Covid-19 has worsened child sex trafficking in Indonesia, including resort paradise Bali
- Indonesian authorities have recorded an increase in human trafficking cases this year, while child exploitation is also on the rise
- Activists say trafficking is also rife in Bali and there has been a rise in online prostitution via chat messaging apps
Juwita* thought she had met “the one” when she encountered Tio* on Facebook’s Messenger app in 2019.
Then aged 16 and a secondary school student in Denpasar, the capital of Indonesia’s resort island of Bali, Juwita spent much of her time online.
She thought Tio, 20, sounded warm and caring and after exchanging hundreds of messages over the course of a few weeks, they finally agreed to meet up, spending hours together at tourism hotspots around Bali.
Then, Tio began asking Juwita to live with him in a small rented room in Denpasar. At first, the teenager declined, saying she was still schooling and her parents would be upset.
“But he was angry and threatened me. I was so scared that he would leave me so I stayed with him,” Juwita said.
Soon, the couple ran out of money to pay rent and buy food. And it was then that Tio came up with the idea of setting up an account on Singapore-based messaging app Michat. The app allows people to communicate with strangers and Tio suggested Juwita offer prostitution services, which are illegal in Indonesia.
I was his walking ATM
Juwita refused at first but gave in when her father, the family’s sole breadwinner, lost his job as a tour guide during the Covid-19 pandemic.
