The Youth Says: FIGHT Trafficking NOW!

Prevention, Protection, and Prosecutions
“The human trafficking issue affecting human rights in its many dimensions. The freedom to live, freedom of choice, rights to education and information, and equal opportunity are some”, as mentioned by the huge pop-star, Agnes Monica, at her first speech as MTV-Exit Ambassador for Anti-trafficking today.


The world and the countries within it have been categorized in several levels, called “tier”. There is tier 3 for the most passive country, who done almost nothing to combat trafficking. On the top of that list is Tier-1, the very serious efforts shown with rigid rules and law enforcement. In-between, there are Tier-2 and Tier-2 Watchlist. This will explains how countries globally combat trafficking-in-person (TIP) domestically. Showing how much they care on the humanity and how they treat humans within their jurisdictions. By this standard, Indonesia is in Tier 2 according to 2009 GTIP Report released by US Department of State. Our country has been considered moderate and showing ample enforcement to combat this.

The “prevention, protection, and prosecution” or 3Ps are the point of references to work and determine the efforts of combating TIP. We could also use this approach to determine our own government whether we, as a country has done enough to the dynamics of this severe and systemic crimes.

Our government has established a an anti-trafficking law (UU No. 21 Tahun 2007), formed a joint task force, trained hundreds of judges, prosecutors, police, and medical corps, all in the assuring that our government will fight this structurally. However, the efforts to prevent, protect victims and prosecute the criminals are still ill-managed only a jargon. Money shortage always ended up as the devil of lack of victim protections efforts. The national coordination meeting or even provincial and district are rare. Raids, which fall under police jurisdiction almost never, happened. Government staffers from desa, camat to “law enforcement” were supporting even forbid NGO or media revealing their “illegal enterprise”. You will find almost impossible to gather number of prosecutions and convictions in this crime from all Indonesia in 2008. Whilst, one key factor one country could be determined serious enough is by their prosecutions and convictions number.

There are hundreds of human rights defenders out there who will fight thousand of life that has been victimized by this serious crime. We must support them.



Trafficking is a serious Human Rights Issue
There are thousands of our people living and working in countries where conflicts are happening. Many working in countries where there are no MOU bilaterally amongst those countries with ours. How can we protect them? How can that country hold liable if something happened to our people? They are living without protection from their own motherland. How can we stand still knowing thousands of them trying to survive without any hope they could return in next year Lebaran, their sons’ Sunatan, their mother’s funeral, or even making 10 seconds phone calls to their little children or brother left at home? No hope for them, because they simply unknown to all of us; or coerced treated that way. There are girls, 14-17 years old persevere the never-ending work servicing dozens of men each night. Every single day is a journey to hell for some of these people. We must persevere ourselves with boring Sinetron at home, they must live and start over the same hell 24/7.

You could only use toothpaste one time. Once it’s finished you must get a new one. Human being is different. These victims are used, transferred, used again, and transferred again, then used again hundreds of times. These people traveled miles and years of their life. Trafficking is slavery; a very serious and most cruel one.



Change our Culture
There have been hundred of TIP victims that went back overseas and found in shelters wounded with severe abuse. These people went back voluntarily trafficked for classic issue: money. One thing about people who are poorly educated, living in severe economic condition, intimidated, and hopeless: they will start to think they deserve the bad things happening to them. The problems of almost every social issue are started from their family. The smallest social unit that teaches us value of life and protects that value in the same small ecosystem.



We will take revolutionary choice having learnt that our family is hopeless because everyone is jobless. They became permissive, and comply with all lies and fraud being treated to them only to be able to help their family, their father and mother, their dignity. Even the very simple one gram left to salvage from decades of severe poverty. The worst of this “massive deserve feeling” are within the middle class Indonesian. We hate to pay our maid even with the standard wages. We never gave them free hours because we simply think they deserve no-holiday. They live within our homes, but they will never be like us: the middle-class-deserving-people. We need to change this culture from ourselves, our family. Then our school values will be changed, our community, and country will follow.



Youth Movement
This is the world of youth movement, and most revolutionary inventions and milestone movements in the world started by people in their youth. Independence in this country is lead by our founding leaders in their youth. The youth make the world go round. The creative industry, where Miss Agnes work and influence, change our cultures. Every single speech or values from her will easily watched and shared in virtual gadget. Her influences will me borderless, unstoppable, and widely spread.

Her commitment to take this responsibility will be reflected that leadership can, and must be started with the youth. It is not mere coincidence the MTV chose her. Her influence and her generation, the youth vastly dispersed in whole country. We, the youth can shake this country, change our government policy, and change lives of many, giving hopes. Start from our perspective, our values, educate ourselves then others, and finally move with the rest of the world. Most of the 2.5 million people that have been trafficked are those who still live in their youth. This crime is killing the youth, killing the future of any country, any civilization.
You can make a change

This crime could have happened to anyone of us, anywhere we live, whenever wherever. Therefore, everybody must take action because trafficking is a very serious problem. It takes one man to show humanity, that we can “run like lights” for 100 meter in under 10 seconds. The world would be better if that one man is you, me, and Ms. Agnes Monica has shown that she cared. Are you one of us? Congratulations for your commitment to take this responsibility, Agnes! Thanks for showing us that we must make a change. Fight trafficking now!


By: John F. Audermansenn Sinaga
(Policy Analyst, member of Christian Professional Community)