It will be crucial attention to consider the PPA elements in this directorate, so that institutionally, it will be more effective and efficientJakarta (ANTARA) - The Women's Empowerment and Child Protection Ministry and Coordinating Ministry for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs concurred to form the Directorate of Women and Children's Protection (PPA) and Human Trafficking.
"It will be crucial attention to consider the PPA elements in this directorate, so that institutionally, it will be more effective and efficient," Women's Empowerment and Child Protection Minister Bintang Puspayoga noted in her official statement here on Thursday.
Puspayoga believes that a long journey had yet to be covered for the formation of the directorate along with National Police Chief Listyo Sigit Prabowo in eradicating human trafficking, especially trafficking in women and children, as 80 percent of the victims are women.
By cooperating with the National Police (Polri) and the Ministry of Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform, the directorate will operate under Polri's Criminal Investigation Department (Bareskrim).
Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs Mahfud MD stated that the government would take the quick route in formulating the design for the formation of the directorate.
"To accelerate the process, I will talk with (the concerned people in) the palace. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform along with the Coordinating Ministry for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs will formulate the right design," he stated.
The police chief confirmed that based on data for the 2020-2023 period, victims of human trafficking largely constituted women, namely 796 adult women and 475 girls.
According to Prabowo, several modes recorded by the police, comprised victims been made to work as migrant workers, women sex workers, domestic workers, and ship crew, as well as been scammed.
"These figures are still at the surface level because human trafficking cases are still being handled by the sub-directorate level. Thus, this is the reason why our reach has to be wider and requires a special directorate," he remarked.
Polri proposed the PPA and Human Trafficking Directorate to handle five sub-directorates, namely violence against women, violence against children, human trafficking inside the country, human trafficking in East Asia and Southeast Asia regions, and human trafficking outside the East Asia and Southeast Asia regions.
"We hope this structure will become stronger, and the result will be more maximal," he stated.
He further said that currently, 38 personnel in the Police Headquarters handle human trafficking. If a new directorate is formed, then there will be at least 126 personnel for the start.
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Translator: Hreeloita Dharma, Raka Adji
Editor: Sri Haryati
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