Victim support: A perspective from

IndonesiaBy: Mariantje Margareth Kamasi

• 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

Introduction:

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.

Legal Framework

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)

Inter-agency cooperation

• 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.

Victim's background

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.

Experience of victims with the recruiters

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.

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

The state of the victim after being rescued

• 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

• 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.

Experience of supporting victims inside and outside the shelter:

• 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.

General task of counsellor for inside & outside care :

• 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

• 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

Intensive care for Inside the shelter

• 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

• Weekly counseling session appointment with the victims

• Create detail treatment plan for victims

Care for Outside the shelter:

• 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.

Confidentiality issues

With the victimsSupporting 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 house-mother.

Challenges in supporting the victims

• 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.

• 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 with the system of care

• 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.

Issues outside the shelter

• Top leader’s requesting counsellors to work off-duty, such asFor intake screening at night or very early morning with

social workersAccompanying the victim after surgery to spending night

at the hospitalNeed 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.

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.

Special concerns

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

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!

Secondary trauma or compassion fatigue: