DEMARCHE DELIVERED: TIER 2 WATCH LIST ACTION PLAN

UNCLAS JAKARTA 010135 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KCRM KWMN PGOV PHUM PREL ID SUBJECT: DEMARCHE DELIVERED: TIER 2 WATCH LIST ACTION PLAN FOR INDONESIA REF: STATE 123273 (DEMARCHE REQUEST) ¶1. (U) On August 1, we met with Ferry Adamhar, Director of the Department of Foreign Affairs' Directorate for the Protection of Indonesian Citizens and Legal Entities, to deliver the demarche contained reftel. Mr. Adamhar welcomed our points and said he would coordinate the matter within the GOI. ¶2. (U) On August 7, we met with Maswita Djaya, Deputy Minister for Women's Empowerment in the Coordinating Ministry of Social Welfare, and on August 8 we met with Sumarni Dawam Raharjo, the Deputy Minister for Child and Welfare Protection at the Ministry of Women's Empowerment to deliver the demarche contained reftel and discuss the GOI's preparations for the interim assessment. Both Maswita Djaya and Sumarni Dawam Raharjo enthusiastically welcomed the short and long-term action plans and thanked the USG for its continued support for the GOI's anti-trafficking efforts. ¶3. (U) Both Maswita Djaya and Sumarni Dawam Raharjo discussed the importance of the anti-trafficking legislation and acknowledged the GOI could not expect to graduate from its current Watch List status without such legislation. Maswita expressed her hope the legislation would pass by the end of the year. Maswita noted the July 25 passage of the Witness Protection Law in the DPR and emphasized this law would significantly bolster the GOI's anti-trafficking efforts. ¶4. (U) Noting the pervasiveness of debt bondage within the Indonesian migrant worker community, Maswita discussed a recent Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Manpower and Bank Mandiri, an Indonesian State bank, which will result in an 11 million dollar fund for impoverished migrant workers. Migrant workers will be able to borrow from the fund to pay recruiters and avoid crippling debt arrangements with the shadowy recruiting agencies. ¶5. (U) Maswita also trumpeted a recent Coordinating Ministry of Social Welfare initiative to create anti-trafficking task forces at the provincial and district levels. Next month the Ministry will open its flagship office in the Kutai Kartanegara district in Kalimantan. Maswita underscored the importance of establishing such offices in transit and border areas throughout the country. Maswita praised the technical assistance provided by the Solidarity Center and the International Catholic Migration Commission for these task forces with USG funding. ¶6. (U) On the subject of corruption, Maswita underscored her Ministry's ongoing commitment to continue the battle against corruption, citing its cooperation with the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK). ¶7. (U) Maswita noted the Coordinating Ministry of Social Welfare dedicated approximately 55 thousand dollars from the FY06 state budget in support of the following anti-trafficking measures: - The establishment of a trial program to help trafficking victims reintegrate into society and avoid becoming second time trafficking victims. - The establishment of a shelter in Batam for trafficking victims. - An educational pilot program in East Java and East Nusa Tenggara to raise awareness of trafficking among housewives, religious leaders, out-of-school children, and parents. ¶8. (U) Despite the extensive work being carried out by her Ministry and throughout the GOI, Maswita emphasized the ongoing challenges involved in battling trafficking, citing specifically: a limited budget; a lack of awareness of the trafficking issue across the full range of government agencies; the uneven collection of data related to trafficking, especially with respect to prosecutions and investigations; and the desperate need for capacity building in the GOI's ability to report on and collect information about trafficking within Indonesia's borders. ¶9. (U) Sumarni Dawam Raharjo reinforced many of the same points made by Maswita and added that the GOI would strive for enhanced cooperation with Malaysia on trafficking issues. Sumarni further noted she would share the short and long-term action plans with all of the members of the GOI's national task force on trafficking; she reported the group would next meet on August 10. PASCOE