Indonesia Daily life of underage sex workers for ECPAT
In this area of North Jakarta, hundreds of underage girls work as sex workers from 8pm to 4am in cafes like the one in this image. Most of them come from outside Jakarta, being previously sold by their parents to pimps, for around 1500USD for a virgin.
Once sold, the girls are brought to the pimp's house in bigger cities. In this house in East Jakarta, live 8 teenage girls, in two makeshift rooms with no windows. To leave the house for other purposes than work, they need the permission of their pimp.
At around 7pm, they start preparing for the night ahead, putting on heavy makeup to make their faces look more mature.
Teenage sex workers with their clients in a brothel in Jakarta. The transactions are made here, then they are taken by the clients to hotels in the area.
In a fancy karaoke club area in Bandung, underage girls work as entertainers. They can be booked by clients for entertaining in private karaoke booths. On another floor of the same building there is a club where the girls approach potential clients.
3am in a club in Bandung, West Java, a girl falls asleep on the bar before the closing hour. Heavy drinking and drugs are often involved.
The pimps who don't own a cafe send the sex workers to pick up clients close to the railway or along the road. In this area of East Jakarta, the price for a sex worker's services is approximately 150.000 IDR (15 USD) per hour.
Along the road, on the other side of the railway's fence, there are lots of stalls where the girls sell tea in the open and alcohol under the table to attract clients.
A teenage sex worker waits for her clients along a railway in East Jakarta.
Teenage sex workers wait for their clients in a brothel area in Jakarta. Hundreds of underage girls work as sex workers in cafes like the one in this image. Most of them have been trafficked, in many cases sold by their parents to pimps.
A police raid in a club area in Surabaya, the town with the largest number of sex workers in Indonesia. People, motorcycles, alcohol and drugs were brought to the police station. All the clubs in the area were closed for that evening.
Two underage sex workers walk on a street in a club area during a police raid. They were not arrested, as they had identification papers stating that their age is above 18. It is a common practice for pimps to make fake ID cards for the underage sex workers.
The police car is filled with teenagers without identification papers, during a police raid in Surabaya, East Java. They were taken to the police station to be picked up from there by their families. THE POLICE CAR IS FILLED WITH TEENAGERS WITHOUT IDENTIFICATION PAPERS DURING A POLICE RAID IN SURABAYA, EAST JAVA. THEY WERE TAKEN TO THE POLICE STATION TO BE PICKED UP FROM THERE BY THEIR FAMILIES.
A 13 years old girl, married and with a 5 months old baby, is one of the few teenage girls I met in a village in Indramayu, West Java. The options offered by her parents when she was 11 were to get married or to be sold into sex work.
The teenage girls caught by the police during raids are sometimes taken to shelters managed by local NGOs. Nur (not her real name) is 17 years old, started working as a sex worker at the age of 15, and stopped 6 months ago. She now studies at a vocational school in tourism. In this image she was putting on makeup to go visit her mom.
Victims of child trafficking hang out in their room at a shelter for trafficked persons in Surabaya, the city with the largest number of sex workers in Indonesia.
Most of the trafficked teenagers come from broken families. Fitri (not her real name) grew up in an orphanage. After leaving the orphanage and working as a sex worker she became pregnant and, with the help of the NGO running the shelter, wants to raise her child as a single mother.
Teenage girls at a shelter in Surabaya, East Java, learn how to read the Al'Quran and take psychological counselling every day. Some of them work voluntarily for the centre.
At another local NGO, in East Jakarta, teenage girls from the area attend a batik painting class. This is an education program aimed to offer them an alternative job. As they still work as sex workers, their pimp follows them to this class.
Alya (not her real name), 16 years old, stopped working as a sex worker and is slowly returning to a normal teenage life. She is being registered back in school. She started wearing again a Muslim headscarf, after years in which she did't consider herself worthy of wearing it.