Corporate Civil Liability in Human Trafficking: Reconstructing Victims' Compensation under Indonesian Private Law

Abstract

Human trafficking has evolved into an increasingly complex transnational crime involving not only individual offenders but also corporate actors operating through labour recruitment, outsourcing arrangements, and global supply chains. Although Indonesia has strengthened its legal framework through Law Number 21 of 2007 concerning the Eradication of the Criminal Act of Human Trafficking, the existing legal regime remains predominantly oriented toward criminal prosecution, while the development of corporate civil liability and effective victims' compensation under Indonesian private law remains limited. This study aims to analyse the structural limitations of the current legal framework and to reconstruct a model of corporate civil liability capable of strengthening victims' compensation in Indonesia. Employing normative legal research, this study adopts statutory, conceptual, and comparative approaches by examining Indonesian legislation, international legal instruments, legal doctrines, and comparative legal developments concerning corporate accountability and business and human rights. The findings demonstrate that the principal weakness of Indonesia's anti-trafficking framework lies not in the absence of criminal sanctions but in the insufficient integration of corporate civil liability within victims' compensation mechanisms. To address this gap, this study proposes an Integrated Corporate Civil Liability Framework consisting of five interrelated pillars: Victim-Centred Justice, Corporate Accountability, Integrated Private Law Remedies, Institutional Coordination, and Business and Human Rights Integration. This framework contributes to the development of Indonesian private law by integrating anti-trafficking legislation with corporate accountability principles and restorative justice, thereby providing a more coherent legal basis for strengthening victims' access to effective compensation while promoting responsible corporate conduct.