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Indonesian church leaders aim to ease economic problems

Poverty in predominantly Christian province of East Nusa Tenggara is seen as main cause of human trafficking
Indonesian church leaders aim to ease economic problems

Human trafficking victim Lucia Dos Santos with her parents in East Nusa Tenggara province in 2015. The 23-year-old mother of three became blind after being allegedly tortured by her employer while working as a maid in Malaysia. (Photo by Ryan Dagur/ucanews.com)

Published: January 22, 2018 08:15 AM GMT
Updated: January 22, 2018 08:26 AM GMT

Church leaders are determined to ease economic problems at the heart of human trafficking plaguing Indonesia's predominantly Christian province of East Nusa Tenggara.

Twenty percent of the province's 4.9 million people, mostly Catholics, live below the poverty line.

The province was ranked by the International Organization for Migration as having the highest number of human trafficking cases in Indonesia. There were at least 7,193 trafficking victims from the province, 82 percent of whom were women.

Speaking to ucanews.com on the sidelines of a workshop held on Jan. 15-19 in Labuan Bajo, Carmelite Father Eko Aldianto, executive secretary of the Bishops' Commission for Justice and Peace and the Pastoral for Migrant-Itinerant People, said all seven dioceses in the province had agreed to form migrant care parishes.

"To change many things, we believe we should start with a pilot project. Every commission, including socioeconomic development, is involved in the project," he said.

He said the project will focus on economic development by involving experts.

"For those who already work overseas, we will talk to them to pay attention to a savings culture. For those who really want to become migrant workers, we will improve their skills so that they become qualified migrant workers," he said.

Father Marthen Jenarut, chairman of Ruteng Diocese's Commission for Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation, said last year's meeting with dioceses from East Malaysia revealed that many migrant workers were undocumented and lived in plantation camps.

East Malaysia is the main destination for many migrant workers from the province.

"Local police continue to pursue them because of their illegal status, and their children have no right to education," he said.

Many migrant workers from the province are married. "They choose to live together with others in the plantation camps," he said.

Bishop Dominikus Saku of Atambua, chairman of the Bishops' Commission for Justice and Peace and the Pastoral for Migrant-Itinerant People, acknowledged that the church "is wounded by an increasing complex issue of migrant workers."

"We know that it must be solved to help improve the poor's economic situation," he said, adding that brokers tended to see poverty as an opportunity to poach people to work overseas.

According to him, many people do not have adequate knowledge of how to make use of their fertile land. "They are uneducated," he said.

Meanwhile, Franciscan Father Yohanes Kristoforus Tara from Sacred Heart Church in Laktutus said 300 out of 3,000 parishioners work overseas.

"Our parishioners rely solely on short-term crops such as ginger and beans. They do not have enough to live their lives," he said.

Yoakim Taek, a parishioner whose seven family members work overseas, welcomed the church's initiative. "We hope it gives us new hope that we can live well in our own land," he said.

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