SUCCESS STORIES: INDONESIA STEPS UP ITS EFFORTS TO COMBAT

UNCLAS JAKARTA 000173 SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR EAP, EAP/MTS, EAP/MLS, EAP/RSP, INR/EAP, S/CT FOR MAHANTY, INL FOR CARLON/BLOOMQUIST, EEB/ESC/TFS DOJ FOR AAG SWARTZ, OPDAT FOR ALEXANDRE/BERMAN/HAKIM, GTIP FOR ZINN, SIGMON, PASS TO EMBASSY SINGAPORE FOR ICE NSC FOR J.BADER, D.WALTON E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL PTER KCRM KJUS KTFN EFIN SNAR PHUM ASEC ID SUBJECT: SUCCESS STORIES: INDONESIA STEPS UP ITS EFFORTS TO COMBAT TRAFFICKING REF: Jakarta 01854, Jakarta 01895, Jakarta 02033 ¶1. (U) SUMMARY: The Indonesian government is improving its operational effectiveness in combating trafficking in persons. Although much remains to be done, a recent TIP conference (see septel) in Surabaya highlighted several success stories. Police are successfully adapting their tactics to pursue traffickers in cyberspace, recently even busting an underage trafficking ring on Facebook. Government ministries, police and prosecutors are also successfully cooperating across provincial and international borders to bring victims home. POLICE CRACK FACEBOOK TRAFFICKING RING -------------- ¶2. (U) A recent case highlighted the police's resourcefulness in combating trafficking in Indonesia. The Surabaya City Police successfully uncovered an illegal commercial underage sex trafficking ring on Facebook in late January 2010. The trafficker posted pictures of twenty-five girls on Facebook, some of whom were as young as 15. Page visitors selected the girls and did their transactions over the internet. The police arrested two suspects and have identified and put out a fugitive alert for the ringleader. CROSS-BORDER COOPERATION, SUCCESSFUL REPATRIATION -------------- -------------- ¶3. (U) The government of Indonesia (GOI) is taking trafficking issues seriously, and is focusing on the welfare of Indonesian citizens overseas. A government working group in conjunction with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) rescued and repatriated 425 Indonesian workers from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and Amman, Jordan on January 20, 2010. On January 18, 2010, a collaborative group of government ministries facilitated the repatriation of 199 Indonesian migrant workers from the Indonesian Embassy shelter in Kuwaiti. The National Police screened for minors. IOM encouraged the Department of Social Welfare to screen for trafficking victims, who they then referred to IOM for medical treatment. ¶4. (U) Indonesian police are cooperating across provincial borders to pursue traffickers. Police in NTT, West Java and Bali have identified and are working together to apprehend an Iranian born trafficker who has been sending illegal migrants from Afghanistan, Iran and the Middle East through Indonesia to Australia. ¶5. (SBU) Fifty women and girls were rescued when Police Commissioner Fatmah Noer, Head of the Women and Children's Unit in West Java Provincial Police led a cross-border raid on a karaoke bar and a brothel in West Java and in Bangka Belitung Provinces. Her unit arrested a female pimp (born in South Sumatra Province),her bodyguards in Bangka Belitung Province and accomplices in both provinces. Seventeen of the victims were from West Java and the rest were from across the country. They had been held in debt bondage, forced to work long hours, paid low wages, threatened, intimidated, and starved. They told police that their traffickers have transferred other victims to Malaysia and Singapore. The police worked with IOM, which assisted the return and recovery for 14 of the victims, and transport for the social worker. ¶6. (U) These cases show both the complexity of the trafficking situation and the Indonesian government's increasingly successful efforts to use new tools and work across agencies and borders to identify, protect, and repatriate victims of trafficking. Osius#