Jakarta (ANTARA) - Minister of Women's Empowerment and Child Protection, Bintang Puspayoga, highlighted the importance of efforts to strengthen institutions and optimize performance of the human trafficking task force.

"The success of preventing and handling human trafficking must be comprehensive, from upstream to downstream," the minister noted in a written statement received here, Saturday.

Puspayoga remarked that human trafficking had become an extraordinary crime that violated human dignity in various ways. Hence, she lauded the completion of the National Coordination Meeting for the Prevention and Handling of Human Trafficking held on September 14-15, 2022.

The meeting was held to strengthen the institutions' ability to handle human trafficking through the prevention task force and ensure institutions' participation in providing service for the victims of human trafficking.

Puspayoga noted that human trafficking crimes occurred in all countries. Data from the 2017-2021 period showed 1,660 cases of human trafficking, with the total number of victims reaching 1,995.

Of that figure, 88 percent of the victims were women and children, while 12 percent were men.

"If we look at the current mode, the highest method is using social media and electronic devices as tools to trap the victims," she pointed out.

Furthermore, the national coordination meeting agreed to achieve common goals with the ministry by strengthening the institutions for the Prevention and Handling of Human Trafficking through the task force at central and regional levels and ensuring institutions to provide service and protection to the witnesses and victims of human trafficking.

The meeting also aimed at improving the coordination mechanism for the provision of services for victims of human trafficking and the development and management of data and information systems regarding current issues and good practices conducted by central and regional governments related to human trafficking.

The success of achieving this common goal is measured by increasing the quality and quantity of the human trafficking task force; providing fast, accurate, and integrated services for human trafficking victims by prioritizing the fulfillment of the rights and best interests of the victims; and providing easily accessible and integrated data information related to the prevention and handling of human trafficking.

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Translator: Zubi Mahrofi, Resinta S
Editor: Suharto
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