<![CDATA[Human trafficking is a complex form of exploitation rooted in structural inequality and social vulnerability. While existing scholarship has examined trafficking through legal, sociological, and policy perspectives, limited attention has been given to how vulnerability is produced, experienced, and potentially reproduced through institutional responses. This research examines victim vulnerability and protection in Indonesia and India through an integrated criminological and victimological perspective. It employs a comparative socio-legal and documentary research design based exclusively on secondary sources, including international legal instruments, national legislation, official statistics, institutional reports, and peer-reviewed literature. The findings demonstrate three principal findings. First, vulnerability to human trafficking results from interconnected socioeconomic and structural factors, including poverty, economic insecurity, gender inequality, migration pressures, social marginalization, and institutional weaknesses, while stigma and economic loss perpetuate vulnerability after victimization. Second, Indonesia and India demonstrate persistent gaps between formal legal protection and effective implementation, particularly in institutional coordination, restitution, rehabilitation, and victim reintegration. Third, sustainable victim recovery requires an integrated framework combining legal remedies, compensation, psychosocial assistance, livelihood support, survivor participation, and community-based reintegration through coordinated institutional case management and accessible victim services]]>
