43 Indonesian Citizens Allegedly Trafficking Victims Returned From The Middle East

18 TKIs who were sent home by the Indonesian Embassy in Damascus (Source: Indonesian Embassy in Damascus)

JAKARTA - As many as 43 Indonesian citizens (WNI) who are suspected of being victims of the criminal act of trafficking in persons (TPPO) have been sent back from the Middle East. In that case the Indonesian Embassy in Damascus in Syria repatriated 40 Indonesian migrant workers (PMI) on 27 November. Meanwhile, the Indonesian Embassy in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates repatriated three PMIs on November 30.

"The sending of domestic workers to the Middle East is still rampant when the moratorium policy shows that they are vulnerable to becoming victims of TIP," said Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi during a briefing to the media, Thursday, December 3.

To that end, said Retno, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has coordinated with the Indonesian Migrant Workers Protection Agency (BP2MI) and the National Police Criminal Investigation Unit to thoroughly investigate the parties responsible for dispatching migrants to the Middle East.

The Indonesian government has imposed a moratorium on sending migrant workers to Middle Eastern countries since 2015, given the large number of cases and vulnerabilities experienced by migrant workers in the region.

However, the regulation was criticized by a number of parties, one of which was Migrant Care, who said that the moratorium had an impact on the practice of trafficking in persons to the Middle East which was increasingly out of control.

According to Anis Hidayah, Head of the Migrant Care Migration Research Center, there are still Indonesian migrant workers who go to work in the Middle East through illegal, even illegal, channels. "Those who depart through unofficial and even illegal channels are not monitored and are prone to face problems in the destination country," Anis told Antara last year.

Instead of imposing a moratorium, Anis is of the opinion that the sending of Indonesian migrant workers to the Middle East needs to be reopened, but with complete and appropriate protection instruments.