Dewi Hughes (Desak Made Hughesia Dewi)

A television personality, Dewi Hughes became the spokesperson for a Campaign to Eliminate the Trafficking of Indonesian Women and Children.

In the early 2000s, the American Center for International Labor Solidarity (ACILS) and the International Catholic Migration Commission (ICMC), partnered with the Ministry of Women’s Empowerment to create a campaign against the trafficking of women and children in Indonesia. The Minister of Women’s Empowerment appointed Dewi Hughes, well-known to the general public because of her acclaimed talk show, as the ambassador and spokesperson for the campaign. She took that role very seriously, and pursued the task of building public awareness diligently. Her status as a celebrity, and her talk show, have led to comparisons between her and the US-based talk show host Oprah Winfrey.

While she was the spokesperson for the campaign, she built awareness through various forms of media, attended conferences and meetings, met with important personages, and provided whatever other support she could. She was able to use the forum of her talk show to consistently bring this issue before the public eye. She was active in some disaster relief post-tsunami, in 2004. She also was vocally supportive of the anti-trafficking bill introduced in Indonesia that same year. In 2005, she was honored as a "TIP Report Hero Acting to End Modern Slavery" in recognition of her efforts to combat human trafficking. After the campaign came to an end, she furthered her education, created her own foundation, and has been active in speaking out about education and parenting.

In the 2014 TIP Report, Indonesia was listed as a Tier 2 country. It is primarily a source country, but has also been used as both a transit and a destination country. Sex trafficking occurs both internally and abroad, children are trafficked for domestic servitude and sexual purposes, and forced labor is also an issue. The government is taking steps to combat the issue, but more must be done before they will fully comply with the minimum requirements for combatting human trafficking.