VZCZCXRO2977
OO RUEHDT RUEHPB
DE RUEHJA #1854/01 3130839
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 090839Z NOV 09
FM AMEMBASSY JAKARTA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3762
INFO RUCNARF/ASEAN REGIONAL FORUM COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEAWJB/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC PRIORITY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 JAKARTA 001854 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EAP, EAP/MTS, EAP/MLS, EAP/RSP, G/TIP, DRL, PRM/RSP 
NSC FOR D. WALTON 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV ELAB KWMN PREL ID
SUBJECT: TRAFFICKING -- PROTECTING MIGRANTS A TOP PRIORITY 
FOR GOI 
 
REF: A. STATE 112504 
     ¶B. STATE 112185 
 
¶1.  SUMMARY:  The GOI has reiterated that protecting 
Indonesian migrant labor is a key foreign policy priority. 
At a recent conference in Bandung, GOI officials reviewed the 
steps that they are taking to protect migrants and to counter 
trafficking.  Civil society representatives at the event 
argued that the government needed to apply more funding 
toward anti-trafficking programs and improve coordination 
among ministries.  Labor Attache helped provide the 
international perspective on trafficking involving 
Indonesians.  The U.S. government was repeatedly cited for 
its support of anti-trafficking programs.  END SUMMARY. 
 
ENGAGING THE PRIMARY STAKEHOLDERS 
 
¶2.  Representatives from key stakeholders sent 
representatives to the October 28-30 GOI conference on 
protecting migrants and countering trafficking in persons 
held in Bandung, West Java.  The 60-plus participants 
included officials from the ministries of foreign affairs, 
social welfare, manpower, health, women's empowerment, 
immigration, law and human rights, and the coordinating 
ministry for the people's welfare.  Representatives of the 
Attorney General's Office, the Supreme Court, and the 
national police were also in attendance.  A wide variety of 
civil society representatives also participated, as did 
Interpol.  Labatt participated, as did representatives of the 
IOM and the UN system. 
 
GOI UNDERLINES IMPORTANCE OF PROTECTING MIGRANT LABOR 
 
¶3.  Indonesian government representatives underscored that 
protecting Indonesian migrant labor is a key foreign policy 
priority.  (Note:  Over 10 million Indonesians work 
internationally, many of them in the Middle East and 
Malaysia.)  The Coordinating Ministry of Social Welfare 
Director General explained that her ministry had recently 
completed a draft national action plan that addressed 
countering trafficking in persons.  Echoing a similar theme 
of high-level governmental concern, an official from the 
Ministry of Manpower said his ministry had been spurred to 
action in order to address the concerns outlined in the 2009 
U.S. TIP report and the 2009 UNODC Global Report on 
Trafficking in Persons. 
 
CIVIL SOCIETY PERSPECTIVE 
 
¶4.  Civil society representatives at the event welcomed the 
GOI's plans.  They underscored the importance of countering 
trafficking and the need for the GOI to provide more 
protection for migrants.  They also argued that the 
government needed to apply more funding for anti-trafficking 
programs and improve coordination among ministries. 
Moreover, it was often not clear at what level of the 
government decisions were being made regarding policy and/or 
funding. 
 
AN INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE 
 
¶5.  International representatives underscored that the GOI 
had made progress, but needed to do even more.  Labatt 
reviewed recommendations made in the most recent G/TIP report 
and stressed that Indonesia should do more to enforce laws 
already on the books.  She explained that because Indonesia 
is a major source country it was imperative that Indonesia 
take steps to close down illegal labor recruiting companies 
-- for both domestic and international workers.  That said, 
Laboff went on to applaud the GOI's clear determination to 
fight trafficking, including with close international 
cooperation. 
 
¶6.  (U) Both the International Organization for Migration 
(IOM) and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) 
representatives agreed that the GOI had taken positive steps 
to prevent trafficking in persons through awareness-raising 
programs.  The government needed to do more to apprehend, 
prosecute and convict traffickers.  Traffickers were 
primarily Indonesian nationals who engaged in domestic and 
international forced labor.  Some trafficking was done 
clandestinely but, most worrisome, were illegal labor 
recruiters who operated openly, with apparent impunity.  The 
IOM and UNODC agreed that Indonesia did not need any new laws 
but must more fully implement the laws that it had.  These 
comments were in line with the 2009 G/TIP report on 
 
JAKARTA 00001854  002 OF 002 
 
 
Indonesia. 
 
USG SUPPORT APPRECIATED--AND NEEDED 
 
¶7.  (U) All participants agreed that USG support for 
anti-trafficking programs was vital.  UNODC and IOM said at 
the beginning of their presentations that their research and 
programs had been funded by the USG.  Officials from the 
Indonesian police explained how they had benefited from 
U.S.-funded training.  NGOs urged the government to learn 
from the USG on how best to prevent, protect and prosecute. 
The NGOs were most pleased with the speed with which the USG 
responded, via various international NGOs such as Save the 
Children, to their requests for funding. 
 
¶8.  (U) Against the backdrop of these accolades, Mission 
appreciates G/TIP's continued support of programs in 
Indonesia (ref b).  Labatt will continue to meet with NGOs in 
order to solicit their proposals for additional 
anti-trafficking grants (ref a). 
 
HUME