October 2017 – NEXUS Institute is pleased to join the Indonesian Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection (MoWECP) and the Indonesian Ministry of Social Affairs (MoSA) in announcing the publication of Moving On. Family and Community Reintegration Among Indonesian Trafficking Victims, authored by Rebecca Surtees, NEXUS Senior Researcher.
A trafficking victim’s escape or exit from exploitation is a significant moment. It signals safety, freedom and a way back to one’s life, family and community after months and even years of exploitation and abuse. But “moving on” from trafficking is not uncomplicated. Rather, it is, commonly, a complex, taxing and complicated process that involves significant challenges and setbacks along the way. This study explores the different levels at which reintegration takes place – individual, family and community – and the (often different, sometimes contradictory) actions and reactions within families and communities over the course of recovery and reintegration. It also outlines some of the tensions, issues and challenges faced within family and community settings during reintegration, issues that are often multi-layered, mutually reinforcing and coterminous.
This study, the final in a series of three research studies by the NEXUS Institute on the reintegration of trafficking victims in Indonesia, was undertaken in the framework of a multi-year research project supported by the United States Department of State’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons. This research series examines the uncertain and precarious path toward recovery and reintegration faced by many victims of human trafficking in Indonesia, detailing the lives and experiences of more than 100 Indonesian trafficking victims (both those who had been formally identified and those who remain unidentified) before, during and after trafficking.