In the field, Nukila found many patterns used to “trap” human trafficking victims. The first is the circle of victims. The perpetrator, who is already a victim, recruits other people to become victims to work illegally. The second is by recruiting victims as narcotics mules. For example, Merri Utami is a migrant worker who was a human trafficking victim and was “sacrificed” to smuggle 1.1 kg of drugs. In another case, in 2011, Tuti Herawati was sentenced to death in China. Jumaidah binti MK Rujungan Abu was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment by the Sleman District Court for carrying methamphetamine.
The third is fake recruiters. Indonesian workers in Myanmar and the Philippines were reportedly involved in fraud in cyberspace (online scams) in 2023.
The fourth is false promises of internship work abroad. For example, polytechnic students in West Sumatra, who were initially promised an internship in Japan in 2023, were employed as laborers and worked 14 hours a day. Similar cases also occurred among vocational students in Central Java, East Java and East Nusa Tenggara in 2018.
The fifth is the passing system: illegal migrant workers would go to Singapore and Malaysia for 25-26 days, handled by brokers using passports without complete documents. This incident occurred in the Riau islands.
The sixth involves illegal migrant workers from East Java and West Nusa Tenggara whose departures were arranged by brokers. They departed through unofficial ports without documents.
“An example of a tragic case is the Adelina Lisao case from East Nusa Tenggara. She was an illegal migrant worker who died at her employer’s house in Malaysia with wounds all over her body due to untreated infection. She was never taken to the doctor. But in the end, the Malaysian court did not decide in favor of Adelina, and no party was held responsible for her death,” said Nukila.
Read: Nukila Evanty: IKN, Development Projects & Issues on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
According to Nukila, law enforcement, especially the Police, has worked with the Government to prevent, handle and even eradicate trafficking in persons and narcotics trafficking that target migrant workers.
However, Nukila hoped that the strengthening of the Human Trafficking Law could refer to the Palermo Protocols. Furthermore, the implementation of the National Action Plan for Prevention and Handling of Human Trafficking (Perpres 19/2023) and reinforcement of Human Trafficking Task Force units (Perpres 22/2021) must be conducted with the Civil Society Organization. The Organization must be actively involved, as mandated by the law. “The Civil Society Organization should be involved in the task force’s work at the district, city, provincial and national levels. Its work is fundamental in terms of campaigning, prevention, assisting in the identification, advocacy (litigation and non-litigation and strengthening training for women or village community groups), training to strengthen understanding of law enforcement officials and fostering support systems (psychological assistance or trauma healing). (des)