The award was granted by the Non-Resident Overseas Association of Bengal (NROAB), an umbrella organization for Bengali diaspora. “I am Indian first, but I am also proud to be a Bengali,” he said while receiving the award. “In Indonesia, my work with the International Catholic Migration Commission (ICMC) relates mainly to trafficking in persons. Like everywhere else in the world, low education, poverty and gender discrimination within Indonesian communities make women and girls more vulnerable to trafficking.”

Since 2005, Dasgupta has been engaged in numerous ICMC projects in Indonesia aimed at strengthening the capacity of government authorities and civil society organizations to address human trafficking, including through trauma counseling, legal aid and repatriation assistance to survivors. Under Dasgupta’s leadership, ICMC anti-human trafficking programmes are further making an impact in the form of an innovative cross-border project between Indonesia and Malaysia that facilitates collaboration between governments in countries of both origin and destination.

Co-author of the book When they were sold: Trafficking of women and girls in 15 provinces of Indonesia, Dasgupta notes that the trafficking of Indonesian women and girls is spurred largely by the demand for domestic work abroad, and by the local sex industry. Family debts and debts incurred to cover the costs of international migration are two major factors contributing to the likelihood that vulnerable women and girls may be subjected to exploitative work and/or confinement. Men and boys are frequently trafficked to palm oil plantations.

Indonesian migrant workers send an estimated 4-5 billion USD in remittances back to Indonesia annually, yet traffickers and unscrupulous recruitment agencies are estimated to retain an average of between one-fourth and one-fifth of their individual income. In addition to financial exploitation, migrant workers are frequently harassed and abused mentally, physically and/or sexually.

While Dasgupta praised recent initiatives taken by the Government of Indonesia to improve the working conditions of Indonesian migrant workers—more than three-fourths of whom are women—more work remains to be done, particularly for those lured into the adult entertainment sector.

When asked if trafficking in persons can be eradicated, Dasgupta says, “I have worked for almost thirty years believing that human trafficking can be eradicated. I believe one day we shall be able to stop trafficking. What gives me hope is that more and more people are taking up the cause every day.”

ICMC staff honoured for dedication to anti-human trafficking work (2.63 MB)