1,800 Incidents, Cases Of Human Trafficking In Indonesia Rise Drastically

TANGERANG - Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia (Kemlu RI) said that cases of criminal acts of trafficking in persons (TPPO) against Indonesian migrant workers (PMI) experienced a drastic increase in the period 2020-2023.

Young Diplomat Direktorat Perlindungan WNI Kemlu RI, Rina Komaria mengatakan jika berdasarkan data periode 2020-2023 itu tercatat sebanyak 1,800 kasus TIP atau naik tujuh kali lipat.

"From 2020 to 2023, 1,800 people have been victims of non-procedural PMI shipments to various countries," he said, quoted by ANTARA, Friday, May 5.

According to him, the number of PMI TIP cases sent abroad illegally has increased seven times, starting from approximately 140 cases in 2020 to 2021, then skyrocketing to 700 cases in 2021 until 2022 and finally reaching 1,800 people in 2023.

He explained that of this number, the majority of around 1,000 illegal PMIs were sent abroad, namely to Cambodia.

"And there, they (PMI) are employed by companies that have gambling sites via online scammers that are lured by job offers abroad, even on average forced to work," he said.

He also hopes that the police or other related parties can work together to immediately follow up on the case by disclosing or arresting the TIP syndicates.

"So that in this case, from our side, we can be stronger in efforts to protect Indonesian citizens abroad," he said.

In addition, he said, other relevant agencies can also educate the public not to be complacent about fraud with job vacancies that are widely circulated on social media by promising to work as operators of online games, customer services, marketing, and others to conflicting countries.

"So we are very careful in applying for jobs through unclear job vacancies, first check the validity. Because in our records, Indonesian citizens in this sector are increasingly spreading, which was previously only recorded in the Philippines and Cambodia, now it is in Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, and even the UAE (Union of the Arab Emirates)," he said.