Jakarta, IO – The Parliamentary Expertise Agency (BK) expresses its absolute commitment to suppressing human trafficking, through Law 21/2007 on Human Trafficking Crimes (UU TPPO). Not only will BK focus on the repressive aspects: the Expertise Agency will also focus on pushing the Indonesian Government to strengthen preventive measures, as human trafficking cases in Indonesia are very complex.
Head of the Parliamentary Expertise Agency Inosentius “Sensi” Samsul laid out this message, after opening a Focus Group Discussion (FGD) themed “The Problems in Implementing Law 21/2007 on Human Trafficking Crimes to Protect Society from Human Trafficking” at Nusantara II Building, Senayan, Jakarta, Monday (Jul 31).
“Our country is in the second tier (of human trafficking cases). The Parliamentary Expertise Agency responds by formulating recommendations or ideas interactively, particularly in the aspect of prevention, which is directly related to the House of Representatives’ monitoring function,” said Sensi.
He is convinced that strengthening preventive measures on human trafficking cases will unravel the complexity of human trafficking in Indonesia and work to resolve it. One of the main causes of human trafficking is poverty. “Human trafficking is a serious crime. The problems are complicated. We need to solve the problems upstream; only then we can (solve them) downstream,” he said.
Sensi further explained that the Parliamentary Expertise Agency has conducted a public discussion to evaluate Indonesian Government policies in implementing the Human Trafficking Law. “Eventually, this crime must be thoroughly socialized, considering that it impacts vulnerable groups that the country should in fact be protecting,” he said.
The Independent Observer had the opportunity to interview Nukila Evanty, Resilience Fellow and Chairwoman of the Civil Society Coalition against Trafficking in Persons. Nukila stated that human trafficking has grown into a global phenomenon, without regard to age, ethnicity, gender or social status. It traverses national boundaries. Therefore, it is impossible for any agency or country to singlehandedly resolve this issue. All countries must work together.
The global community has put together several international conventions and protocols. The United Nations (UN) has the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC), which is fitted with three supplementary protocols, known as the Palermo Protocols, to prevent, suppress and punish trafficking in persons, especially women and children (also referred to as the Trafficking Protocols). Meanwhile, other protocols are related to the Protocols against the Smuggling of Migrants and the Protocols against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms. At the Southeast Asian level, there is the Convention against Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children (ACTIP).