REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- The Indonesian Embassy in Damascus will repatriate 30 Indonesian migrant workers via Lebanon's capital, Beirut, on Wednesday (July 15).

Based on information received by Antara from the Indonesian Embassy in Damascus, since the airport in Damascus, Syria, is not secure, hence the repatriation of the group of migrant workers will be carried out through Beirut, Lebanon, and the process will then be handled by the Indonesian Embassy in Beirut.

The group of 30 Indonesian migrant workers, including five from West Java and West Nusa Tenggara who are the victims of human trafficking, have been successfully rescued, and the Embassy in Damascus will help them to get their rights.

Meanwhile, until July 13, a total of 80 migrant workers, of which 25 are the victims of human trafficking, are still fighting for their rights in the embassy's temporary shelters in Damascus.

Indonesian Ambassador to Syria Djoko Harjanto stated that the main mission of the Embassy in Damascus, Syria, is to protect and repatriate the Indonesian citizens.

Since September 2011, due to the deteriorating security situation in Syria, the Indonesian Government has imposed a moratorium on sending workers and has repatriated all Indonesian nationals from Syria.

The Indonesian Government has established that the migrant workers who entered Syria after the moratorium period on September 2011 are the victims of human trafficking.

According to the Indonesian embassy's spokesperson A.M. Sidqi, one of the biggest repatriation challenges faced is the constant influx of Indonesian migrant workers into Syria, despite the country being in a state of war.

Currently, about seven new victims of human trafficking are taking shelter at the Indonesian Embassy in Damascus, daily.

Most of them have come through illegal agents from Oman whose working contracts have expired.

Taking into account the current situation, the repatriation of Indonesian migrant workers from Syria will not be an easy task.

Based on records, as many as 7,786 Indonesian migrant workers have been repatriated from Syria since 2011.

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