Jakarta. President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has called for ASEAN to combat human trafficking amidst cases of many Indonesians falling prey to online job scams and getting sent to other Southeast Asian countries to work as cyber scammers.

This rampant problem of human trafficking across the region has also caught the attention of other ASEAN leaders at the bloc's summit in the fishing town of Labuan Bajo, East Nusa Tenggara.

“Matters that relate to people’s interests become a great concern for the [ASEAN] leaders, including the protection of migrant workers and human trafficking victims,” Jokowi told reporters at the end of the 42nd ASEAN Summit in Labuan Bajo.

“I call on ASEAN countries to take firm action against the main perpetrators,” Jokowi said.

In response to the matter at hand, ASEAN wrapped up its 42nd Summit with a leaders' declaration on combating trafficking in persons caused by the abuse of technology. 

The four-page document calls for the region to identify and address the legal framework and systems gaps, including on migration and border management. This is to ensure the existing legal frameworks can keep pace with technological developments. 

According to the leaders' declaration, ASEAN should provide immediate response and assistance to human trafficking victims, among others, by improving coordination on information exchange. 

The declaration came at a time when Indonesia is seeing countless of its citizens trapped in human trafficking rings in other ASEAN countries. 

Twenty Indonesians got trafficked to Myanmar's Myawaddy where they had to work as online scammers. The fake recruiters initially wooed these victims by promising them high-paying jobs in Thailand. The police have recently arrested two suspects who recruited the victims in Bekasi. 

The Philippines authorities last week rescued 1,048 people of different nationalities from an alleged human trafficking ring at the Clark Sun Valley Hub Corporation. According to the Foreign Affairs Ministry's initial reports, there were 143 Indonesian victims saved in the operations. 

However, the number of victims has grown following police verification. 

The national police today announced 239 Indonesians got involved in an online scam syndicate in the Philippines. As many as 224 Indonesians are human trafficking victims. The traffickers forced them to scam others. Two individuals are suspects, while the remaining 13 people are witnesses, news outlet Kumparan reported.

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