Press Statement of President of the Republic of Indonesia, Labuan Bajo, West Manggarai Regency, East Nusa Tenggara Province, May 8, 2023
Assalamu’alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh,
Good afternoon,
May prosperity be upon us all,
I am going to convey three matters today: first, regarding human trafficking, second regarding Myanmar, and third, regarding the evacuation of Indonesian citizens from Sudan.
Related to human trafficking. One of the topics of discussion that Indonesia proposed at the [42nd ASEAN] Summit was combating human trafficking, particularly online scams. It is a critical issue and I deliberately proposed it because the victims of this type of crime are ASEAN citizens, most of whom are Indonesian citizens.
The Indonesian Government has recently rescued 20 Indonesian victims of human trafficking from Myanmar. This was an extremely hard task because it was located in a conflict-hit area. On May 5, the Philippine authority and representatives of other countries, including Indonesia, also successfully rescued 1048 people from 10 different countries, including 143 people from Indonesia.
Let me stress that human trafficking, from top to bottom, must be rooted out. Once again, it must be completely rooted out. To that end, the Summit will adopt a document on cooperation in combating human trafficking caused by abuse of technology.
Second, regarding Myanmar. The situation in Myanmar remains highly complicated because the conflict has lasted for more than seven decades. Indonesia as Chair of ASEAN will continue to push for the implementation of the Five-Point Consensus, one of which is regarding humanitarian assistance.
We have made multiple efforts. Thank God, through the chairmanship in ASEAN Indonesia is able to facilitate the AHA Center and after a long delay due to access problems, the joint needs assessment could be completed. So, the problem is due to the access. A few days ago, the AHA Center accompanied by the ASEAN monitoring team would hand over humanitarian aid, but a shooting incident happened in the middle of the trip.
I’d like to emphasize that the incident will never dampen the spirit of ASEAN and Indonesia to reassert our call to end the violence. Stop using force, stop using violence because it is the people who will become the victims since this is a no-win situation.
I’d like to invite all of us to sit together, to create a space for dialogue to find a common solution.
Lastly, regarding the evacuation operation of Indonesian citizens from Sudan. Amid the difficulties we faced there, the Indonesian Government managed to evacuate Indonesian citizens from Sudan. As of today, we have evacuated 969 Indonesian citizens, 936 of whom are safely back home and 33 people already in a safe place outside Sudan. We will continue improving and strengthening measures to protect Indonesian citizens.
That concludes my statement.
I thank you.
Wassalamu’alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.
(AY/EP)