SURABAYA: USG TRAINING FOR POLICE, COURTS, AND NGOS RESULTS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 SURABAYA 000034

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EAP/MTS, EAP/GTIP, EAP/RSP, DS/IP/EAP

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ECON PHUM PGOV ELAB KWMN SMIG ASEC ID
SUBJECT: SURABAYA: USG TRAINING FOR POLICE, COURTS, AND NGOS RESULTS
IN HUMAN TRAFFICKING ARRESTS

REF: a) SURABAYA 33, B) Operation Triple X Case File No. V-2005-00163 (notal)

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1. (SBU) SUMMARY: On September 3, Surabaya police arrested two
suspects for attempting to traffic seven women from Indonesia to
Malaysia. The victims were handed over to an International
Organization of Migration (IOM)-sponsored NDO KPPD Samitra
Abhaya and returned to their villages. The Surabaya parliament
and Surabaya People Empowerment Board (Bapemas) provided funding
and helped with the victims' repatriation. These arrests and
subsequent repatriations are the direct result of US
counter-trafficking support for Indonesia on three key fronts:
legislative, investigative and training support for NGOs. These
arrests marks the first time all three of these efforts have
been so clearly tied to a single trafficking case. End Summary.


2. (SBU) Acting on information provided initially by a local
NGO to ConGen Surabaya in April 2007, local authorities
initiated an investigation into suspected suppliers of women and
children for sex tourism in known prostitution areas of
Surabaya. After a five-month investigation, on September 3,
police arrested two suspects, Badri Saiman and Slamet Riyadi,
when they attempted to board a ferry bound for the island of
Kalimantan with seven trafficking victims. Under interrogation,
the traffickers described an intricate network of recruitment
agencies throughout East Java, Kalimantan, and Sarawak,
Malaysia.

SURABAYA: Source, Destination, Transit
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3. (SBU) The port city of Surabaya has gained a well-deserved
reputation as a source, transit, and destination location for
women and children trafficked for the purposes of sexual
exploitation, debt bondage, and forced labor. According to
local authorities and NGOs, a significant number of Indonesian
women, who are recruited by unlicensed manpower and recruitment
agencies, are sent overseas each year to work as domestic
servants and subjected to exploitation and conditions of
involuntary servitude in Malaysia, Singapore, Saudi Arabia,
Japan, Syria, Kuwait, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Many women are
forced into prostitution or debt bondage.


4. (SBU) Many unauthorized recruitment agencies are involved in
trafficking to various degrees, and some licensed
recruitment/travel agencies have been implicated in trafficking.
Indonesians are especially vulnerable to human traffickers
because of poverty, lack of education, and limited job
opportunities. Many Surabaya-based recruitment and travel
agencies also specialize in counterfeit document production.
(Note: Operation triple X to date has resulted in raids on 33
criminal enterprises producing fraudulent documents, with 120
arrests. End note).

Training Camps
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5. (SBU) According to a local police source, criminal agencies
send prospective migrant workers to "training camps" for several
months. Badir Saiman and Slamet Riyadi described the Surabaya
training camp as homes scattered throughout Surabaya where
trafficking victims are "stored" temporarily, for up to three
months. During this time, the women are locked in and
prohibited from contact with their families. The victims
receive training in cleaning, cooking, and other basic household
duties, as well as receiving language lessons. Meanwhile, the
traffickers prepare counterfeit documents and make arrangements
to transfer the victims out of the country.

USG Training and Support
--------------


6. (SBU) USG training and support was critical to this effort.
The local police charged both suspects under the newly enacted
Trafficking in Persons Law, which took effect March 2007. This
anti-Human Trafficking legislation was drafted with the help of
the Assistant United States Attorney assigned to AmEmbassy
Jakarta and with the support of both US and local law
enforcement and technical advisors, as well as with technical
support by USG-government funded NGOs. The Surabaya Police
received training from the U.S. International Criminal
Investigation Training (ICITAP) Trafficking in Persons (TIP)
program. Over the past two years, ICITAP has run four training
programs for the Surabaya police force and local NGOs. Trained
in the need for assistance for victims, after arresting the
traffickers, the police immediately contacted a local NGO to

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arrange assistance for the seven victims. This local NGO, which
specialized in helping the victims of trafficking, is itself
supported by IOM and funded in part by the United States. We
anticipate similar cooperative efforts between local law
enforcement and the NGO community to combat trafficking in the
future.
MCCLELLAND