Indonesia’s Ministry of Women Empowerment and Child Protection (KPPPA) recorded a sharp increase in human trafficking cases during the pandemic with 256 victims in 2021, compared to 213 in 2020 and 111 in 2019.
Child exploitation, including the use of minors in criminal activities and hazardous work, is also on the rise, with more than 165 cases reported in 2021 – up from 133 in 2020 and 106 in 2019, with most victims from the West Java and East Nusa Tenggara provinces.
According to the most recently-available figures from the Global Slavery Index by Australian NGO Walk Free, an estimated 1.2 million Indonesians were enslaved in 2016.