Church leaders are determined to ease economic problems at the heart of human trafficking plaguing Indonesia’s predominantly Christian province of East Nusa Tenggara. Carmelite Father Eko Aldianto, executive secretary of the Bishops’ Commission for Justice and Peace and the Pastoral for Migrant-Itinerant People, on the sidelines of a workshop held on Jan. 15-19 in Labuan Bajo said all seven dioceses in the province had agreed to form migrant care parishes.
As reported by ucanews.com, Fr. Eko remarked that “To change many things, we believe we should start with a pilot project. Every commission, including socioeconomic development, is involved in the project. The project will focus on economic development by involving experts.” Further, he added, “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.”
East Nusa Tenggara 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.
