Dozens of senior high school and university students as well as members of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) communities voiced the need for stronger sexual and reproductive rights protection in a peaceful rally to commemorate World Sexual Health Day at the Adipura Monument traffic circle in Bandarlampung, on Monday.

The young people joined Aliansi Satu Visi Lampung (the One Vision Alliance of Lampung) to campaign for wider access to sexual and reproductive services in the rally.

Dwi Hafsah Handayani, rally coordinator from the Lampung chapter of the Indonesian Planned Parenthood Association (PKBI), said sexual welfare meant that all Indonesian people must have their sexual and reproductive health rights acknowledged, protected and met by the state.

'The state must provide sexual and reproductive health services and acknowledgment and protection to adolescents, women and groups vulnerable to sexual and gender-based injustice. They are LGBT individuals, commercial sex workers, street communities, workers, HIV/AIDS infected people, and sexual violence survivors,' said Hafsah.

PKBI Lampung director Herdimansyah said that in 2014, the Indonesian government showed its commitment to the fulfillment of sexual and reproductive health rights for all Indonesian people by issuing Government Regulation (PP) No.61 on reproductive health. PP 61 was one of the legal foundations for the protection of sexual and reproductive health rights starting from the national level to the regional (provincial and regency and municipality) levels.

'PP 61 gives a mandate to the government to provide sexual and reproductive health services to all people as a concrete measure to reduce sexual and reproductive health risks,' said Herdimansyah.

He said Indonesia's stubbornly high number of maternal deaths partly due to unsafe abortions could be reduced because PP 61 gave legal certainties for sexual-violence victims who suffered unwanted pregnancies to get access to safe abortion services.

'This regulation is in line with the Indonesian Ulema Council [MUI] decree No.4/2005 on abortion in which sexual-violence victims who suffer an unwanted pregnancy are allowed to access safe abortion services,' said Herdimansyah.

However, he said, PP 61 still had a number of weaknesses in respect of sexuality and gender diversity, as in Article 26 (2) where sexual orientation was still categorized as a health disorder. (ebf)

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