It Takes A Network

It takes a network to traffic a human being. It takes a network to prevent trafficking and restore its survivors.”

Seven years ago, Dark Bali piloted its first project— a trauma-informed caregiver training for Indonesian NGOs. We told the few organizations in our geographic area to pass along the invitation to colleagues, but had no idea how many might show up. In the end, over 70 people from all over the country attended, but virtually no one previously knew more than one or two other organizations doing anti-trafficking work. It was clear that collaboration was a strategic next step if we were going to be able to do anything truly meaningful in the fight against human trafficking in Indonesia.

According to the Global Slavery Index, there are 1,220,000 victims of human trafficking in Indonesia. Trafficking is both domestic from island to island, as well as international. Victims are exploited for labor, particularly in the fishing and agriculture sectors, and as domestic workers abroad. Several Indonesian islands are known as hubs for child sex trafficking, and the Women’s Institute of Java reports that 43% of the estimated 225,000 Indonesian sex trafficking victims are minors. Poverty, the need for migration for work, and child marriage are the main drivers of human trafficking in Indonesia.

Trafficking carries a criminal sentence of 3 to 15 years, but it is a charge rarely used for prosecution. Complicity by officials in trafficking crimes continues to challenge intervention efforts. Put more simply, there is no single human trafficking narrative in Indonesia, nor is there a quick or easy solution. Trafficking victims are moving in and out and across the country to be exploited in many different ways, and the vulnerabilities that drive trafficking are not easily solved. There is a desperate need for coordination between the Indonesian government, social services, international Corporate Social Responsibility, social enterprises, and the local grassroots community if we are to disrupt trafficking in Indonesia.

Much like Freedom Business Alliance, Dark Bali’s work is to pull together a community of different organizations with their own specialties to learn together, to share resources, better and stronger practices, particularly in the Indonesian cultural context. It takes a network to traffic a human being. It takes a network to prevent trafficking and restore its survivors.

Dalaina grew up overseas and has lived in 5 countries on 3 continents. When she moved to Indonesia, she finally found her home. She holds a B.A. in Intercultural Studies from Biola University and an M.A. in Global Leadership with an emphasis in Children at Risk from Fuller Seminary. After supporting the local staff of a safehouse for trafficked teen girls in Bali, she realized that there was a need for an organization providing similar support for the entire Indonesian anti-trafficking community, and Dark Bali was born.

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Want to learn more about Dark Bali? Visit them online.

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