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Virgin auction website arrest prompts trafficking fears

Scandal is the latest in string of people trafficking cases to rock Indonesia
Virgin auction website arrest prompts trafficking fears

Indonesian sex workers cover their faces during a raid on a bar in Surabaya, Indonesia, in this May 2014 photo. Authorities in Indonesia have shut down a virginity auction website that used girls as young as 14 in another trafficking scandal that has rocked the country. (Photo by Juni/AFP)

 

Published: September 28, 2017 10:25 AM GMT
Updated: September 28, 2017 10:34 AM GMT

Human trafficking is under the spotlight once more in Indonesia following the arrest of the founder of a website that promotes "virginity auctions."

Aris Wahyudi, 49, launched the website which allegedly auctions off the virginity of girls as young as 14 online on Sept. 19.

The website had gathered at least 2,700 members who were required to pay a US$10 membership fee in two days.

Police arrested Wahyudi at his house in Bekasi, West Java, on Sept. 24.

He was charged with violating pornography, human trafficking and child protection laws. The Communication and Information Ministry had blocked the site earlier on Sept. 23.

Wahyudi reportedly told police he set up the site because he was concerned about poverty and that he could raise money for poor families by auctioning off the virginity of young girls.

"I want to eradicate poverty and help the government," media quoted him as saying.

Some 27.7 million people live below the poverty line in Indonesia, according to the country's Central Statistic Agency.

Minister of Women Empowerment and Child Protection, Yohana Yembise said the site promoted prostitution, human trafficking and female exploitation.

"It's a form of female exploitation. Virgin auctions are also linked with religious superstition," Yembise, said.

Azas Tigor Nainggolan, coordinator of the Indonesian bishops' Advocacy and Human Rights Forum, said Wahyudi had clearly violated the law so should be punished.

"I think the clients should also be arrested and punished as they have also violated the law," Nainggolan told ucanews.com.

Sutanto, chairman of Indonesian Child Protection Commission, also said the site was geared towards prostitution.

"We monitored it and its content, the people being auctioned off for prostitution were very vulnerable to human trafficking," said Sutanto, who like many Indonesians goes by one name.

Indonesia has seen a string of human trafficking scandals in recent years, much of them involving women being sold for sex and has been named by multiple organizations as one of the world's worst offenders in the trade.

Masruchah, a commissioner of the National Commission on Violence against Women also condemned Wahyudi.

"If he wanted to eradicate poverty he should have helped them by providing scholarships, job, and not exploit the girls sexually," she said.

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