Victim support:
A perspective from Indonesia
By: Mariantje Margareth Kamasi
Introduction:
• Hello everyone, I’m Maria Kamasi from North Sulawesi –
Indonesia
• I worked as a counsellor for two and a half years with a
NGO, which seeks to provide long-term solutions for both
child (with the approval of parents) and adult (18 plus)
 We provide intensive care inside the shelter and
outreach counseling support outside this shelter
Legal Framework
As the formal legal standards - we rely on:
 Regulations of the Social Minister of the Republic of
Indonesia Number: 30/HUK/2011 - national Standard
Parenting Social Welfare Institution for Children,
 Law number 10 of 2012 Republic of Indonesia, about
ratification of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on
the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, and Child
Prostitution, and Child Pornography,
 Law number 23 of 2002 about Child Protection, (now is
Law number 35 of 2014),
 Law Number 21 of 2007 regulating Human Trafficking
 Law Number 9 of 2012 about child welfare
 Law number 3 of 1997 about the Children’s Court.
Inter-agency cooperation
For this work, there is established cooperation with:
 the Police
 the International Organization for Migration in Indonesia
 both Clinics and Hospitals for victims’ medical treatment
 with the government by social department and PKK
units, it is women empowerment for the development of
the state’s family welfare
 other NGOs (for extra care services such as vocational
training, or to help with family financial issues)
Victim's background
• Before being trafficked, most victims already have had an
unpleasant lives. The pressures include:
- Loss of a very important person to the victims
- Victims of rape or sexual abuse
- Social issues with respect to their peers or their lifestyle
- Lack of relevant knowledge due to their lack of
education, so they can rarely know how to confront the
problems they face in a manner that is both lawful, good
for their health and in accordance with prevailing cultural
norms.
- Family issues like family breakdown, financial issues,
verbal or physical abuse, is the main issues that present.
Experience of victims with the recruiters
 Some victims are initially used by the recruiters as a lover,
who then intoxicate them with alcohol and drugs, taking a sex
video which is then used as a threat, if the victims refuse to
cooperate with their trafficking to a brothel.
 Some victims are lured by the recruiters with the prospect of a
pleasant life at the beginning, with a lot of money, a holiday
and by using luxury facilities that they never felt before, such
as free shopping, or promises of a nice job and good salary as
a restaurant waitress. But as soon as they arrive, they get
locked up in a room and forced to have sex sometimes when
intoxicated by alcohol or drugs.
 The victims are sometime willing to get drunk or drugs to cope
with sex work and take more customers to pay off their debts.
 Often the victims can't successfully fight back. Some try to
resist but are beaten, get their hair shaved, a gun pointed at
their head several times, and locked at the room to serve the
owner of the brothel.
 The victims who were found to have a sexually transmitted
diseases were excluded.
 When victims want to go back home, they are required to pay
back all their claimed “expenses” like ticket, luxury facilities,
payments to family, accommodation, even clothes they get
from the recruiters
 No matter how much money they receive from customers, this
will never be enough to “repay” their recruiters.
 No one dares to report. If victims ask their family to provide
money, to pay all their so-called “debts,” but then their families
receive threats from the perpetrator while trying to negotiate
their release.
 The victim experience fear because of these threats and feel it
is useless to report their abuse to the authorities, sometimes
because they see the owner and his family wearing police
uniforms.
 The victims also appreciate that attempts to escape are likely
to fail. With corrupt police officers paid bribes to return them.
 Another kind of threat is hearing about missing and dead
persons and descriptions of where the perpetrators dispose of
dead bodies.
The state of the victim after being rescued
1. General difficulties to interact in a healthy way because
they have become very “closed off”
2. Refuse to testify in court,
3. Suffering from trauma affecting their thoughts, feelings,
behavior and physical:
• Thoughts: the memory of the trauma will often reappear,
negative beliefs arise about their rejection by both society and
their family, and no confidence in their future. There can be
intense and variable sense of feeling weak, hopeless, lack of
self-esteem, and trapped. Other negative thoughts include loss
of trust in people, suicide and even homicide
• Feelings: unstable emotional state involving intense anxiety,
fear crying, sense of being “numb,” intense anger, weakness,
defensiveness, feeling both cornered and lonely, etc
• Behaviours: efforts to run away, or physically fight, or
freeze up; to neglect personal safety, and engage in
dangerous activities, either extended sleep or insomnia.
 Can become abusive verbally or physically to others, easily
startled, switching from reaction to overreaction; appetite
and eating issues, suddenly crying hysterically or
screaming, or angry cursing.
 Failed attempt to cry – no tears come out leading to the
frustration and then victims throwing items, harm herself by
punching walls or mirrors, or pulling hair out, or flopping
down on the floor and rolling over; or attempted suicide by
many slice to the hand, drowning in a bathtub, or jumping in
front of a vehicle
 Physical effects: These can include headaches, stomach
ache, back pain or whole body pains, fatigue, heart
palpations, and excessive sweating. Others are breathing
issues, trembling, obesity or dramatic drop in weight
Experience of supporting victims inside and outside
the shelter:
• To support the victims, we employ a team including a
counsellor working with a social worker and director of
clinical care.
• We also provide support through a centre manager,
education team, administrative staff and security
• The aim is to provide better understanding of the victim’s
situation for the optimal support.
• Other goals are to provide feedback for leadership and
policy makers, reminding them of the need to review a
policy that are being massively violated in practice, or to
create new policies to help maximise the care and
support for victims.
General task of counsellor for inside & outside care :
• Working with the clinical team - for the screening and
intake of potential clients, or to carry out the second
intake for victims who have run away from the shelter.
• Assessment: Individual assessment and assessment to
the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Assessment scale to
measure the level of trauma; and identify risk of suicide
and homicide in order to provide a treatment plan to
support victims in their initial stabilization phase, until
their possible reintegration becomes possible
• Working with the victims themselves - to identify her new
positive goals for the short medium and long-term care
plan, and follow up work with the Social Workers to
support the implementation of this plan.
• Stress Management and safety plan skills for victims.
• Counselling sessions and documenting all information
about the victims, may found in the counselling session
or group session, be maintains accurately.
• Supervision and reporting verbally about the victims
progress with the director of care
• Weekly Case Management Meetings with the clinical
team and additional staff to update team.
• Training from counsellor on reading, or watching training
video
Intensive care for Inside the shelter
• We have daily interactions with the victims
• Try to act as positive role model for the victims
• Provide a 2nd family without replacing the victim's real
family
• Intensive Stress Management & safety plan practice to
support victim managing their activities inside & outside.
 E.g., going to the police office, medical check ups, outreach,
going to school or vocational college, meeting with peers, or
family visits, or going to public areas, sports events,
accompanied by a Housemother and sometimes security
staff depending on her phase of care
• More flexible ad hoc provisions for victims needing extra
sessions with counsellor to process the case related with
the trauma issues or conflicts with other residents.
• Collect daily information on victims’progress by checking
the incident report from shelter staff or social worker.
• Create a detailed treatment plan for victims and a
treatment plan information for the public sufficient to give
enough support each victims to face their trauma in a
healthy way, while respecting confidentiality and trust
between counsellor and the victims.
• With the clinical team, security and the attorney,
preparing child victims of sexual trafficking to give court
testimony and accompanying them if requested.
• Setting up a therapy room for counselling sessions and
as a place to store confidential documents which can
only be accessed by a counsellor and director of care
• Setting up a quiet room as a place which could be used
by the victims who experienced an escalation of negative
emotions for her to release these in a healthy, safe and
calming way.
• Or where there is an escalation of trauma the victim
would be accompanied by myself as her counsellor
Care for Outside the shelter:
• Weekly counseling session appointment with the victims
• Create detail treatment plan for victims
Confidentiality issues
• To develop trust from the victim for the counselling
process, confidential information must be safeguarded,
with the exception of life-threatening situations.
• Confidentiality helps the victims reintegrate by not
exposing their past life,
• This works both ways, we do not share our private staff
information or activities to the victims.
• Maintain confidentiality of the shelter’s location to secure
and protect all the victims and caregivers from the
perpetrators who are looking to prevent the victims from
testifying in court and/or bring her back for renewed
abuse.
Challenges in supporting the victims
With the victims
 Supporting extremely traumatised victims to releasing
emotions. Must have enough skill for this type of work
because some victims could be violent - punching, biting,
kicking, self-harming herself.
 Sometimes I’ve got help from the house-mother who is a
tough woman, but when she’s off, there is no back up.
After that incident, counsellors will check with all the
victims.
 Self-harm & then smile afterwards like its nothing.
 Manipulate the caregiver, for example, pressure by
gesture to me as the counsellor, that shows I'm not
capable to doing my role and some case I may even
believe it.
 Or, when the victims notice that caregiver lack confidence
or are weak in some areas, they may treat that person
without respect especially to her social worker or housemother.
• Victims who already accustomed to having a free lifestyle will resist
restrictions imposed during the stabilization phases. There are
additional rules and policies, which do not allow the victims to have her
own phone until her court case is complete and be a good model for
the other victim through the particular phases.
• Not all are able to be a good role model for other victims, some of
them need a long time to complete court testimony an may even
overwhelm them with different negative reactions.
• The general reaction of their case is make them refuse to do their daily
schedule, or being sneaky to break the rules by working with a
member of her family or friends outside the shelter, during the visit to
supply them with a phone and therefore create new issues.
• The lack of policy implementation even where this is required by
domestic legislation to the detriment of victim's rights for example:
• The victims face difficulties worshipping according to her religion.
• Loss of staff because of pressure - we had 6 staff leave who had
higher knowledge - and this creates additional stress for the victims
who already have that staff in mind as a family member.
• Victims who are worried about her family members will ask to go back
home as soon as possible even where their care is not completed.
Issues with the system of care
• Inadequate facilities, especially tools that could be used as an
aid to release negative emotions safely.
• Caregivers breaking internal policies causing additional pain
for the victims especially during the stabilisation phase and
leading to an extra work for the counsellor
• Breaches of confidentiality allowing perpetrators to find it and
create terror and threat.
• In another case one our security staff was kidnapped by the
perpetrator and beaten in way a that resulted later in his death.
This incident caused caregivers to feel fear for their personal
safety.
• Loss of of Director of Care. This circumstance removes a
mediator between counsellor and the social workers about the
changes in the level of achievement of residents.
• There is a silent competition between the victims in the shelter
to be recognised as the best in everything because her desires
to receive compliments, attention, and love
Issues outside the shelter
• During the intake we are in the same room with the
perpetrator and the victims and the supporters of the
perpetrator, and victim’s family.
• Only sometimes possible to get more privacy which
means we cannot get get the best and accurate answers
from the victim.
• Perpetrator & their supporters intimidating victims.
• The media wanting confidential information or pictures of
victims.
• Be extra careful about travelling to the shelter in case we
are being followed.
• Top leader’s requesting counsellors to work off-duty, such
as
 For intake screening at night or very early morning with social
workers
 Accompanying the victim after surgery to spending night at
the hospital
 Need extra counselling session for client undergoing
escalation
• To sit beside the child in the trial to support the victims, the
judge will ask to clarify my own personal identity and this is
read out in court allowing the perpetrators to hear, that
also undermines confidentiality, and creates a danger.
• Counselling session with outside care victims is subject to
excessive intervention from family, friends, and lack of
private place to carry out the counselling sessions.
• Most victims receiving outside care do not accomplish their
care plan with counsellor & social worker. Most of them
become pregnant or married very soon, or loose contact
with the caregiver.
Special concerns
 There are cases where there is not enough support to
protect the victims, to give sufficiently intensive care
 That victim must go back to live with the family because
the family won't sign the care agreement and are legally
allowed to do this.
Possible sanctions:
• When the victim breaks a rule, their rewards get cut and access is
forbidden for a while
• When the caregiver made a mistake, the top leader will impose
warning and punishment, the final measure would be being fired from
job
• If the centre of care is negligent the law or guidelines about child
protection and the rights of the victims come into play and may
conflict ith the rights of the caregiver
Secondary trauma or compassion fatigue:
Too much empathy can be problematic for the care giver,
creating attachment with victims and a danger of
experiencing symptom of secondary trauma or compassion
fatigue, such as :
- Thoughts: personal depression, adrenalin rushes, old
wounds re-open, flashbacks, daydreams, denial, and
feeling unsuccessful in helping the victims, Nightmares
involving a victims fearful
- Behaviour: Overworking, appetite decrease or increase,
feeling sleepy, unsuccessful attempts at separating
professional work from personal life
- Feeling: guilt, shame, unfulfilled, estranged from others
- Physical symptoms: Sleeplessness, body weight
increased or decreased drastically panic or anxiety
attacks, hyper vigilance, hyper alert, easily startled
Secondary trauma or compassion fatigue:
 If the caregiver can't handle these issues, that will
interfere with her concentration at work
 It can also become problematic in her relationship with
the family, the community, and religion.
 This can result in lack of attention to self-care and other
related damage.
I hope this experience and information will be useful to
everyone who working in this area to create better
assistance and maximum support for the victims of sexual
trafficking.
May God bless,
Thank you!