The Role of the Local Church in Anti-Trafficking Governance in Sumba, Indonesia

Human trafficking in Sumba, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia persists due to intersecting structural vulnerabilities, including chronic poverty, irregular migration channels, and weak law enforcement. While governmental and NGO interventions remain fragmented, faith-based actors—especially the Catholic Church—have become central in filling gaps in community-level prevention and survivor support. Drawing on qualitative interviews, focus group discussions, and document analysis, this article examines how the Diocese of Weetebula’s Commission for Justice, Peace, and Pastoral Care for Migrants and Refugees mobilises religious authority, social capital, and inter-organisational networks to counter trafficking. Using a community-based anti-trafficking and faith-based social capital framework, the study shows that Church interventions extend beyond charity: they constitute local infrastructures of protection, advocacy, and trauma recovery in a context of state insufficiency. The article highlights both the political potentials and the structural constraints of faith-driven action and contributes to debates on community-rooted responses in the global South.