, B. (2018, August). Determinants of Early Marriage in Indonesia: a
Systematic Review. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Applied Science and
Health (No. 3, pp. 287-293).
Winn, P. (2012). Women’s Majelis Taklim and Gendered Religious Practice in Northern
Ambon. Intersections: Gender and Sexuality in Asia and the Pacific Issue 30, November 2012.
Retrieved from http://intersections.anu.edu.au/issue30/winn.htm
Winterdyk, J., & Antonopoulos, G. (2005). Techniques of neutralizing the trafficking of
women: A case study of an active trafficker in Greece. European Journal of Crime, Criminal
Law and Criminal Justice, 13(2), 136-147.
Yin, R. (2016). Qualitative research from start to finish (Second ed.). New York: Guilford
Press.
Yōko, H. (1999). Issues Surrounding the Wartime "Comfort Women". Review of Japanese
Culture and Society, 11, 54-65.
Yu, L., Hussemann, J., Love, H., McCoy, E., & Owens, C. (2018). Alternative forms of justice
for human trafficking survivors. Justice Policy Center. Urban Institute.
Zweynert, A. (2015, June 17). Indonesia's maid ban increases risk of human trafficking:
campaigner. Reuters. Retrieved from https://www.reuters.com/article/us-indonesia-domestic-
workers-traffickin/indonesias-maid-ban-increases-risk-of-human-trafficking-campaigner-
idUSKBN0OX1GJ20150617
274
Appendices
Appendix 1: Human trafficking data January 2016 – May 2019 from
Indonesia district courts
TOTAL COURTS: 352
TOTAL CASE: 695
I. SUMATRA ISLAND
No Province District Court City Number of
Cases
Sex
Traffickin
g
Domestic
Labour
Other
Forms
No
Information
1 Nanggoroe
Aceh Darussalam
Pengadilan Tinggi
Banda Aceh
Banda Aceh 2 2 0 0 0
2 Pengadilan Negeri Jantho
Aceh Besar 0 0 0 0 0
3 Pengadilan Negeri
Sigli
Pidie 0 0 0 0 0
4 Pengadilan Negeri Bireuen
Bireuen 0 0 0 0 0
5 Pengadilan Negeri
Lhokseumawe
Lhokseumaw
e
1 0 0 0 1
6 Pengadilan Negeri Lhoksukon
North Aceh 0 0 0 0 0
7 Pengadilan Negeri
Idi
East Aceh 0 0 0 0 0
8 Pengadilan Negeri Langsa
Langsa 5 0 2 3 0
9 Pengadilan Negeri
Kuala Simpang
Aceh
Tamiang
3 2 0 0 1
10 Pengadilan Negeri Takengon
Central Aceh 0 0 0 0 0
11 Pengadilan Negeri
Blangkejeren
Gayo Lues 0 0 0 0 0
12 Pengadilan Negeri Kutacane
Southeast Aceh
1 0 0 1 0
13 Pengadilan Negeri
Tapaktuan
South Aceh 0 0 0 0 0
14 Pengadilan Negeri
Singkil
Aceh Singkil 0 0 0 0 0
15 Pengadilan Negeri
Meulaboh
West Aceh 0 0 0 0 0
16 Pengadilan Negeri
Calang
Aceh Jaya 0 0 0 0 0
17 Pengadilan Negeri
Sinabang
Simeulue 0 0 0 0 0
18 Pengadilan Negeri
Sabang
Sabang 0 0 0 0 0
19 Pengadilan Negeri
Simpang Tiga Redelong
Bener Meriah 0 0 0 0 0
TOTAL 12 4 2 4 2
No Province District Court City / Town Number of
Cases
Sex
Trafficking
Domestic
Labour
Other
Forms
No
Information
1 North
Sumatra
Pengadilan Negeri
Medan
Medan 34 26 1 6 1
2 Pengadilan Negeri Pakam
Deli Serdang 3 1 2 0 0
3 Pengadilan Negeri
Binjai
Kota Binjai 2 2 0 0 0
4 Pengadilan Negeri Siantar
Pematang Siantar
0 0 0 0 0
275
5 Pengadilan Negeri
Kabanjahe
Karo 0 0 0 0 0
6 Pengadilan Negeri
Kisaran
Asahan 0 0 0 0 0
7 Pengadilan Negeri Stabat
Langkat 2 0 0 2 0
8 Pengadilan Negeri
Gunung Sitoli
Nias
Nisel
0 0 0 0 0
9 Pengadilan Negeri Simalungun
Simalungun 4 2 2 0 0
10 Pengadilan Negeri
Tebing Tinggi
Tebing
Tinggi
0 0 0 0 0
11 Pengadilan Negeri Rantau Prapat
Labuhan Ratu
1 1 0 0 0
12 Pengadilan Negeri
Padang Sidempuan
Padang
Sidempuan
Tapsel
1 1 0 0 0
13 Pengadilan Negeri
Tanjung Balai
Tanjung
Balai
0 0 0 0 0
14 Pengadilan Negeri
Sibolga
Sibolga 1 1 0 0 0
15 Pengadilan Negeri
Tarutung
Taput
Tobasa
Humbahas
0 0 0 0 0
16 Pengadilan Negeri Sidikalang
Dairi P. Bharat
0 0 0 0 0
17 Pengadilan Negeri
Madina
Mandailing
Natal
1 1 0 0 0
18 Pengadilan Negeri
Balige
Tobasa 0 0 0 0 0
TOTAL 49 35 5 8 1
No Province District Court City Number
of Cases
Sex
Trafficking
Domestic
Labour
Other
Forms
No
Information
1 West Sumatra Pengadilan Negeri
Batu Sangkar
Batu Sangkar 0 0 0 0 0
2 Pengadilan Negeri Bukittinggi
Bukittinggi 2 2 0 0 0
3 Pengadilan Negeri
Koto Baru
Koto Baru 0 0 0 0 0
4 Pengadilan Negeri Lubuk Basung
Lubuk Basung
0 0 0 0 0
5 Pengadilan Negeri
Lubuk Sikaping
Lubuk
Sikaping
0 0 0 0 0
6 Pengadilan Negeri Muaro
Muaro o 0 0 0 0
7 Pengadilan Negeri
Padang
Padang 7 3 0 0 4
8 Pengadilan Negeri Padang Panjang
Padang Panjang
0 0 0 0 0
9 Pengadilan Negeri
Painan
Painan 0 0 0 0 0
10 Pengadilan Negeri
Pariaman
Pariaman 0 0 0 0 0
11 Pengadilan Negeri
Pasaman Barat
Pasaman
Barat
0 0 0 0 0
12 Pengadilan Negeri
Payakumbuh
Payakumbuh 1 1 0 0 0
13 Pengadilan Negeri
Sawahlunto
Sawahlunto 0 0 0 0 0
14 Pengadilan Negeri
Solok
Solok 0 0 0 0 0
15 Pengadilan Negeri
Tanjung Pati
Lima Puluh
Kota
- - - - -
TOTAL 10 6 0 0 4
No Province District Court City Number of
Cases
Sex
Trafficking
Domestic
Labour
Other
Forms
No
Information
1 Riau Islands Pengadilan Negeri
Pekanbaru
Pekanbaru 9 9 0 0 0
2 Pengadilan Negeri Tanjung Pinang
Tanjung Pinang
4 0 0 4 0
276
3 Pengadilan Negeri
Batam
Batam 52 20 6 25 1
4 Pengadilan Negeri
Dumai
Dumai 0 0 0 0 0
5 Pengadilan Negeri Bangkinang
Bangkinang 1 0 0 1 0
6 Pengadilan Negeri
Bengkalis
Bengkalis 1 1 0 0 0
7 Pengadilan Negeri Rengat
Rengat 0 0 0 0 0
8 Pengadilan Negeri
Tembilahan
Tembilahan 0 0 0 0 0
9 Pengadilan Negeri Pasir Pangarai
Pasir Pangarai
- - - - -
10 Pengadilan Negeri
Tanjung Balai
Karimun
Tanjung
Balai
Karimun
2 1 0 0 1
11 Pengadilan Negeri
Pelalawan
Pelalawan 0 0 0 0 0
12 Pengadilan Negeri
Rokan Hilir
Rokan Hilir 0 0 0 0 0
13 Pengadilan Negeri
Siak Sri Indrapura
Siak Sri
Indrapura
0 0 0 0 0
14 Pengadilan Negeri
Ranai
Ranai 0 0 0 0 0
TOTAL 69 31 6 30 2
No Province District Court City Number of
Cases
Sex
Trafficking
Domestic
Labour
Other
Forms
No
Information
1 Jambi Pengadilan Negeri
Jambi
Jambi 10 10 0 0 0
2 Pengadilan Negeri
Tebo
Tebo 0 0 0 0 0
3 Pengadilan Negeri
Bangko
Bangko 0 0 0 0 0
4 Pengadilan Negeri
Sengeti
Muaro 0 0 0 0 0
5 Pengadilan Negeri
Kuala Tungkal
Kuala
Tungkal
1 1 0 0 0
6 Pengadilan Negeri
Muara Bulian
Batang Hari 0 0 0 0 0
7 Pengadilan Negeri
Sarolangun
Sorolangun 0 0 0 0 0
8 Pengadilan Negeri
Muara Bungo
Muara Bungo 0 0 0 0 0
9 Pengadilan Negeri
Sungai Penuh
Sungai Penuh 0 0 0 0 0
10 Pengadilan Negeri
TanjabTim
Tanjab Timur 0 0 0 0 0
TOTAL 11 11 0 0 0
No Province District Court City Number of
Cases
Sex
Trafficking
Domestic
Labour
Other
Forms
No
Information
1 South
Sumatra
Pengadilan Negeri
Palembang
Palembang 10 9 0 0 1
2 Pengadilan Negeri
Kayu Agung
Ogan
Komering Ilir
0 0 0 0 0
3 Pengadilan Negeri
Lahat
Lahat 0 0 0 0 0
4 Pengadilan Negeri
Batu Raja
Ogan
Komering Ulu
0 0 0 0 0
5 Pengadilan Negeri
Lubuk Lingau
Lubuk
Lingau
0 0 0 0 0
6 Pengadilan Negeri Muara Enim
Muara Enim 0 0 0 0 0
7 Pengadilan Negeri
Sekayu
Musi
Banyuasin
0 0 0 0 0
8 Pengadilan Negeri Prabumulih
Prabumulih 0 0 0 0 0
9 Pengadilan Negeri
Pagar Alam
Pagar Alam 0 0 0 0 0
TOTAL 10 9 0 0 1
277
No Province District Court City Number of
Cases
Sex
Trafficking
Domestic
Labour
Other
Forms
No
Information
1 Bangka
Belitung Islands
Pengadilan Negeri
Pangkal Pinang
Pangkal
Pinang
0 0 0 0 0
2 Pengadilan Negeri
Sungailiat
Bangka 0 0 0 0 0
3 Pengadilan Negeri
Tanjungpandan
Belitung 0 0 0 0 0
TOTAL 0 0 0 0 0
No Province District Court City Number of
Cases
Sex
Trafficking
Domestic
Labour
Other
Forms
No
Information
1 Bengkulu Pengadilan Negeri Bengkulu
Bengkulu 9 9 0 0 0
2 Pengadilan Negeri
Arga Makmur
Bengkulu
Utara
0 0 0 0 0
3 Pengadilan Negeri Bintuhan
Kaur 0 0 0 0 0
4 Pengadilan Negeri
Curup
Curup 0 0 0 0 0
5 Pengadilan Negeri Kepahiang
Kepahiang - - - - -
6 Pengadilan Negeri
Manna
Bengkulu
Selatan
0 0 0 0 0
7 Pengadilan Negeri
Tais
Seluma 0 0 0 0 0
8 Pengadilan Negeri
Tubei
Lebong 0 0 0 0 0
TOTAL 9 9 0 0 0
No Province District Court City Number of
Cases
Sex
Trafficking
Domestic
Labour
Other
Forms
No
Information
1 Lampung Pengadilan Negeri Tanjung Karang
Bandar Lampung
23 22 0 0 21
2 Pengadilan Negeri
Kalianda
Lampung
Selatan
0 0 0 0 0
3 Pengadilan Negeri Metro
Metro 1 1 0 0 0
4 Pengadilan Negeri
Gunung Sugih
Lampung
Tengah
0 0 0 0 0
5 Pengadilan Negeri Sukadana
Kayong Utara
0 1 0 0 0
6 Pengadilan Negeri
Menggala
Tulang
Bawang
0 0 0 0 0
7 Pengadilan Negeri Kota Agung
Tanggamus 1 0 0 0 1
8 Pengadilan Negeri
Kotabumi
Lampung
Utara
0 0 0 0 0
9 Pengadilan Negeri Blambangan Umpu
Way Kanan 0 0 0 0 0
10 Pengadilan Negeri
Liwa
Lampung
Barat
0 0 0 0 0
TOTAL 13 11 0 0 2
Total Trafficking Case in Sumatra Island: 183
Sex Trafficking: 116; Domestic Labour: 13; Other forms: 42; No information: 12
II. JAVA ISLAND
No Province District Court City Number
of Cases
Sex
Trafficking
Domestic
Labour
Other
Forms
No
Information
1 Banten Pengadilan Negeri
Serang
Serang 0 0 0 0 0
2 Pengadilan Negeri Pandeglang
Pandeglang 1 1 0 0 0
3 Pengadilan Negeri
Rangkasbitung
Rangkasbitung 0 0 0 0 0
4 Pengadilan Negeri Tangerang
Tangerang 15 7 0 0 8
278
TOTAL 16 8 0 0 8
No Province District Court City Num
ber
of
Case
s
Sex
Trafficking
Domestic
Labour
Other
Forms
No
Information
1 DKI Jakarta Pengadilan Negeri
Jakarta Pusat
Jakarta Pusat 8 4 0 3 1
2 Pengadilan Negeri
Jakarta Selatan
Jakarta Selatan 7 1 1 2 3
3 Pengadilan Negeri
Jakarta Barat
Jakarta Barat 6 0 0 0 6
4 Pengadilan Negeri
Jakarta Timur
Jakarta Timur 24 0 2 2 20
5 Pengadilan Negeri
Jakarta Utara
Jakarta Utara 11 0 0 0 11
TOTAL 56 5 3 7 41
No Province District Court City Numb
er of
Cases
Sex
Traffickin
g
Domestic
Labour
Other
Form
s
No
Informat
ion
1 West Java Pengadilan Negeri
Bandung
Bandung 16 5 0 7 4
2 Pengadilan Negeri Bekasi
Bekasi 11 4 0 2 5
3 Pengadilan Negeri
Bale Bandung
Bandung 1 0 0 0 1
4 Pengadilan Negeri Bogor
Bogor 6 6 0 0 0
5 Pengadilan Negeri
Cirebon
Cirebon 0 0 0 0 0
6 Pengadilan Negeri Karawang
Karawang 7 6 1 0 0
7 Pengadilan Negeri
Sukabumi
Sukabumi 6 0 0 0 6
8 Pengadilan Negeri Cibinong
Bogor 14 9 0 3 2
9 Pengadilan Negeri
Cianjur
Cianjur 13 7 1 0 5
10 Pengadilan Negeri Tasikmalaya
Tasikmalaya 3 3 0 0 0
11 Pengadilan Negeri
Indramayu
Indramayu 4 1 0 3 0
12 Pengadilan Negeri Depok
Depok 0 0 0 0 0
13 Pengadilan Negeri
Purwakarta
Purwakarta 0 0 0 0 0
14 Pengadilan Negeri Cibadak
Sukabumi 11 8 0 1 2
15 Pengadilan Negeri
Sumber
Cirebon 0 0 0 0 0
16 Pengadilan Negeri
Garut
Garut 0 0 0 0 0
17 Pengadilan Negeri
Ciamis
Ciamis 3 0 0 0 3
18 Pengadilan Negeri
Kuningan
Kuningan 0 0 0 0 0
19 Pengadilan Negeri
Majalengka
Majalengka 0 0 0 0 0
20 Pengadilan Negeri
Subang
Subang 5 4 0 0 1
21 Pengadilan Negeri
Sumedang
Sumedang 0 0 0 0 0
TOTAL 101 54 2 16 29
No Province District Court City Number
of Cases
Sex
Trafficking
Domestic
Labour
Other
Forms
No
Information
1 Central Java Pengadilan Negeri Semarang
Semarang 1 0 0 1 0
2 Pengadilan Negeri
Surakarta
Surakarta 0 0 0 0 0
279
3 Pengadilan Negeri
Cilacap
Cilacap 0 0 0 0 0
4 Pengadilan Negeri
Klaten
Klaten 0 0 0 0 0
5 Pengadilan Negeri Kudus
Kudus 1 1 0 0 0
6 Pengadilan Negeri
Magelang
Magelang 0 0 0 0 0
7 Pengadilan Negeri Pati Pati 0 0 0 0 0
8 Pengadilan Negeri Pekalongan
Pekalongan 1 1 0 0 0
9 Pengadilan Negeri
Purwokerto
Purwokerto 2 2 0 0 0
10 Pengadilan Negeri Tegal
Tegal 1 0 0 1 0
11 Pengadilan Negeri
Sragen
Sragen 0 0 0 0 0
12 Pengadilan Negeri Jepara
Jepara 0 0 0 0 0
13 Pengadilan Negeri
Kab.Semarang
Ungaran 0 0 0 0 0
14 Pengadilan Negeri Kendal
Kendal 3 3 0 0 0
15 Pengadilan Negeri
Sukoharjo
Sukoharjo 0 0 0 0 0
16 Pengadilan Negeri
Blora
Blora 0 0 0 0 0
17 Pengadilan Negeri
Boyolali
Boyolali 0 0 0 0 0
18 Pengadilan Negeri
Brebes
Brebes 2 0 0 2 0
19 Pengadilan Negeri
Kebumen
Kebumen 0 0 0 0 0
20 Pengadilan Negeri
Purwodadi
Purwodadi 0 0 0 0 0
21 Pengadilan Negeri
Purworejo
Purworejo 0 0 0 0 0
22 Pengadilan Negeri
Salatiga
Salatiga 1 1 0 0 0
23 Pengadilan Negeri
Banjarnegara
Banjarnegara 0 0 0 0 0
24 Pengadilan Negeri
Banyumas
Banyumas 0 0 0 0 0
25 Pengadilan Negeri
Batang
Batang 1 1 0 0 0
26 Pengadilan Negeri
Demak
Demak - - - - -
27 Pengadilan Negeri
Karanganyar
Karanganyar 0 0 0 0 0
28 Pengadilan Negeri
Mungkid
Magelang 0 0 0 0 0
29 Pengadilan Negeri Pemalang
Pemalang 0 0 0 0 0
30 Pengadilan Negeri
Purbalingga
Purbalingga 0 0 0 0 0
31 Pengadilan Negeri Rembang
Rembang 0 0 0 0 0
32 Pengadilan Negeri
Slawi
Slawi 8 4 0 3 1
33 Pengadilan Negeri Temanggung
Temanggung 0 0 0 0 0
34 Pengadilan Negeri
Wonogiri
Wonogiri 0 0 0 0 0
35 Pengadilan Negeri Wonosobo
Wonosobo 0 0 0 0 0
TOTAL 20 13 0 7 0
No Province District Court City Number
of Cases
Sex
Trafficking
Domestic
Labour
Other
Forms
No
Information
1 DI Yogyakarta Pengadilan Negeri
Yogyakarta
Yogyakarta 1 1 0 0 0
2 Pengadilan Negeri
Sleman
Sleman 0 0 0 0 0
280
3 Pengadilan Negeri
Wates
Kulon Progo 0 0 0 0 0
4 Pengadilan Negeri
Wonosari
Gunung Kidul 0 0 0 0 0
5 Pengadilan Negeri Bantul
Bantul 0 1 0 0 0
TOTAL 1 1 0 0 0
No Province District Court City Number
of Cases
Sex
Trafficking
Domestic
Labour
Other
Forms
No
Information
1 East Java Pengadilan Negeri
Surabaya A
Surabaya 83 65 0 1 17
2 Pengadilan Negeri
Malang
Malang 1 1 0 0 0
3 Pengadilan Negeri
Jember
Jember 0 0 0 0 0
4 Pengadilan Negeri
Kediri
Kediri 0 0 0 0 0
5 Pengadilan Negeri
Kota Madiun
Madiun 1 1 0 0 0
6 Pengadilan Negeri
Bondowoso
Bondowoso 0 0 0 0 0
7 Pengadilan Negeri
Pamekasan
Pemekasan 0 0 0 0 0
8 Pengadilan Negeri Sidoarjo
Sidoarjo 1 1 0 0 0
9 Pengadilan Negeri
Pasuruan
Pasuruan 0 0 0 0 0
10 Pengadilan Negeri Bojonegoro
Bojonegoro 0 0 0 0 0
11 Pengadilan Negeri
Blitar
Blitar 0 0 0 0 0
12 Pengadilan Negeri Mojokerto
Mojokerto - - - - -
13 Pengadilan Negeri
Probolinggo
Probolinggo 0 0 0 0 0
14 Pengadilan Negeri Lumajang
Lumajang 0 0 0 0 0
15 Pengadilan Negeri
Sumenep
Sumenep - - - - -
16 Pengadilan Negeri Banyuwangi
Banyuwangi 3 3 0 0 0
17 Pengadilan Negeri
Ponorogo
Ponorogo 1 0 1 0 0
18 Pengadilan Negeri Situbondo
Situbondo - - - - -
19 Pengadilan Negeri
Jombang
Jombang 7 0 0 0 7
20 Pengadilan Negeri Kraksaan
Probolinggo 1 0 0 0 1
21 Pengadilan Negeri
Bangil
Pasuruan 0 0 0 0 0
22 Pengadilan Negeri Kabupaten Kediri
Kediri 0 0 0 0 0
23 Pengadilan Negeri
Pacitan
Pacitan 0 0 0 0 0
24 Pengadilan Negeri Ngawi
Ngawi 0 0 0 0 0
25 Pengadilan Negeri
Magetan
Magetan 0 0 0 0 0
26 Pengadilan Negeri Tulung Agung
Tulung Agung 1 0 0 0 1
27 Pengadilan Negeri
Nganjuk
Nganjuk - - - - -
28 Pengadilan Negeri Trenggalek
Trenggalek 1 1 0 0 0
29 Pengadilan Negeri
Tuban
Tuban 0 0 0 0 0
30 Pengadilan Negeri Lamongan
Lamongan 0 0 0 0 0
31 Pengadilan Negeri
Gresik
Gresik 1 1 0 0 0
281
32 Pengadilan Negeri
Bangkalan
Bangkalan 1 0 0 0 1
33 Pengadilan Negeri
Sampang
Sampang 0 0 0 0 0
34 Pengadilan Negeri Madiun
Madiun 1 1 0 0 0
35 Pengadilan Negeri
Kepanjen
Malang 0 0 0 0 0
TOTAL 103 74 1 1 27
Total Trafficking Case in Java Island: 297
Sex Trafficking: 155; Domestic Labour: 6; Other forms: 31; No information: 105
III. KALIMANTAN ISLAND
No Province District Court City Number
of Cases
Sex
Trafficking
Domestic
Labour
Other
Forms
No
Information
1 South
Kalimantan
Pengadilan Negeri
Banjarmasin
Banjarmasin 3 0 0 0 3
2 Pengadilan Negeri Kandangan
Kandangan 0 0 0 0 0
3 Pengadilan Negeri
Amuntai
Amuntai 0 0 0 0 0
4 Pengadilan Negeri Barabai
Barabai 0 0 0 0 0
5 Pengadilan Negeri
Kotabaru
Kotabaru 0 0 0 0 0
6 Pengadilan Negeri Marabahan
Marabahan 0 0 0 0 0
7 Pengadilan Negeri
Martapura
Martapura 0 0 0 0 0
8 Pengadilan Negeri
Pelaihari
Pelaihari 0 0 0 0 0
9 Pengadilan Negeri
Rantau
Rantau 0 0 0 0 0
10 Pengadilan Negeri
Tanjung
Tanjung 0 0 0 0 0
11 Pengadilan Negeri
Banjarbaru
Banjarbaru 0 0 0 0 0
12 Pengadilan Negeri
Batulicin
Tanah Bumbu 2 0 0 0 2
TOTAL 5 0 0 0 5
No Province District Court City Number
of Cases
Sex
Trafficking
Domestic
Labour
Other
Forms
No
Information
1 Central
Kalimantan
Pengadilan Negeri
Palangkaraya
Palangkaraya 6 6 0 0 0
2 Pengadilan Negeri Sampit
Kotawaringin Timur
0 0 0 0 0
3 Pengadilan Negeri
Pangkalan Bun
Pangkalan Bun 0 0 0 0 0
4 Pengadilan Negeri Kuala Kapuas
Kuala Kapuas 0 0 0 0 0
5 Pengadilan Negeri
Muara Teweh
Barito Utara 0 0 0 0 0
6 Pengadilan Negeri
Buntok
Buntok 0 0 0 0 0
7 Pengadilan Negeri
Tamiang Layang
Tamiang
Layang
0 0 0 0 0
8 Pengadilan Negeri
Kasongan
Katingan 0 0 0 0 0
TOTAL 6 6 0 0 0
No Province District Court City Number
of Cases
Sex
Trafficking
Domestic
Labour
Other
Forms
No
Information
1 West
Kalimantan
Pengadilan Negeri
Pontianak
Pontianak 9 6 0 0 3
2 Pengadilan Negeri Singkawang
Singkawang 2 1 0 0 1
3 Pengadilan Negeri
Mempawah
Pontianak 2 2 0 0 2
282
4 Pengadilan Negeri
Sambas
Sambas 5 5 0 0 5
5 Pengadilan Negeri
Sintang
Sintang 1 1 1 0 0
6 Pengadilan Negeri Ketapang
Ketapang 0 0 0 0 0
7 Pengadilan Negeri
Bengkayang
Bengkayang 1 0 0 1 0
8 Pengadilan Negeri Sanggau
Sanggau 14 0 0 4 10
9 Pengadilan Negeri
Putussibau
Kapuas Hulu - - - - -
10 Pengadilan Negeri Ngabang
Landak 0 0 0 0 0
TOTAL 41 15 0 5 21
No Province District Court City Number
of Cases
Sex
Trafficking
Domestic
Labour
Other
Forms
No
Information
1 East Kalimantan
/ North
Kalimantan
Pengadilan Negeri
Bontang
Bontang 1 1 0 0 0
2 Pengadilan Negeri Balikpapan
Balikpapan 1 0 0 0 1
3 Pengadilan Negeri
Malinau
Malinau 0 0 0 0 0
4 Pengadilan Negeri Nunukan
Nunukan 2 2 0 0 0
5 Pengadilan Negeri
Samarinda
Samarinda 3 3 0 0 0
6 Pengadilan Negeri Sangatta
Kutai Timur 0 0 0 0 0
7 Pengadilan Negeri
Tanah Grogot
Paser 0 0 0 0 0
8 Pengadilan Negeri Tanjung Selor
Bulungan 1 1 0 0 0
9 Pengadilan Negeri
Tarakan
Tarakan 2 2 0 0 0
10 Pengadilan Negeri Tenggarong
Kutai Kartanegara
1 1 0 0 0
11 Pengadilan Negeri
Kutai Barat
Kutai Barat 1 0 0 0 1
12 Pengadilan Negeri Tanjung Redep
Berau 0 0 0 0 0
TOTAL 12 10 0 0 2
Total Trafficking Case in Kalimantan Island: 64
Sex Trafficking: 31; Domestic Labour: 0; Other forms: 5; No information: 28
IV. SULAWESI ISLAND
N
o
Province District Court City Number
of Cases
Sex
Traffickin
g
Domestic
Labour
Other
Forms
No
Information
1 South Sulawesi Pengadilan Negeri Makassar
Makassar 6 4 0 0 2
2 Pengadilan Negeri
Parepare
Pare Pare 0 0 0 0 0
3 Pengadilan Negeri Sungguminasa
Gowa 0 0 0 0 0
4 Pengadilan Negeri
Maros
Maros 1 0 1 0 0
5 Pengadilan Negeri
Bantaeng
Bantaeng 0 0 0 0 0
6 Pengadilan Negeri
Watampone
Watampone 0 0 0 0 0
7 Pengadilan Negeri
Palopo
Palopo 0 0 0 0 0
8 Pengadilan Negeri
Watansoppeng
Watansoppen
g
0 0 0 0 0
9 Pengadilan Negeri
Sengkang
Sengkang 0 0 0 0 0
283
10 Pengadilan Negeri
Makale
Makale 0 0 0 0 0
11 Pengadilan Negeri
Bulukumba
Bulukumba 0 0 0 0 0
12 Pengadilan Negeri Enrengkang
Enrengkang 0 0 0 0 0
13 Pengadilan Negeri
Pangkajene
Pangkajene 0 0 0 0 0
14 Pengadilan Negeri Rappang
Sindereng Rappang
3 3 0 0 0
15 Pengadilan Negeri
Takalar
Takalar 0 0 0 0 0
16 Pengadilan Negeri Selayar
Selayar 0 0 0 0 0
17 Pengadilan Negeri
Jeneponto
Jeneponto 0 0 0 0 0
18 Pengadilan Negeri Sinjai
Sinjai Utara 0 0 0 0 0
19 Pengadilan Negeri
Barru
Barru 0 0 0 0 0
20 Pengadilan Negeri Pinrang
Pinrang 0 0 0 0 0
21 Pengadilan Negeri
Massamba
Massamba 0 0 0 0 0
22 Pengadilan Negeri Malili
Luwu Timur 0 0 0 0 0
TOTAL 10 7 1 0 2
No Province District Court City Number
of Cases
Sex
Trafficking
Domestic
Labour
Other
Forms
No
Information
1 West Sulawesi Pengadilan Negeri Polewali
Polewali 0 0 0 0 0
2 Pengadilan Negeri
Mamuju
Mamuju 0 0 0 0 0
3 Pengadilan Negeri Majene
Majene 0 0 0 0 0
4 Pengadilan Negeri
Pasangkayu
North
Mamuju
- - - - -
TOTAL 0 0 0 0 0
No Province District Court City Number
of Cases
Sex
Traffickin
g
Domestic
Labour
Other
Forms
No
Information
1 Central Sulawesi
Pengadilan Negeri Palu
Palu 0 0 0 0 0
2 Pengadilan Negeri
Poso
Poso 0 0 0 0 0
3 Pengadilan Negeri Luwuk
Banggai 0 0 0 0 0
4 Pengadilan Negeri
Donggala
Donggala 0 0 0 0 0
5 Pengadilan Negeri
Toli-Toli
Toli Toli - - - - -
6 Pengadilan Negeri
Parigi
Parigi
Moutong
0 0 0 0 0
7 Pengadilan Negeri
Buol
Buol 0 0 0 0 0
TOTAL 0 0 0 0 0
No Province District Court City Number
of Cases
Sex
Trafficking
Domestic
Labour
Other
Forms
No
Information
1 Southeast Sulawesi
Pengadilan Negeri Kendari
Kendari 0 0 0 0 0
2 Pengadilan Negeri
Bau Bau
Bau Bau 1 0 0 0 1
3 Pengadilan Negeri
Kolaka
Kolaka 0 0 0 0 0
4 Pengadilan Negeri
Raha
Raha 0 0 0 0 0
5 Pengadilan Negeri
Unaaha
Konawe 0 0 0 0 0
284
Total Trafficking Case in Sulawesi Island: 30
Sex Trafficking: 16; Domestic Labour: 1; Other forms: 1; No information: 12
V. LESSER SUNDA ISLANDS
6 Pengadilan Negeri
Andoolo
Konawe
Selatan
0 0 0 0 0
7 Pengadilan Negeri
Pasarwajo
Buton 0 0 0 0 0
TOTAL 1 0 0 0 1
No Province District Court City Number
of Cases
Sex
Traffickin
g
Domestic
Labour
Other
Forms
No
Informatio
n
1 North Sulawesi Pengadilan Negeri
Manado
Manado 8 4 0 0 4
2 Pengadilan Negeri Tondano
Tondano 2 1 0 0 1
3 Pengadilan Negeri
Tahuna
Tahuna 0 0 0 0 0
4 Pengadilan Negeri
Kotomabagu
Kotamabagu 0 0 0 0 0
5 Pengadilan Negeri
Bitung
Bitung 5 2 0 0 3
6 Pengadilan Negeri
Airmadidi
Minahasa
Utara
- - - - -
7 Pengadilan Negeri
Amurang
Sulawesi
Utara
2 2 0 0 0
TOTAL 17 9 0 0 8
No Province District Court City Number
of Cases
Sex
Trafficking
Domestic
Labour
Other
Forms
No Information
1 Gorontalo Pengadilan Negeri
Gorontalo
Gorontalo 1 0 0 0 1
2 Pengadilan Negeri
Limboto
Limboto 0 0 0 0 0
3 Pengadilan Negeri
Tilamuta
Bualemo 1 0 0 1 0
4 Pengadilan Negeri
Marisa
Pohuwato 0 0 0 0 0
TOTAL 2 0 0 1 1
No Province District Court City Number
of Cases
Sex
Trafficking
Domestic
Labour
Other
Forms
No Information
1 West Nusa
Tenggara
Pengadilan
Negeri Mataram
Mataram 4 2 2 0 0
2 Pengadilan Negeri Sumbawa
Besar
Sumbawa Besar
1 1 0 0 0
3 Pengadilan Negeri Raba
Bima
Raba Bima 0 0 0 0 0
4 Pengadilan Negeri Selong
Selong 0 0 0 0 0
5 Pengadilan
Negeri Dompu
Dompu 2 0 0 2 0
6 Pengadilan Negeri Praya
Praya 6 0 6 0 0
TOTAL 13 3 8 2 0
No Province District Court City Number
of Cases
Sex
Trafficking
Domestic
Labour
Other
Forms
No Information
1 Bali Pengadilan Negeri Denpasar
Denpasar 5 0 0 5 0
2 Pengadilan
Negeri Singaraja
Singaraja 0 0 0 0 0
3 Pengadilan Negeri
Semarapura
Semarapura 0 0 0 0 0
285
Total Trafficking Case in Lesser Sunda Islands: 118
Sex Trafficking: 3; Domestic Labour: 60; Other forms: 21; No information: 34
VI. MALUKU ISLANDS
4 Pengadilan
Negeri Negara
Negara 0 0 0 0 0
5 Pengadilan
Negeri
Amiapura
Amiapura 0 0 0 0 0
6 Pengadilan
Negeri Tabanan
Tabanan 0 0 0 0 0
7 Pengadilan
Negeri Gianyar
Gianyar 0 0 0 0 0
8 Pengadilan
Negeri Bangli
Bangli 0 0 0 0 0
TOTAL 5 0 0 5 0
No Province District Court City Number
of Cases
Sex
Trafficking
Domestic
Labour
Other
Forms
No
Information
1 East Nusa
Tenggara
Pengadilan
Negeri Kupang
Kupang 28 0 22 2 4
2 Pengadilan
Negeri Ende
Ende 2 0 2 0 0
3 Pengadilan
Negeri Larantuka
East Flores 0 0 0 0 0
4 Pengadilan
Negeri Soe
Soe 10 0 7 3 0
5 Pengadilan
Negeri
Waingapu
Waingapu 2 0 2 0 0
6 Pengadilan Negeri Maumere
Maumere 3 0 0 1 2
7 Pengadilan
Negeri Ruteng
Manggarai 10 0 7 3 0
8 Pengadilan Negeri
Kefamenanu
Timor tengah Utara
9 0 6 3 0
9 Pengadilan Negeri
Waikabubak
West Sumba 6 0 6 0 0
10 Pengadilan
Negeri Atambua
Belu 2 0 0 2 0
11 Pengadilan
Negeri Bajawa
Ngada 0 0 0 0 0
12 Pengadilan Negeri Kalabahi
Alor 0 0 0 0 0
13 Pengadilan
Negeri Lembata
Lembata 0 0 0 0 0
14 Pengadilan Negeri Rote
Ndao
Rote Ndao 0 0 0 0 0
15 Pengadilan
Negeri Labuan Bajo
Manggarai
Barat
0 0 0 0 0
16 Pengadilan
Negeri Oelamasi
Kupang 28 0 0 0 28
TOTAL 100 0 52 14 34
N
o
Province District Court City Number of
Cases
Sex
Traffickin
g
Domestic
Labour
Other
Forms
No
Information
1 Maluku Pengadilan
Negeri Ambon
Ambon 3 0 0 1 2
2 Pengadilan
Negeri Masohi
Maluku Tengah 0 0 0 0 0
3 Pengadilan
Negeri Tual
Maluku Tenggara 0 0 0 0 0
4 Pengadilan
Negeri
Saumlaki
Maluku Tenggara
Barat
0 0 0 0 0
286
Total Trafficking Case in Maluku Islands: 4
Sex Trafficking: 1; Domestic Labour:0; Other forms:1; No information: 2
VI. PAPUA ISLAND
Total Trafficking Case in Papua Island: 3
Sex Trafficking: 1; Domestic Labour:0; Other forms:2; No information: 0
TOTAL 3 0 0 1 2
No Province District Court City Number
of Cases
Sex
Trafficking
Domestic
Labour
Other
Forms
No
Information
1 Maluku
Utara
Pengadilan
Negeri Soasio
Tidoro 0 0 0 0 0
2 Pengadilan
Negeri Ternate
Ternate 0 0 0 0 0
3 Pengadilan
Negeri Labuha
South Halmahera 1 1 0 0 0
4 Pengadilan
Negeri Tobelo
North Halmahera 0 0 0 0 0
TOTAL 1 1 0 0 0
No Province District Court City Number
of Cases
Sex
Trafficking
Domestic
Labour
Other
Forms
No
Information
1 Papua Pengadilan Negeri Nabire
Nabire 0 0 0 0 0
2 Pengadilan
Negeri Jayapura
Jayapura 1 1 0 0 0
3 Pengadilan Negeri Merauke
Merauke 0 0 0 0 0
4 Pengadilan
Negeri Biak
Biak 2 0 0 2 0
5 Pengadilan Negeri Wamena
Jayawijaya 0 0 0 0 0
6 Pengadilan
Negeri Serui
Serui 0 0 0 0 0
7 Pengadilan Negeri Timika
Mimika 0 0 0 0 0
TOTAL 3 1 0 2 0
No Province District Court City Number
of Cases
Sex
Trafficking
Domestic
Labour
Other
Forms
No
Information
1 West Papua
Pengadilan Negeri Fakfak
Fakfak 0 0 0 0 0
2 Pengadilan
Negeri Manokwari
Manokwari - - - - -
3 Pengadilan
Negeri Sorong
Sorong 0 0 0 0 0
TOTAL 0 0 0 0 0
287
Appendix 2: Participant information guide / consent for verbal
communication (English)
288
289
290
Appendix 3: Participant information guide / consent for verbal
communication (Bahasa Indonesia)
291
292
293
Appendix 4: List and details of interview participants
1. Interview with Lawyers
No Name Institution and location Date
1 Confidential Private law office
Bandung, West Java
18 July 2019
2 Confidential Legal Aid Centre (POSBAKUM)
Garut, West Java
24 July 2019
3 Confidential Legal Aid Centre (POSBAKUM)
Bekasi, West Java
29 July 2019
4 Confidential Legal Aid Centre (POSBAKUM)
East Jakarta, DKI Jakarta
2 August 2019
5 Confidential Lawyer of Indonesia National
Police headquarter
Central Jakarta, DKI Jakarta
5 August 2019
6 Confidential (2
lawyers)
Legal Aid Institution
Central Jakarta, DKI Jakarta
13 August 2019
7 Confidential Legal Aid Centre (POSBAKUM)
Central Jakarta, DKI Jakarta
16 August 2019
8 Confidential (2
lawyers)
Legal Aid Institution
Subang, West Java
22 August 2019
9 Confidential (2
lawyers)
Legal Aid Centre (POSBAKUM)
Ciamis, West Java.
29 August 2019
10 Confidential (2
lawyers)
Legal Aid Institution
Tulung Agung, East Java.
2 September 2019
11 Confidential Legal Aid Centre of Indonesian
Advocate (POSBAKUMADIN)
27 September 2019
2. Interview with NGOs
No Institution Date Address Type of trafficking
294
1 Parinama Astha 9 July 2019 Jl Penjernihan II no 7,
Central Jakarta, DKI
Jakarta
Domestic labour &
sex industry
2 Migrant Care 10 July 2019 Jl Jatipadang 1 no 5A,
South Jakarta, DKI Jakarta
Domestic labour
3 Serikat Buruh
Migrant Indonesia
(SBMI)
11 July 2019 Jl Pengadegan Utara I no
1A, South Jakarta, DKI
Jakarta
Domestic labour
4 ECPAT Indonesia 11 July 2019 Jl Angsana I no 16, South
Jakarta DKI Jakarta
Domestic labour &
sex industry
5 Yayasan Bahtera 24 July 2011 Komplek Batu Indah VII
no 12, Bandung, West Java
Sex industry
6 Yayasan Kusuma
Bongas
25 July 2011 Desa Bongas, Blok Pentil
RT 03 / RW 05,
Indramayu, West Java
Sex industry
7 Yayasan Fahmina 26 July 2011 Jl Swasembada no 15,
Karyamulya, Cirebon,
West Java
Domestic Labour
8 Women Crisis
Center (WCC)
Mawar Balqis
26 July 2011 Jl Serayu no 11, Desa
Junjang, Arjawinangun,
Cirebon, West Java
Domestic Labour &
sex industry
9 Australia –
Indonesia
Partnership of
Justice (AIPJ)
2 August
2019
IFC Building, Tower 2, Jl
Jend Sudirman, South
Jakarta, DKI Jakarta
Domestic Labour &
sex industry
10 International
Organisation for
Migration (IOM)
Indonesia
3 August
2019
Jl Prof Dr Satrio no 45
Setiabudi, South Jakarta,
DKI Jakarta
Domestic Labour &
sex industry
11 Forum Wanita
(FORWA)
Sukabumi
19 August
2019
SDIT Nabawi Caringin,
Sukabumi, West Java
Domestic Labour &
sex industry
295
12 Lembaga
Pengembanga
Perempuan Desa
(LP2D)
3 September
2019
Blitar, East Java Domestic Labour
13 Migrant Care
Jember
6 September
2019
Kebonsari, Jember, East
Java
Domestic Labour
14 Migrant Aid 9 September
2019
Jalan Udang Windu gg 1 no
44, Jember, East Java.
Domestic Labour
15 Yayasan Kasih
yang Utama
19 September
2019
Manado, North Sulawesi Sex industry
16 Rumah Faye 25 September
2019
Sopo Del Office Tower and
Lifestyle, Tower A Lt.9,
Setiabudi, South Jakarta,
DKI Jakarta
Sex industry
296
Appendix 5: Interview Questions
A. QUESTIONS FOR LAWYERS
1. How many times you have dealt with human trafficking cases?
(berapa kali anda menangani kasus TPPO?)
2. Describe to me the work that you have done in assisting individuals convicted of trafficking?
(Bisakah anda menjelaskan pekerjaan yang anda lakukan dalam membantu seseorang
yang dipidana kasus TPPO?)
2. Can you tell me the story about them? Such as why they traffic and their background?
(Bisakah anda menceritakan pada saya mengapa mereka terlibat TPPO, serta latar belakang
kehidupan mereka?)
3. What would likely that make them end up / turning point to commit human trafficking,
according to your understanding?
(Menurut pemahaman anda, apakah yang membuat mereka terlibat atau melakukan kasus
TPPO?)
4. Can you describe if they involve in a big group, small group, or different category?
(Apakah anda dapat menggambarkan jika mereka tergabung di kelompok kecil, besar, atau
kategori lain?)
5. How does your perception of human traffickers differ from what is generally portrayed in the
media? Is there any misconceptions that public said about human traffickers?
(Bagaimana persepsi anda mengenai pelaku TPPO yang secara umum digambarkan oleh
media? apakah ada kesamaan / kesalahpahaman yang masyarakat katakan tentang pelaku
TPPO?)
6. On what grounds were your clients charged/convicted of a human trafficking offense,
according to your understanding?
(Atas alasan apa client anda dijerat dengan hukuman kasus TPPO?)
7. Do you think that they were aware that what they did is “human trafficking”, and/or that it
constituted “human trafficking” act?
(Apakah client anda menyadari bahwa apa yang mereka lakukan tergolong bentuk dari
TPPO? atau bisa dijerat oleh pasal TPPO?)
8. Do they work with other people or work alone?
(Jika mereka melakukan TPPO, mereka melakukan sendiri atau dengan orang lain?)
9. Do you think that those other people influenced the actions of your client? Can you explain
more details?
(Apakah orang orang tersebut mempengaruhi aksi dari client anda? Tolong jelaskan lebih
lanjut)
297
10. How do you frame the client? Or do you have information that would be better to understand
perpetrators that are not mentioned in the court document?
(Bagaimana anda menggambarkan client anda? Atau apakah anda memiliki informasi yang
lebih dapat dimengerti yang mungkin tidak bisa didapatkan dari document putusan
pengadilan?)
11. Do you have any thoughts as to how we should understand individuals involved /
convicted in trafficking?
(Apakah anda punya pendapat bagaimana kita harus mengerti seseorang yang telah terlibat
atau dipidana kasus TPPO?)
12. If the government ask you to support the policy on human trafficking, what measures that can
be suggested?
(Jika pemerintah meminta anda mensupport kebijakan pencegahan TPPO, apakah yang anda
akan sarankan?)
13. If you were asked to make recommendations for actions to deter people from undertaking
human trafficking, what would you say?
(Jika anda diminta untuk merekomendasikan kebijakan agar seseorang tidak terlibat TPPI,
apa yang akan anda sarankan?)
B. QUESTIONS FOR NGOS
1. How did you end up in this kind of work?
(Apa yang membuat anda melakukan pekerjaan yang bergerak di bidang human trafficking?)
2. What program and projects does your NGO undertake with respect to human
trafficking/traffickers?
(Program atau project apa yang organisasi anda lakukan dalam bidang human trafficking?)
3. When you are dealing with victims of trafficking, who are the majority of people who put
them into a trafficking situation? How would you describe them?
(Dapatkah anda menceritakannya pada saya, seperti mengapa mereka teribat dalam
trafficking dan latar belakang mereka?)
4. Do you think that those who are caught human trafficking realise what they did? Or aware
that it is constitute human trafficking?
(Apakah menurut anda mereka yang melakukan trafficking menyadari apa yang mereka
lakukan, atau mengerti bahwa itu adalah bentuk dari human trafficking?)
5. What do you think their motivations in fact were?
(Apakah motivasi mereka sebenernya menurut anda?)
6. What would likely that make them end up / turning point to commit human trafficking,
according to your understanding?
298
(Apa yang membuat mereka berakhir / turning point melakukan human trafficking menurut
yang anda tau?)
7. Do they work with other people or work alone? Do you think that those other people
influenced their actions?
(Apakah mereka bekerja dengan orang lain atau sendiri? Apakah menurut anda orang lain
tersebut mempengaruhi aksi mereka?)
8. Can you describe if they involve in a big group, small group, or different category?
(Dapatkah anda menggambarkan apa mereka terlibat di kelompok besar, kelompok kecil
atau kategori yang berbeda?)
9. Do you have any thoughts as to how we should understand individuals involved in
trafficking? Is there a misconception that public said about human traffickers?
(Apakah anda mempunyai pendapat bagaimana kita harus mengerti orang orang yang
terlibat trafficking? Apakah ada kesalahpahaman dengan apa yang masyarakat bilang
mengenai pelaku human trafficking?)
10. Looking at the characteristics of people committing human trafficking in this country, what
do you think are the best methods to deter trafficking?
(Melihat karakteristik pelaku perdagangan orang di Indonesia, menurut anda apa metode
yang terbaik untuk mencegah trafficking?)
11. What programs or strategies does the Indonesian government have for deterring people from
participating as perpetrators of human trafficking?
(Apakah pemerintah memiliki program untuk mencegah orang berpartisipasi sebagai pelaku
human trafficking?)
12. If the government ask you to support the policy on human trafficking, what measures that can
be suggested?
(Jika pemerintah meminta anda untuk mendukung kebijakan human trafficking lebih lanjut,
strategi apa yang akan anda sarankan?)
13. Do you think any other resource person that I could ask that can discuss about this issue?
(Apakah anda mengetahui jika ada orang atau organisasi lain yang bisa saya hubungi untuk
berdiskusi masalah ini?)
299
Appendix 6: RMIT ethics approval
300
Related Documents
