Yogyakarta (ANTARA) - Non-procedural migrant workers (PMI) are increasingly using tourist visas to go abroad for work, Deputy Minister of Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers (P2MI) Christina Aryani revealed.
"There is indeed a trend; the number continues to increase from time to time," she said after opening a coordination meeting for the prevention of human trafficking here on Tuesday.
She informed that the P2MI Ministry does not have the exact number of non-procedural migrant workers, including those in Cambodia and Myanmar, as they left illegally.
"We do not have any valid data (on the number of non-procedural migrant workers). Indonesian citizens departing via immigration crossings can be tourists, so there is no way to classify whether it is true they are really going there or not," she said.
Her side suspects that the non-procedural migrant workers are mostly recruited through social media.
"This is why it is happening; there is massive recruitment carried out through social media," Aryani said.
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The victims, most of whom are young people, get lured easily and leave without thoroughly verifying the job advertisements on social media, she added. Moreover, she said, they can easily leave for Cambodia and Myanmar using tourist visas. "They can depart very easily without the work visa," she added.
People who go and seek jobs abroad without going through official procedures are vulnerable to falling victim to human trafficking, she said. After they are employed illegally, usually in Cambodia or Myanmar, it will be difficult to repatriate them, Aryani pointed out.
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Therefore, she warned the public to not be easily tempted by job offers on social media. She asked them to verify whether the offers are genuine with the help of the Indonesian Migrant Worker Protection Service Agency (BP3MI).
