Sleeping among cockroaches on filthy mattresses. Working 14 hours a day in cramped and dangerous kitchens to earn 25 euros. These were the conditions in which 35 illegal immigrants from Indonesia were found to be living at various addresses in The Hague, Gouda and Rotterdam. The media called it modern-day slavery. The charge brought in the trial which starts today reads “human trafficking”.

By Sebastiaan Gottlieb and Fediya Andina

In tiny kitchens where exposed electrical wiring was hanging from the walls, the Indonesians had to bake rice cakes and make chilli paste for Indonesian restaurants in the Netherlands. They were lured to the prosperous Netherlands by a network of human traffickers with the promise of well-paid work in a shoe factory in The Hague and the prospect of a permanent contract. Each person paid the traffickers around 5000 euros for the journey to the Netherlands, a two-week visa and the promise of a decent wage.

Human trafficking
At the court in The Hague, six suspects are facing charges of human trafficking, people smuggling and violating the food and consumer products act. Four of them are Surinam Javanese, the other two are a man and a woman from Indonesia. The Indonesian woman is reportedly in a relationship with the key suspect from Surinam.

Budi, one of the Indonesian victims, is prepared to testify against his former boss. He wants others to learn from his ordeal. An agent in Jakarta promised him he would receive 25 euros for four hours’ work. He came to Europe to earn money to pay off his debts. His wife is ill and he was unable to pay the medical bills. The agent arranged his passport, visa and flight to Paris.

"From there I took the train to the Netherlands and was met at the station by the boss’s right-hand man. I was taken to an address in The Hague where an Indonesian woman lived. I had to give her money. Then the man took me to the workplace."

Golden future
Together with other illegal immigrants from Indonesia, Budi had to make banana chips and prawn crackers. In the first month he only worked five days and earned 125 euros. But he had to pay that money back to his boss for a place to sleep. It was only thanks to a little extra money he had brought with him from Indonesia that he was able to eat. Usually that amounted to nothing more than noodle soup and the leftovers that fellow immigrants brought back from a restaurant where they worked. It was a far cry from the golden future he had been promised.

The suspect’s lawyer, Mr Van Duijne Strobosch, concedes that the victims worked in very poor conditions but he maintains that the charge of human trafficking cannot be proven.

"The defence will emphasise the fact that these people came willingly. They were free to come and go as they pleased. They were given a place to sleep in exchange for a sum of money. Admittedly, they were not paid in accordance with the minimum wage as it applies to Dutch citizens."

Local residents
The case came to light thanks to tips by local residents in The Hague. In July last year, the first eleven illegal Indonesian immigrants were detained. They were found living and sleeping in an extremely hot and filthy kitchen on the top floor of two houses. Inspectors found cockroaches under everything they picked up. The food prepared there was sold to small Indonesian grocery shops in The Hague.

Later, other Indonesians put to work in similar conditions were arrested at addresses in Rotterdam and Gouda. They earned no more than 200 euros a month and were not allowed to work more than eight days a month. This kept them dependent on the people who had brought them to the Netherlands. And if any of them did decide to go it alone, replacements were simply brought in from Indonesia.