Violence against women remains high

JAKARTA: UN Resident Coordinator in Indonesia, El-Mostafa Benlamlih, said Thursday that violence-against-women cases remained high globally due to unresolved obstacles in thrashing out the cases.

“We are still facing many obstacles globally in handling violence against women, including lack of law enforcement toward perpetrators, prolonged negative stereotypes against women and shortage of resources,” he said at the launch of the UN secretary-general’s UNiTE to End Violence against Women Campaign, commonly known as the UNiTE Campaign.

The 16-day campaign aims to prevent and eliminate violence against women and children in the world. The campaign, internationally initiated in 2008, will end in 2015.

Benlamlih said the UNiTE Campaign would be carried out in various formats, but it would lead to a single target: Ending violence against women and children.

Citing data from UN member countries, he said more than 70 percent of women in the world had experienced some form of sexual violence.

According to the Women’s National Commission, violence against women in Indonesia reached 143,586 cases in 2009.

Benlamlih said, however, Indonesia had shown several significant achievements in its efforts to prevent violence against women, including the issuance of the 2004 Domestic Violence Eradication Law and the establishment of women’s crisis centers at all levels. — JP