Agricultural Land Conversion and Human Trafficking in Northern Java Island, Indonesia

Abstract

This study examines human trafficking, its causes, and the survival abilities of victims using qualitative interpretive methods and thematic data analysis. Previous studies have not linked human trafficking with agricultural land conversion; however, in Indonesia, this problem is mainly caused by agricultural land conversion, which resulted in a floating mass comprising farmers and their families when this process was not carried out carefully, involving local officials and capital owners. The cooperation between the two forces was assisted by field operators who suppressed landowners in various ways. The owners of large pieces of land managed to reinvest the money from the sale of the land. On the other hand, owners of less than 0.5 hectares tended to share the proceeds from the sale of their land with relatives, as a provision for finding work in other cities or countries. Consequently, they are easily persuaded by the promises of brokers to be trafficked as plantation or sex workers. There are no significant differences in the characteristics of labor and sex trafficking victims. For instance, they both come from economically unstable families with little education. The former farmers do not participate in the industrial sector but work in the informal sector with long working hours and low wages. Nevertheless, they act as the backbone of the family's economy. Therefore, agricultural land conversion policies in developing countries should protect farmers from poverty and vulnerability.