Migrant Worker Killed in Dubai Suspected to be Trafficking Victim

TEMPO.CO, Dompu - Sarafiah, the migrant worker from Dompu, West Nusa Tenggara, who was killed by her employer in Dubai last month turned out to be the victim of human trafficking. The suspicion occurs considering that she was not equipped with official documents from the Indonesian government.

Secretary of the Manpower and Transmigration Department in Dompu, Amiruddin, stated that Sarafiah’s departure to Dubai as a migrant worker was not through a company but through an individual line.

Therefore, the passport she used to travel to Dubai was a tourist passport. “She (Sarafiah) was a migrant worker that was sent illegally by a recruiter, not through a service provider company,” Amiruddin said.

The passport she had was only valid for three months. “If it wasn’t extended, she would have been deported by the country she was staying at,” he said. “Sarafiah is allegedly a victim of human trafficking practices,” Amiruddin said.

She is one of the victims from many cases of domestic abuse experienced by Indonesian migrant workers. Therefore, Amiruddin urges the public to not to get easily duped by offers from migrant worker agencies. He said that the consequences are fatal if it does not go through an official procedure from the government.

Moreover, Indonesia has issued a moratorium to temporarily stop sending Indonesian migrant workers to be stationed in Dubai. “There are no Indonesian migrant workers that are stationed there currently,” he said.

AKHYAR M. NUR