Komnas HAM Uncovers Human Trafficking Case in Benjina

Ambon (Antara Maluku) - Indonesia`s Human Rights Commission Komnas HAM has discovered that several foreign fishing crew in Benjina are victims of human trafficking.

Mukhtar A. Pi, the head of the fishery and marine resource monitoring station in Tual, informed Antara during a telephonic conversation on Tuesday that four Komnas HAM representatives told him about it after they interviewed some hundreds of fishing boat crew members now being accommodated in Tual.

He remarked that several crew members are still not in Benjina on the Island of Aru.

"Based on interviews conducted by Komnas HAM, it was found that a number of boat crew members were not paid, were not treated well when they fell ill, and have also been treated arbitrarily," he said, adding that some other crew members are still in Benjina.

"Their wages were said to have been sent to Thailand while they are from Myanmar, Laos, and Cambodia," he revealed.

Mukhtar remarked that Komnas HAM planned to summon the management of PT Pusaka Benjina Resources in the central office in Jakarta and evaluate the documents of the foreign fishing crew in connection with the finding.

"Komnas HAM would also discuss the matter with the ministries of social affairs and foreign affairs," he added.

Komnas HAM`s human trafficking statement was confirmed by the results of the investigation conducted by the International Organization of Migration.

The world body dealing with human migration problems has verified 86 out of the 347 fishing crew members from Myanmar, Laos, and Cambodia in Tual and concluded that 85 of them are victims of human trafficking," Mukhtar affirmed.

Regarding the current condition of the foreign fishing crew, Mukhtar stated that 20 of them are ill, and three of them have been sent to a hospital in Tual.

He noted that on Tuesday, seven crew members arrived from Dobo to Tual.

"They came on their own and their intentions were not yet known. In view of that, I have urged the Tual immigration service to handle it. We fear that they have been deliberately sent to intimidate the crew at the accommodation center in Tual," Mukhtar added.