he family of Dewi, a pseudonym, decided to drop a legal case at the beginning of 2017 against a man who raped her in Jakarta. She was ultimately forced to marry the perpetrator, because her family thought it would be best for her and the child in her womb.
Such a case, according to the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH Jakarta), which assisted Dewi’s attempt to pursue justice, reflects the weak protection for women, as many who fall victim to sexual abuse, end up failing to get justice.
“The simplest example is where the victim has to pay for their own forensic medical examination in a hospital. They also don’t get proper psychological rehabilitation [following sexual abuse],” Pratiwi Febry of LBH Jakarta said on Wednesday. A forensic medical examination is necessary evidence when a victim of sexual abuse files a police report.
Jakarta has been ranked the world’s ninth-worst megacity for women, in a poll conducted by the Thomson Reuters Foundation, which measured the prevalence of sexual violence, harmful cultural practices, access to health care and economic opportunities, and which was released this week.
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The four worst cities are Cairo in Egypt, Karachi in Pakistan, Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Delhi in India.
Twenty experts from each city, ranging from academics and NGO activists to policy makers, were interviewed on women’s issues. They were questioned about the situation in their respective areas and asked to give scores, before drawing conclusions based on their testimonies.
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