Need cross-sectoral cooperation to handle human trafficking: Ministry

Jakarta, Indonesianpost.com – Deputy for Women’s Rights Protection at the Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection Ratna Susianawati stated that cross-sectoral collaboration is needed in efforts to prevent and handle human trafficking.

“Human trafficking is an extraordinary crime that needs comprehensive handling from upstream to downstream,” she said at the World Day Against Trafficking in Persons Commemoration event held at the Kalijodo Integrated Child-Friendly Public Space (RPTRA) here on Sunday.

Cross-sectoral collaboration is needed because human trafficking involves many syndicates with large and extensive networks, the scope of which could cross national borders.

Susianawati stated that human trafficking perpetrators often lure their victims into jobs as migrant workers.

Apart from that, they also lure the victims with apprenticeships, scholarships, and instant income through online scamming.

Then, along with its development, the characteristics of the victims have also shifted: the perpetrators do not only target people with low levels of education but also target people with higher education levels.

On the same occasion, West Jakarta Mayor Uus Kuswanto stated that the selection of Kalijodo as the location for the World Day Against Trafficking in Persons commemoration event was inseparable from the struggle to eradicate prostitution in the area in the past.

He assessed that the roles of the central government, regional governments, law enforcement officers, and the community are vital to building synergy and ending human trafficking.

The mayor remarked that early anticipation efforts need to be made to prevent human trafficking.

“It will not be effective if the efforts are made only by law enforcement officers and the central government; all elements of the community must partake in campaigning to make it effective and massive,” he said.