Speaking at the 2023 Hassan Wirajuda Indonesian Protection Award event here, Friday evening, Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi warned that duties to protect Indonesians abroad would, however, be more complex in future.
The more complex situation for the Foreign Ministry's endeavors to protect Indonesians is caused by the rapidly growing world dynamics owing to factors, such as armed conflicts and natural disasters, she remarked.
With regard to saving Indonesians in Palestine's Gaza Strip during last year's Israeli bombardment, ANTARA noted that the Indonesian Foreign Ministry had successfully evacuated seven Indonesian citizens to Egypt on November 3, 2023, and on November 12, 2023.
Those having left Gaza safely owing to the Indonesian Foreign Ministry's evacuation mission were Abdillah Onim and his three children as well as Muhammad Hussein and his two children.
Onim, his three children, and his wife, who holds Palestinian citizenship, left Gaza and crossed Egypt's Rafah border crossing on November 3.
Hussein, his two children, and his wife, who also holds Palestinian citizenship, left Gaza and crossed the Rafah border checkpoint on November 12.
In another segment of her speech at the event, Marsudi also highlighted the Foreign Ministry's recorded number of cases involving troubled Indonesians in foreign countries last year.
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She remarked that a total of 53,598 cases were recorded in 2023. The figure increased more than 50 percent as compared to 35,149 cases in 2022.
To this end, she drew attention to human trafficking cases involving Indonesians getting employed in online scam operations in Southeast Asia.
Marsudi pointed to a rising trend of recruiting foreigners, including Indonesians, to be employed in online scam operations in the region over the past few years.
Apart from the situation currently faced by the Foreign Ministry, utmost efforts to protect all Indonesian citizens abroad would be made as mandated in the fourth paragraph in the preamble to the Constitution, she emphasized.
Regarding the 2023 Hassan Wirajuda Indonesian Protection Award event, 23 winners received the awards from the Indonesian Foreign Ministry for their noteworthy contributions to the protection of Indonesians abroad.
One of the winners was Adjunct Senior Commissioner Ni Made Pujewati, a police officer from the West Nusa Tenggara police headquarters.
Pujewati had contributed significantly to the resolution of 55 reported human trafficking cases involving 94 suspects in 2023.
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Translator: Nabil Ihsan, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Yuni Arisandy Sinaga
Copyright © ANTARA 2024
