TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Speaker of the House of Representatives (DPR), Puan Maharani, said Indonesia is now in a state of emergency of human trafficking due to rampant adverse events that have happened to migrant workers abroad.

“New modes of human trafficking under the guise of job offers abroad are increasingly widespread. Anticipatory and preventive measures must be optimized, especially in online job recruitment,” said Puan in a statement in Jakarta, Monday, August 1, 2022.

The PDIP politician appreciated the Indonesian government which had succeeded in rescuing 62 Indonesian migrant workers who were held captive in Cambodia. The workers initially came to Cambodia to work but were instead forced to commit fraud by syndicates of online scammers.

Puan asked the government, particularly the Foreign Affairs Ministry, to cooperate with relevant agencies to keep searching for victims because the number may continue to increase.

She also asked the police to intensify searches in the digital space because such syndicates recruited people by utilizing technological advances.

“We must be able to save our citizens from the practice of human trafficking. Fraud cases like this occur due to a lack of education from the government. The central and regional governments must be proactive in disseminating the legal migrant worker recruitment system to job seekers,” she underlined.

Puan Maharani thus encouraged the government to optimize the implementation of Law No. 18 of 2017 on the protection of Indonesian migrant workers.

ANTARA

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