Sex Trafficking Disguised as Secret Marriage: Dr. Zezen’s Lecture at SOAS University of London

Through his lecture at SOAS University of London on February 26, 2025, Dr. Zezen Zaenal Mutaqin, a distinguished scholar from the Universitas Islam Internasional Indonesia (UIII), shed light on the unsettling reality of sexual trafficking disguised as secret marriages in Indonesia. 

Organized by the SOAS Centre of South East Asian Studies, his lecture critically examined the exploitative practices occurring in the Puncak area of West Java, where forced marriage, prostitution, and trafficking persist under the guise of cultural and religious legitimacy. 

Drawing from his extensive field research, interviews, and direct observations, Dr. Zezen revealed how trafficking in the region operates behind a framework of legal and religious pretexts. By employing what he termed ‘trafficking framing,’ perpetrators manipulate legal loopholes and cultural traditions to mask coercion, allowing the exploitation of vulnerable individuals to persist largely unchallenged.  

Read more: Forced Marriage and Sex Trafficking under the Guise of Nikah Siri in Indonesia 

“The concept of ‘nikah siri’ or unregistered secret marriages, has long been debated in Indonesia. While often presented as a religiously sanctioned practice, our finding show that it has been weaponized to facilitate sex trafficking,” Dr. Zezen said. 

As human trafficking remains one of the most pressing global challenges, Dr. Zezen’s presentation was an urgent call to confront the systemic tolerance that enables these practices. He argued that addressing this issue requires more than policy changes. It demands a fundamental shift in societal attitudes and legal interpretations that currently allow trafficking to thrive under a religious and cultural shield. 

Dr. Zezen’s lecture not only exposed the harsh realities of trafficking in Indonesia but also inspired critical discourse on how societies can dismantle structures that enable such injustices. By unveiling the mechanisms that obscure human trafficking within accepted practices, his work calls for a collective awakening, a demand for action to protect the most vulnerable and redefine the boundaries of justice in the modern world. 

Source: https://www.soas.ac.uk/about/event/sexual-trafficking-under-guise-secret-marriage-indonesia 

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