Evaluating State Negligence in Preventing Human Trafficking Syndicates Targeting Women and Children to Ensure The Effective Implementation of Victim Recovery

Abstract

The crime of human trafficking, which disproportionately targets vulnerable groups, particularly women and children, is no longer merely an ordinary transnational crime. Rather, it has evolved into one of the gravest human rights violations of the modern era. Amid the increasing sophistication and organization of trafficking networks, the role of the state has come under serious scrutiny. Both constitutional principles and international legal instruments unequivocally mandate that the state bears the primary responsibility to prevent exploitation and to ensure the recovery of victims. Nevertheless, empirical evidence demonstrates the existence of state omission, whereby systemic failures in border surveillance, weak early detection mechanisms at the grassroots level, and tolerance of collusive practices in the issuance of identity documents have effectively created opportunities for criminal syndicates to operate with impunity. This article specifically examines the dimensions of state negligence and correlates them with the systemic failure to implement recovery rights for women and children who have survived human trafficking. This research employs a normative legal (juridical-normative) research method, utilizing conceptual and statutory approaches to identify structural weaknesses within Law Number 21 of 2007 concerning the Eradication of the Criminal Act of Human Trafficking. The findings reveal that failures in upstream prevention directly burden downstream victim recovery efforts. The enforcement of victims' recovery rights particularly the right to restitution financial compensation paid by offenders has proven largely ineffective. This is primarily attributable to regulatory weaknesses that allow perpetrators to substitute restitution payments with relatively short subsidiary imprisonment. Furthermore, the limited capacity of law enforcement agencies to conduct asset tracing Evaluating State Negligence in Preventing ……………………. (Jefri Hardish) 1 LICS 2026 Topic: Strengthening Legal Frameworks for Combating Human Trafficking and Enhancing Protection of Women and Children during the early stages of criminal investigations leaves offenders' assets beyond the reach of the justice system. Consequently, victims whose lives have been irreparably damaged often receive no financial compensation, thereby increasing the risk of secondary victimization and repeated exploitation to address this legal deadlock, this study proposes a reconstruction of state responsibility grounded in the principle of comprehensive restorative justice.