Transformative Constitutionalism: Reconceptualizing State Responsibility for Protecting Women and Children Against Human Trafficking in Indonesia

Abstract

Human trafficking constitutes a serious violation of human rights that disproportionately affects women and children and poses a significant challenge to the state's constitutional obligation to protect fundamental rights. Although Indonesia has established a legal framework through the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia and Law Number 21 of 2007 on the Eradication of the Crime of Human Trafficking, the implementation of victim protection remains inadequate. This study aims to examine the state's responsibility in protecting women and children from human trafficking through the perspective of transformative constitutionalism and to reconceptualize a more comprehensive model of state responsibility. This research employs a normative legal research method using statutory, conceptual, and comparative approaches, with qualitative analysis based on library research. The findings demonstrate that state responsibility should extend beyond criminal law enforcement to encompass constitutional obligations to prevent trafficking, protect victims, prosecute offenders, and ensure victims' recovery. This study proposes the Constitutional Transformative Responsibility model, which integrates the principles of transformative constitutionalism, positive obligations, due diligence, and the human rights-based approach into a comprehensive constitutional framework for strengthening the protection of women and children against human trafficking in Indonesia.