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Jakarta records most violence against women

Jakarta saw the highest number of cases of violence against women of any Indonesian city in 2015 based on data gathered by partner institutions of the National Commission on Violence against Women (Komnas Perempuan)

Indra Budiari (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Thu, March 10, 2016

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Jakarta records most violence against women

J

akarta saw the highest number of cases of violence against women of any Indonesian city in 2015 based on data gathered by partner institutions of the National Commission on Violence against Women (Komnas Perempuan).

An annual study carried out by the commission has found that 3,320 out of 16,217 cases were reported in Jakarta, almost double the number in the second province on the list, East Java, that saw 1,785 cases. West Java had the third most reported cases with 1,540.

However, Komnas Perempuan believes a number of factors contributed to the results such as the high level of public awareness of women'€™s rights in the capital.

The report reveals that the three provinces with the lowest number of reported cases of violence against women are Papua with 21 cases and North Maluku and West Papua with four cases each.

'€œNorth Maluku and West Papua are relatively new provinces and consequently their infrastructure and human resources are different from conditions in Java,'€ the report said. The report suggests that this poses a challenge for women in those provinces that want to report cases of violence.

Besides data submitted by its 232 partner institutions, the commission also gathered data from religious courts throughout the country and found that 305,535 cases of violence against women were recorded by the courts in 2015.

Azriana, Komnas Perempuan chairwoman, said during a press conference on Monday that the data was only the tip of the iceberg as most victims of were reluctant to file a report because of the stigma attached to being a women and experiencing abuse.

'€œNot only that, a lot of the victims stay silent because they believe that even if they file a report, the case would not go anywhere,'€ she continued.

The report also showed that 69 percent of reported cases took place in a domestic context, including the abuse of wives and daughters, and in a dating context, while 31 percent of cases happened in the community, such as at school and in the workplace.

Yuniyanti Chuzaifah, the commission'€™s deputy chairwoman, said the government also played a role in causing violence against women through various policies. For example, she said, the Jakarta administration'€™s decision to evict the residents and workers of the Kalijodo red-light district was not only an ineffective solution to the issue, but also potentially made conditions even worse for the sex workers.

She said after losing their workplace in an eviction by the city administration in February, sex workers of Kalijodo in North and West Jakarta would find another place to work such as online prostitution networks or other red-light districts.

Tangerang regency has recorded about 20 sex workers from Kalijodo that have moved to the regency'€™s red-light district Dadap.

'€œEviction is not the answer, the girls will only move elsewhere and, worse still, they could potentially spread HIV,'€ Yuniyanti said.

Komnas Perempuan points out that perpetrators of violence come from all walks of life.

Azriana said the commission had recorded private employees, students, teachers, police officers, military officers and religious leaders as being perpetrators. '€œEven a public figure has been named a suspect of committing violence against women,'€ she said.

She was referring to the domestic abuse case that implicated lawmaker Fanny Safriansyah, better known as Ivan Haz.

Ivan, son of former vice president Hamzah Haz, has been arrested by the Jakarta Police and charged with abusing his child'€™s nanny, a 20-year-old woman. If proven guilty, he faces a maximum punishment of 10 years in prison.

In the report, the commission recommends that the government be more active in preventing violence against women by including anti-discrimination and women'€™s rights education in the school curriculum.

The commission also demands that the Education Ministry apply a new policy preventing schools or any educational institutions from dismissing students who are pregnant.

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