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Jakarta recommits to gender-based violence prevention at U20 summit
Jakarta has seen an almost tenfold rise in the number of gender-based violence cases over the past five years, Jakarta Health Agency head Widyastuti said on the margins of the U20 Mayor's Summit.
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Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan speaks during a media visit in Jakarta on Jan. 9, 2017. (JP/Wienda Parwitasari)
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akarta Governor Anies Baswedan has renewed a commitment to prevent gender-based violence in the city at the Urban 20 Mayor’s Summit on Tuesday, as part of his administration’s efforts to guarantee inclusive social recovery from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
A United Nations report had previously shown that the pandemic outbreak corresponded with a shocking rise in gender-based violence globally, exposing women’s vulnerability to economic shocks and deepening gender inequality that already existed in Indonesia.
Anies said his administration had included prevention and countermeasures for violence against women and children as one of the city’s five-year regional strategic programs, which aims to guarantee inclusive social recovery from the ongoing health crisis.
“We are seeing more incidents of gender-based violence during the COVID-19 outbreak, so we decided to translate the global concern into actionable programs [...] because we understand the importance and the urgency of preventing them,” Anies said in his remarks.
The city administration has been working together with the UN Development Program (UNDP) to come up with innovations and to strengthen services for survivors of gender-based violence. This includes, among other things, free healthcare provisions, legal assistance and psychological consultations for victims.
“We want to continue innovating and making improvements along the way [...] Jakarta is committed to [ending gender-based violence] and will use its finances and resources to address this issue,” Anies said. “We hope that through these programs we may eventually offer comprehensive protection and a feeling of safety for all.”
While Jakarta ranked 46th out of 60 on the Safe Cities Index 2021 issued by The Economist Intelligence Unit, the city languished in the bottom 10 of the index under the Personal Safety category. Jakarta scored just 47.6 on a scale of 0-100 that considers laws on harassment, female homicide rates and prevalence of domestic violence.
