PRIMAGUNG DARY RILIANANDA

This project was developed from an assignment for Mensen met een Missie in Timor, East Nusa Tenggara on June 2023.

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This work portrays the realities of human trafficking in Indonesia. Driven by structural poverty, the vulnerable find themselves compelled to embark on dangerous decisions, often with the hope of a better life for their families. They become the target of illegal migrant worker agents who always take advantage of their desperation, worsened by a lack of government support and awareness in remote regions.

The bitter truth unfolds later – more than 1,900 Indonesian migrant workers lost their lives over the past three years because of the torture, exhaustion, and exploitation by employers and agents abroad. East Nusa Tenggara emerges as the fifth-largest contributor with the deaths of 700 migrant workers from 2014 until 2022.

Timor, one of the primary islands among the 1,192 islands in East Nusa Tenggara, stands as the gateway for migrant workers, both legal and illegal, who journey by air or sea. This story distills the lives of survivors and the families of victims who now strive to rebuild their lives on this island while grappling with deep-seated trauma, and the efforts that have been made at every level to eradicate this grievous problem to its deepest roots.

It is a visual narrative that brings the voices of these resilient souls and the enduring quest for hope and justice.