Protection Against Human Trafficking at Lowest Point
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JAKARTA, KOMPAS — The crime of trafficking in human beings continues to victimize Indonesian citizens. Scores of women in Kalimantan, West Java, Central Java, Banten and Jakarta have allegedly become victims of human trafficking over the last few years through marriage contracts to men in China, illustrating the state’s poor efforts in protecting women and enforcing the law.
In addition to physical and psychological abuse, the victims of human trafficking were also allegedly subjected to sexual abuse. Several victims were able to flee their captors and return to Indonesia after pleading for help from the Indonesian Migrant Workers Association (SBMI), Indonesian consulates and the Indonesian embassy in Beijing.
“We have received reports of human trafficking through mail-order bride schemes, but law enforcement [agencies] are yet to take these cases seriously,” SBMI chairman Hariyanto said on Wednesday (10/7/2019) in Jakarta, citing a report of alleged human trafficking in West Java.
The West Java Police had determined that the case was human trafficking, but the National Police later deemed that the case did not fulfill the criteria for human trafficking. As a result, the perpetrators remained free to dispatch “matchmakers” to approach women in the province, offering them better futures through marrying men in China.
The portrait of Indonesia’s poor law enforcement in human trafficking and protection for women has appeared in the US Trafficking in Persons Report 2017 (“A Kaleidoscope of Protection for Indonesian Citizens”, Foreign Ministry, 2017).
Disadvantaged families
The “matchmakers” frequently targeted women who come from disadvantaged families, such as farming families. Others come from broken homes, such as single-parent households. The women are lured by the “matchmakers’” promises of a better future, especially if they know of other women in the area whose situation improved after they married foreigners.
Mardiana Maya Satrini, who is on the task force of the Singkawang MAHARANI Integrated Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection Service Center, said that most victims of human trafficking came from disadvantaged families.
M., 24, from Pontianak, is one such victim. She is a human trafficking survivor who fled her contract marriage and returned to Indonesia in late June, who suffered abuse at the hands of her husband and his family.
M. comes from a poor family. She spends her days helping her aunt at the family’s rice farm. Her mother does not work, while her younger siblings earn paltry wages from coffee shops and furniture stores. Hoping to improve her family’s finances, she took the “mail-order bride” scheme for marrying a man in
China. The “matchmaker” promised that she would be able to send money to her parents in Pontianak, and that she could visit Indonesia whenever she wanted.
“They said that, after I stayed in Shijiazhuang for three months, a formal wedding would be held. But it never happened,” said M.
Upon arriving in China, she was forced to cater to her husband’s sexual needs, even though she was menstruating. Her in-laws did not accept her “disobedience’, so they stripped her and forced her to spend the night outside during winter. Her days were filled with misery, as she was forced to make handcrafts while her in-laws took her wages.
F., 31, from Singkawang, West Kalimantan, is also a survivor of human trafficking. She was married to a Taiwanese man. Her family grows crops on leased land and lives in a modest house in the suburbs of Singkawang. They make a minimal income from selling vegetables and fruits, not enough to support the family’s daily needs.
She departed for Taiwan in 2005 in the hope of improving her family’s finances. However, her Taiwanese husband did not treat her properly as his wife.
The SBMI has been combating se the“mail-order bride” trafficking cases since 2016, and has helped 23 Indonesian women. Of these women, 20 are from West Kalimantan regencies like Pontianak, Sintang, Sambas, Sanggau, Mempawah and Kubu Raya, and the remaining three are from West Java, Banten and Jakarta.
The women generally have Chinese features and are 20-23 years old. Of the 20 women who reported their cases to the SBMI, 10 have successfully returned to Indonesia while six others are still in China, including two who are staying at the Indonesian embassy in Beijing.
Several victims only had tourist visas and were not formally married, in either Indonesia or China.
The mail-order bride trafficking ring is well organized and operates “matchmakers” in both countries: Those in China find Chinese men looking for a “bride”, while those in Indonesia are divided into three regional groups.
Mahadir, the head of SBMI’s Mempawah office, said the West Kalimantan group was tasked with recruiting victims, setting up engagements and arranging the necessary documentation. The Jakarta group arranged the victims’ visas and departures to China.
“This is big business, as the groom’s family pays between Rp 400 million (US$28,308.55) and Rp 500 million, although the victims only receive Rp 15 million to Rp 25 million. The rest covers the costs of recruitment, engagement and document processing. They have middlemen in Jakarta to arrange visas and other jobs,” said SBMI secretary-general Bobby.
Women’s rights deputy Vennetia R. Danes of the Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection Ministry said that human trafficking was becoming increasingly sophisticated and difficult to eradicate.
Thaufik Zulbahary of the National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan) said that most of the public was unaware of the “mail-order bride” trafficking scheme.
“If marriage [to foreign men] is the modus operandi of this human trafficking network, prevention measures must be taken and the law enforced to [deter the perpetrators],” he said. (SON/ESA)