As a transnational crime, human trafficking continues to endanger migrant workers across Southeast Asia. Indonesia, Thailand, and Myanmar function simultaneously as origin and destination states, leaving them exposed to exploitation and violations of basic human rights. This article compares the legal-protection frameworks the three states have put in place to prevent and respond to trafficking crimes against migrant workers. A normative-comparative legal method is applied, combining statutory, conceptual, and comparative approaches. Materials were gathered from national legislation, international conventions, and reports issued by governmental and international bodies. The analysis shows that Indonesia's legal framework is the most comprehensive, anchored by Law No. 21 of 2007 on the Eradication of Criminal Acts of Trafficking in Persons and Law No. 18 of 2017 on the Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers. Thailand, by contrast, relies more heavily on law-enforcement mechanisms and bilateral partnerships, while Myanmar continues to struggle with regulatory implementation and enforcement capacity. Overall, Indonesia's protection system is normatively the strongest of the three, though its real-world effectiveness still hinges on coordination among agencies and cross-border cooperation across ASEAN.
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