Jokowi Wants ASEAN Summit Agree on Cooperation Against Human Trafficking

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesian President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo and ASEAN leaders will discuss the issue of human trafficking at the ASEAN Summit in Labuan Bajo, East Nusa Tenggara. Jokowi wanted the discussion to produce concrete results.

Jokowi asserted that the crime of human trafficking must be completely eradicated from upstream to downstream. "So at the next summit, a cooperation document to tackle trafficking in persons due to misuse of technology will be adopted," Jokowi said in a press statement on Monday, May 8, 2023.

According to Jokowi, the issue of human trafficking was deliberately proposed by Indonesia to be discussed at the Summit, especially regarding online scams. “This is important and I deliberately propose this because the victims are the people of ASEAN and most of them are our Indonesian citizens," Jokowi added.

Jokowi then alluded to Indonesia's efforts to save 20 citizens who were victims of human trafficking in Myanmar. “This is really something that is not easy because it is located in a conflict area.”

On May 6, the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that 20 victims of human trafficking employed at online fraud companies in Myanmar had been released.

Apart from that, Jokowi also mentioned the rescue of 1,048 victims of human trafficking from 10 countries which involved the Philippine authorities and representatives of several other countries. There were also 143 victims from Indonesia.

The ASEAN Summit will be held on May 9-11, 2023, in Labuan Bajo, Lombok, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT). PresidentJokowi is already in the region preparing for the event.

FAJAR PEBRIANTO

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