TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Govt should include bill on sexual violence in legislative program: NGO
Kompas
Change Size
Kompas.com
The National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan) urged the government and the House of Representatives on Tuesday to include the draft bill on sexual violence in the 2015-2019 National Legislative Program (Prolegnas).
The commission, which has been conducting a study related to the bill for the last five years, stated that by approving the bill, the authorities would show that they were taking concrete steps to guarantee that sexual violence in Indonesia could be stopped.
"This is not an easy draft bill. It requires a paradigm change. It also has enormous challenges," Komnas Perempuan chairwoman Azriana said in a press conference at the commission's headquarters.
The commission had met with the House Legislative Council (Baleg), and had conveyed to them the draft bill's urgency, Azriana said. It also met with the Commission III overseeing law, human rights and safety.
The commission has also spoken with several parties, two of which, the NasDem Party and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), have stated their support for the bill in a written statement.
However, the challenge came from the House, which believed that the Domestic Violence Eradication (KDRT) Law and Child Protection Law already protected women from violence, said Azriana.
In fact, the KDRT Law legislates only for domestic violence within marriage, while the Child Protection Law applies to children under 18 years of age.
Azriana said a paradigm change was required to make the issue of sexual violence against women not a mere act of violence but a result of the disparity in gender relations.
"This draft bill on sexual violence must be seen from the gender perspective," she said.
Data from the commission showed there were 293,220 cases of violence against women in 2014, almost 80 percent of which related to domestic violence.
"We need the bill on sexual violence because it has become an emergency. It needs a special law, lex specialis, because it's difficult to regulate this kind of crime," Komnas Perempuan commissioner Magdalena Sitorus said.
The commission is collaborating with numerous organizations from 12 provinces to organize a 16-day campaign to increase public awareness and to gain support for sexual violence eradication, in the commemoration of Anti-violence Against Women Day, which falls on Nov. 25.
