Lawsuit Based on Tort (Unlawful Acts) as an Instrument for The Recovery of Material Losses for Women Victims of Human Trafficking

Abstract

The practice of forced labor disguised as an internship program for vocational high school (SMK) students constitutes a form of child exploitation and human rights violation that is concealed under the legality of vocational education. This study aims to examine legal gaps in labor regulations, analyze weaknesses in the field supervision system, and formulate ideas for legal reconstruction based on child protection principles. Using a normative legal research method with statutory and conceptual approaches, this study highlights weaknesses in the Labor Law and its derivative regulations, which do not strictly define the ratio between study time and practical work. The results show that this normative ambiguity, combined with sectoral ego and a tendency to shift responsibility between the Manpower Office and the Education Office, has created a jurisdictional vacuum. This gap is systematically exploited by corporations to extract child labor as if they were production workers without providing wages or social security rights. As a solution, this study recommends a radical regulatory reconstruction through the establishment of an Integrated Inter-Agency Supervisory Team (Manpower Office, Education Office, and the Indonesian Child Protection Commission), tightening the maximum limit of physical practical work to 4–5 hours per day, and implementing criminal sanctions under the Human Trafficking Law (TPPO), along with civil restitution obligations for corporations proven to engage in exploitation.