Indonesia Issues - 2023

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES 

Disputes - international

Indonesia has a stated foreign policy objective of establishing stable fixed land and maritime boundaries with all of its neighbors; three stretches of land borders with Timor-Leste have yet to be delimited, two of which are in the Oecussi exclave area, and no maritime or Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) boundaries have been established between the countries; all borders between Indonesia and Australia have been agreed upon bilaterally, but a 1997 treaty that would settle the last of their maritime and EEZ boundary has yet to be ratified by Indonesia's legislature; Indonesian groups challenge Australia's claim to Ashmore Reef; Australia has closed parts of the Ashmore and Cartier Reserve to Indonesian traditional fishing and placed restrictions on certain catches; land and maritime negotiations with Malaysia are ongoing, and disputed areas include the controversial Tanjung Datu and Camar Wulan border area in Borneo and the maritime boundary in the Ambalat oil block in the Celebes Sea; Indonesia and Singapore continue to work on finalizing their 1973 maritime boundary agreement by defining unresolved areas north of Indonesia's Batam Island; Indonesian secessionists, squatters, and illegal migrants create repatriation problems for Papua New Guinea; maritime delimitation talks continue with Palau; EEZ negotiations with Vietnam are ongoing, and the two countries in Fall 2011 agreed to work together to reduce illegal fishing along their maritime boundary

Refugees and internally displaced persons

refugees (country of origin): 5,684 (Afghanistan) (mid-year 2022)

IDPs: 73,000 (inter-communal, inter-faith, and separatist violence between 1998 and 2004 in Aceh and Papua; religious attacks and land conflicts in 2007 and 2013; most IDPs in Aceh, Maluku, East Nusa Tengarra) (2021)

stateless persons: 866 (2022)

Trafficking in persons

tier rating: Tier 2 Watch List — Indonesia does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so; Indonesia supported the repatriation of migrant workers—including some who were exploited in trafficking abroad—referred some victims to social services, implemented the 2017 Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers law, concluded a memorandum of understanding with Malaysia on worker protections, and increased funding for victim and witness protection services; however, the government did not demonstrate overall increasing efforts compared to the previous year to expand its anti-trafficking capacity; investigations and convictions decreased for the fifth and fourth consecutive years, respectively; officials did not take steps to address official complicity in trafficking crimes; the lack of systematic identification procedures hindered proactive identification of victims; protection services remained inadequate; the government did not fully prioritize staffing or funding for effective oversight of sectors with pervasive trafficking problems; the 2007 anti-trafficking law was inconsistent with international law on what constitutes child sex trafficking crimes; therefore, Indonesia was downgraded to Tier 2 Watch List (2022)

trafficking profile: human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in Indonesia, as well as Indonesians abroad; officials estimate that more than two million Indonesians working abroad—many of whom are women working in the domestic sector—are undocumented or overstayed their visas, increasing their risk to trafficking; traffickers exploit many Indonesians through force and debt-based coercion in Asia (particularly in China, South Korea, and Singapore) and the Middle East (particularly in Saudi Arabia), primarily in domestic work, factories, construction, and manufacturing, as well as on Malaysian oil palm plantations and fishing vessels throughout the Indian and Pacific Oceans; Indonesian labor traffickers exploit adults and children in fishing, fish processing, construction, on oil palm or other plantations, and in mining and manufacturing; women and girls are exploited in forced labor in domestic service, and children may be subject to forced criminality in the illicit drug industry; sex traffickers use spas, hotels, bars, and other businesses to facilitate sex trafficking, and up to 30 percent of individuals in commercial sex in Indonesia are female child sex victims; women and girls are also exploited in sex trafficking near mining operations, and Bali is a destination for Indonesians and foreigners engaged in child sex tourism; sex traffickers exploit Indonesian women and girls abroad primarily in Malaysia, Taiwan, and the Middle East (2022)

Illicit drugs

major transit point and destination for illicit narcotics; a destination for methamphetamine, ecstasy, and other illicit drugs; methamphetamine production facilities within Indonesia 

 

 

NOTE: The information regarding Indonesia on this page is re-published from the 2023 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Indonesia 2023 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Indonesia 2023 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.