Incest cases on the rise in Bengkulu

An NGO is reporting that cases of incest are on the rise in Bengkulu, increasing from two cases in 2009 to 13 last year.

“This is only the tip of the iceberg. There could be more. The cases that we handle are dependent on the willingness of the victim to report them and also on society,” Cahaya Perempuan Woman’s Crisis Center director Susi Handayani said, as quoted by kompas.com on Wednesday.

Susi said most of the victims were girls between the ages of 11 and 15 who had relations with their father or uncle.

Incest between adults and those under the age of majority or age of consent is considered a form of child sexual abuse.

A study carried out by the NGO found that the unlawful relations were a product of broken families. Susi said in some cases the mother blamed the child for luring the father by not covering themselves up.

The lack of social control was another factor contributing to incestuous relations. Susi mentioned a case in Seluma regency, Bengkulu, where an incestuous relationship between a father and daughter went on for seven years without anyone in their neighborhood noticing.