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Viewing cable 07SURABAYA34, SURABAYA: USG TRAINING FOR POLICE, COURTS, AND NGOS RESULTS

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
07SURABAYA34 2007-09-11 04:45 2011-08-24 01:00 UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Consulate Surabaya
VZCZCXRO3492
PP RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM
DE RUEHJS #0034/01 2540445
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P R 110445Z SEP 07
FM AMCONSUL SURABAYA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0048
INFO RUEHJA/AMEMBASSY JAKARTA 0045
RUEHZS/ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS
RUEHKL/AMEMBASSY KUALA LUMPUR 0002
RUEHJS/AMCONSUL SURABAYA 0050
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 SURABAYA 000034 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EAP/MTS, EAP/GTIP, EAP/RSP, DS/IP/EAP 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON PHUM PGOV ELAB KWMN SMIG ASEC ID
SUBJECT: SURABAYA: USG TRAINING FOR POLICE, COURTS, AND NGOS RESULTS 
IN HUMAN TRAFFICKING ARRESTS 
 
REF: a) SURABAYA 33, B) Operation Triple X Case File No. V-2005-00163 (notal) 
 
SURABAYA 00000034  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
This message is sensitive but unclassified.  Please protect 
accordingly. 
 
1. (SBU) SUMMARY: On September 3, Surabaya police arrested two 
suspects for attempting to traffic seven women from Indonesia to 
Malaysia.  The victims were handed over to an International 
Organization of Migration (IOM)-sponsored NDO KPPD Samitra 
Abhaya and returned to their villages.  The Surabaya parliament 
and Surabaya People Empowerment Board (Bapemas) provided funding 
and helped with the victims' repatriation.  These arrests and 
subsequent repatriations are the direct result of US 
counter-trafficking support for Indonesia on three key fronts: 
legislative, investigative and training support for NGOs.  These 
arrests marks the first time all three of these efforts have 
been so clearly tied to a single trafficking case. End Summary. 
 
2.  (SBU) Acting on information provided initially by a local 
NGO to ConGen Surabaya in April 2007, local authorities 
initiated an investigation into suspected suppliers of women and 
children for sex tourism in known prostitution areas of 
Surabaya.  After a five-month investigation, on September 3, 
police arrested two suspects, Badri Saiman and Slamet Riyadi, 
when they attempted to board a ferry bound for the island of 
Kalimantan with seven trafficking victims. Under interrogation, 
the traffickers described an intricate network of recruitment 
agencies throughout East Java, Kalimantan, and Sarawak, 
Malaysia. 
 
SURABAYA: Source, Destination, Transit 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
3.  (SBU) The port city of Surabaya has gained a well-deserved 
reputation as a source, transit, and destination location for 
women and children trafficked for the purposes of sexual 
exploitation, debt bondage, and forced labor.  According to 
local authorities and NGOs, a significant number of Indonesian 
women, who are recruited by unlicensed manpower and recruitment 
agencies, are sent overseas each year to work as domestic 
servants and subjected to exploitation and conditions of 
involuntary servitude in Malaysia, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, 
Japan, Syria, Kuwait, Taiwan and Hong Kong.  Many women are 
forced into prostitution or debt bondage. 
 
4. (SBU) Many unauthorized recruitment agencies are involved in 
trafficking to various degrees, and some licensed 
recruitment/travel agencies have been implicated in trafficking. 
 Indonesians are especially vulnerable to human traffickers 
because of poverty, lack of education, and limited job 
opportunities.  Many Surabaya-based recruitment and travel 
agencies also specialize in counterfeit document production. 
(Note: Operation triple X to date has resulted in raids on 33 
criminal enterprises producing fraudulent documents, with 120 
arrests. End note). 
 
Training Camps 
---------------- 
 
5. (SBU) According to a local police source, criminal agencies 
send prospective migrant workers to "training camps" for several 
months.  Badir Saiman and Slamet Riyadi described the Surabaya 
training camp as homes scattered throughout Surabaya where 
trafficking victims are "stored" temporarily, for up to three 
months.  During this time, the women are locked in and 
prohibited from contact with their families.  The victims 
receive training in cleaning, cooking, and other basic household 
duties, as well as receiving language lessons.  Meanwhile, the 
traffickers prepare counterfeit documents and make arrangements 
to transfer the victims out of the country. 
 
USG Training and Support 
--------------------------- 
 
6. (SBU) USG training and support was critical to this effort. 
The local police charged both suspects under the newly enacted 
Trafficking in Persons Law, which took effect March 2007.  This 
anti-Human Trafficking legislation was drafted with the help of 
the Assistant United States Attorney assigned to AmEmbassy 
Jakarta and with the support of both US and local law 
enforcement and technical advisors, as well as with technical 
support by USG-government funded NGOs.   The Surabaya Police 
received training from the U.S. International Criminal 
Investigation Training (ICITAP) Trafficking in Persons (TIP) 
program.  Over the past two years, ICITAP has run four training 
programs for the Surabaya police force and local NGOs.  Trained 
in the need for assistance for victims, after arresting the 
traffickers, the police immediately contacted a local NGO to 
 
SURABAYA 00000034  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
arrange assistance for the seven victims.  This local NGO, which 
specialized in helping the victims of trafficking, is itself 
supported by IOM and funded in part by the United States.  We 
anticipate similar cooperative efforts between local law 
enforcement and the NGO community to combat trafficking in the 
future. 
MCCLELLAND