An estimated 29.8 million people live in modern slavery. Modern Slavery (according to the Global Slavery Index) includes “slavery, slavery-like practices (such as debt bondage, forced marriage and sale or exploitation of children), human trafficking and forced labor, and other practices described in key international treaties.” For National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month, we’ve been learning and sharing the facts about human trafficking in order that the world can respond to this crisis.
Indonesia is the 4th most populous country in the world (behind China, India, and the US). An estimated 6 million Indonesian laborers (70% of whom are female) work abroad. Many Indonesia workers who have migrated to the Middle East and Asia have been subjected to exploitation. According to the 2013 US Trafficking In Persons Report, Indonesia is a “major source country… for women, children, and men who are subjected to sex trafficking and forced labor.”
Within Indonesia, large numbers of women and girls move from the rural areas to bigger cities in search of opportunities. Many of these women find themselves in debt and are forced to work as sex workers. An alarming trend is that a growing number of Indonesian teenagers are involved in running the sex trade. Teenage pimps (some of whom are girls) recruit their friends and other teenagers via social media and networking sites and pimp them out for cash. According to the Global Slavery Index, “older children are lured to big cities through the use of social media” and have been used for “illegal adoption, commercial sexual exploitation, drug trafficking and domestic and international child labor.”
She Is Safe works in the red light districts and brothel communities, engaging women and girls in weekly Bible studies, and providing vocational training in a safe house. A dollar a day can make a huge difference in a girl’s life. Support Indonesia Anti-Trafficking today!
Read the 2013 Global Slavery Index
Read the 2013 US State Department Trafficking In Persons Report