VZCZCXRO9645
OO RUEHDT RUEHPB
DE RUEHJA #0173 0401056
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 091056Z FEB 10
FM AMEMBASSY JAKARTA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 4449
RUCNARF/ASEAN REGIONAL FORUM COLLECTIVE
INFO RUEAWJB/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RHMFIUU/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY WASHINGTON DC
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#