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coalition of NGOs has called on the authorities to protect the rights of rape victims, saying that the existing standard operating procedures to deal with victims further violated their rights.

Members of the coalition, mostly NGOs working for the protection of women and children’s rights, said that not only had the police failed to prosecute rapists, they often abused the victims further, especially during the investigation stage.

The coalition, which was set up to respond to the controversial comment made on rape by judge Muhammad Daming Sunusi, called on the government and the House of Representatives to increase the minimum sentence for rape to at least 10 years’ imprisonment. The group also called for the deployment of more female investigators in dealing with rape cases.

“We have found that many rape victims were degraded during investigations by members of the police. Some of them, for example, were asked to demonstrate how they were raped. Some were even asked how they felt after being raped,” National Commission on Child Protection (KPAI) member Muhammad Ihsan told members of the House Commission III overseeing law and human rights.

Ihsan said that harassment of child rape victims was even worse.

He said that reports revealed that victims were asked about the position of their bodies during the incident or whether the rapists told them to undress.

“How can you ask such questions of those who have just been raped? We’ve found that such insensitive questions continue to be asked by police personnel,” he said.

The KPAI also found many cases where rapists were released because victims could not name a witness to the crime.

Ena Nurjanah of the Service Center for Protection of Women and Children (P2TP2A) in Depok, West Java, said that the abuse continued through to the courts where judges often underestimated the severity of rape cases.

“Several times I’ve known judges to order rapists to marry their victims in order to settle the cases. For them, marriage will resolve the case once and for all,” she said. Ena added that Daming’s rape comment was an indication of the authorities’ ignorance about the crime.

Daming became the target of a public outcry after he made a statement implying that in some rape cases, the sex act could be consensual.

Responding to a lawmaker’s question during a fit-and-proper test for the position of Supreme Court justice at the House of Representatives Commission III on law and human rights earlier this week, Daming said that he would not hand down the death penalty to rapists because both the rapist and the victim could have enjoyed the intercourse.

Political factions at the House have pledged not to select Daming following the comment. Tri-medya Panjaitan from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) said that Daming’s insensitive remark had disgusted members of his faction, which had decided to fail him in the fit-and-proper test.

“Our party is chaired by a woman. The leader of our party faction in the House is also a woman. So, how can we vote for someone who has blatantly insulted rape victims, who are mostly women?” Trimedya said on Wednesday.

Other political factions including the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), the Democratic Party and the National Mandate Party (PAN), have also pledged to disqualify Daming.

The House is expected to announce its decision on Jan. 23.