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Modern-day slavery flourishing in Indonesia, says report

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Yuliasri Perdani, Jakarta – Poverty, corruption and a lack of legal protection has tripled the number of Indonesians trapped in modern-day slavery to 714,100 people, with many working in the domestic, agriculture and fisheries sectors, the 2014 Global Slavery Index has shown.

The index, recently published by the Australian-based Walk Free Foundation, estimates that 23.5 million men, women and children are enslaved in the Asia Pacific, representing 65 percent of the total slave population of 35.8 million.

Indonesia ranks eighth out of the 167 countries surveyed, with a total enslaved population of 714,100 in 2014, a significant jump from last year's 200,000. In terms of the number of slaves per capita, Indonesia, with a population of 249.8 million, ranks 102nd.

"The wide gap between wealth and poverty, high levels of unemployment and corruption create an environment where modern slavery flourishes in Indonesia. Over 11 percent of the population live in poverty and 70 percent of Indonesians are employed in the informal sector, characterized by poor working conditions, little pay and no social security," the foundation writes in the report.

The report highlights that the use of irregular migration channels by Indonesian migrant workers has put them at risk, particularly with work performed under threat of deportation.

In addition, many Indonesian women continue to be trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation abroad, experiencing excessive working hours, no wages, a lack of health care and being forced to use drugs.

Anis Hidayah, executive director of NGO Migrant Care, said the problem resulted from the government's lack of supervision of migrant workers.

"In our recent study using random-sampling methods, 45 percent of respondents used fake identity in their documents. Labor agents usually concealed the workers' age to enable underage children to get working permits. Such document forgeries often went unnoticed," Anies said on Tuesday.

There are more than 6.5 million Indonesian migrant workers abroad, according to 2013 Migrant Care data.

Meanwhile, the chairperson for the National Network of Domestic Workers Advocacy (Jala PRT), Lita Anggraeni, said 10.7 million domestic workers in the country were vulnerable to modern slavery due to the absence of legal protection.

"Domestic workers are excluded from existing labor laws, paving the way for employers to give salaries below the minimum wage. Many domestic workers work around the clock, even during holidays. They are not entitled to retirement funds or health insurance," she said. Domestic workers were also prone to verbal and physical abuse, Lita said.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/11/19/modern-day-slavery-flourishing-ri-says-report.html.