Environmental Justice and Protection of Coastal Communities from Human Trafficking

Abstract

This study aims to analyze how environmental justice can protect Indonesian coastal communities from human trafficking and forced labor, using the case of the sea fence in Tangerang Regency as an illustration. The fisheries sector is a known site for forced labor and human trafficking, where fishing vessel crews experience debt bondage, withheld wages, and slavery-like conditions. At the same time, coastal development that dispossesses fishing grounds from fishing communities destroys their livelihoods and deepens the economic desperation exploited by traffickers. A normativejuridical method, grounded in a socio-legal perspective, is used, combining legal and conceptual approaches based on primary legal materials and peer-reviewed journals. The findings indicate that environmental injustice-the degradation of coastal ecosystems and the privatization of marine space without environmental impact assessments or public participation-and human trafficking are interconnected: the loss of legitimate livelihoods pushes vulnerable groups toward exploitative work at sea. Based on the constitutional mandate that natural resources must be used for the welfare of the people and the value of environmental justice, this study concludes that protecting coastal ecosystems and the rights of fishing communities is itself an action against human trafficking, particularly women and children.