TRAFFICKING OF WOMEN AND GIRLS

Trafficking of women and girls is an issue of growing concern from the international community. International organisations, regional bodies and national governments are working on programmes and policies, creating new laws and regulations to stop trafficking of women and girls.  It is sad to see that most of these initiatives and actions are of criminal concern and grossly neglect the human rights of trafficked of women and girls. They protect the interest of the state, rather than the interest of the affected people. Hence, trafficked of women and girls are very often re-victimised in the remedial process. People who are working with trafficked of women and girls need to be concerned with the basic rights of victims of trafficking. They must see the necessity to shift the working paradigm from one of criminal sanction to human rights promotion. Activists working on the trafficking issue need to know the human rights principles, international instruments and mechanisms to ensure that every step they take does not further violate the rights of trafficked of women and girls.  The commitment of the Government of Indonesia to eliminate and to fight the issues of trafficking in women and children and sexually exploited children has been confirmed with the issuance of a Presidential decree No. 87/2002 on the Elimination of Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children, and Presidential Decree No. 88/2002 on the Elimination of Trafficking in Women and Children and UU No. 21 2007.

Many countries do not have effective policies designed to combat trafficking in human beings. They concede that their legislation does not provide up-to-date regulations to deal with such trafficking, particularly activities carried out by transnational criminal organizations. Moreover, national policies do not provide the effective tools with which to dismantle organized crime structures and their transnational alliances, to cut their profit margins and to counteract attempts to diversify supply. Investigations of the higher levels of management of organized criminal groups involved in trafficking in human beings often lack the necessary linkages to strategies against corruption and bribery. Legal provisions, including procedural penal codes, and regulations for police vary greatly among jurisdictions, thereby allowing the creation of safe havens for traffickers. Many countries do not have the capacity to respond adequately to trafficking in human beings. The reasons for this are manifold: limited law enforcement capacity; a lack of expertise in the judicial sector; and insufficient collaboration between law enforcement agencies, criminal justice and other relevant institutions such as immigration, border control and social agencies. At the international level, frameworks for cooperation among law enforcement and justice officials of different countries may be non-existent or inadequate, resulting in inefficient investigation prosecution and adjudication of cases involving trafficking in human beings. A lack of coordination, at both the national and international levels, is a rule and not an exception.