The identification of trafficking victims remains one of the more challenging and vexing
aspects of anti-trafficking efforts globally, including in Indonesia. Many trafficking victims
are never officially identified or recognized as victims of human trafficking and, as such, “fall
through the cracks” of the anti-trafficking response. And yet the identification of trafficking
victims is an important, even necessary, step in combatting human trafficking. Victims must
be identified before they can be offered assistance and protection. Identification is also
essential for the criminal process to be triggered and to ensure trafficking victims’ access to
justice.
Understanding who is (and is not) identified as trafficked (and why this happens) is critical
in improving the identification of Indonesian trafficking victims and, by extension, their
access to protection and justice. This paper presents the identification experiences of more
than 100 Indonesian trafficking victims to better understand what is going well in the
identification of Indonesian trafficking victims in Indonesia and the countries where they are
exploited, as well as what needs improvement. The paper considers patterns of both
successful and unsuccessful identification of Indonesian trafficking victims exploited for
various forms of labor as well as the different issues that inform whether or not they are
formally identified as trafficking victims. These include: the nature of trafficking, with
victims isolated, controlled and “out of sight”; institutional challenges in the identification
response; and the decisions and behaviors of trafficking victims themselves. While this study
is intended for anti-trafficking policymakers and practitioners in Indonesia, these findings
also have relevance for practitioners and policymakers in other countries and regions who
are seeking to enhance the identification of trafficking victims and to better meet the needs
and guard the rights of trafficking victims originating from the country or exploited within
its borders.
This paper was drafted in the context of NEXUS Institute’s project – Increasing Victim
Identification and Improving Access to Criminal Justice in Human Trafficking Cases
in Indonesia – which is enhancing victim identification in three villages in West Java,
Indonesia. The project was funded by the Australian Government’s Department of Foreign
Affairs and Trade (DFAT) through the Australia-Asia Program to Combat Trafficking in
Persons (AAPTIP)

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