Reconstruction of Legal Protection for Victims of Human Trafficking Crimes Based on Law Number 21 of 2007 Based on Human Rights

Abstract

This study aims to analyze and reconstruct a model of legal protection for victims of human trafficking under Law Number 21 of 2007 from a human rights perspective. Although Indonesia has ratified the Palermo Protocol and possesses a relatively complete legal framework, the fulfillment of victims' rights particularly restitution, compensation, and rehabilitation remains minimal and procedurally constrained. A normative juridical method was employed using statutory, conceptual, and comparative approaches, with legal materials analyzed qualitatively. The findings reveal that legal protection is not yet optimal because the restitution mechanism lacks an enforcement guarantee, the victim's position within the criminal justice system remains marginal, and the normative orientation is still retributive rather than victimcentred. A reconstruction grounded in human rights values is therefore required, namely by strengthening the imperative character of restitution, integrating victim recovery into state responsibility, and harmonizing Law Number 21 of 2007 with Law Number 31 of 2014 and the National Criminal Code.