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Activists pin hopes on passing of sexual violence bill
In a plenary meeting on Thursday, the House of Representatives and the government agreed to include the bill on this year’s National Legislation Program (Prolegnas) list after removing it from last year’s.
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omen’s rights activists expressed their wish for 2021 to be the year when the sexual violence eradication bill (RUU PKS) will finally be passed after years-long deliberations.
In a plenary meeting on Thursday, the House of Representatives and the government agreed to include the bill on this year’s National Legislation Program (Prolegnas) list after removing it from last year’s.
Dian Novita from the Legal Aid Foundation of the Indonesian Women’s Association For Justice (LBH APIK) — one of the few leading organizations in Indonesia that focus on women's rights advocacy, including for victims of violence — said the inclusion of the bill in this year’s Prolegnas was good news.
“We’ve been disappointed by the policymakers multiple times as they have failed to discuss this bill, including the substantial level of its issues," Dian told The Jakarta Post on Saturday. "So, no more delays this year. Women’s rights activists, as well as other prodemocracy activists, must now monitor the progress [of the bill] until it is passed."
Even though they had to start from scratch, Dian went on to say, activists should take this opportunity as a second chance to improve the campaign strategies for the bill. She also emphasized that it was important to seek support from other civil movements.
“This bill exists for the public’s benefit. We should invite other people to join our movement; stop turning this bill into an exclusive issue.”
Read also: Public outcry as House plans to delay sexual violence bill – again
The sexual violence bill, if passed, would prohibit the criminalization of victimhood and forbid law enforcement agencies to blame or degrade victims or to saddle victims with the responsibility of searching for evidence in their own cases.
The bill has been on and off the table at the House since it was first proposed to lawmakers by the National Commission on Violence Against Women in 2012.
The House, however, only started to take it seriously in 2016 when it requested a formal detailed analysis and suggestions from the commission. Lawmakers proceeded with discussing the bill a year later and placed it on their list of initiatives — but they put it on the back burner yet again in the following years.
Read also: Sexual violence bill remains on back burner despite House’s end-of-term rush
The last time the House delayed its deliberation was in July last year. At the time, lawmakers withdrew the bill, along with 15 others, from its priority list, citing scheduling difficulties for deliberation due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The decision angered women's rights activists who have long awaited the bill’s enactment.
Lawmakers from Islam-based parties, such as the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) and the National Awakening Party (PKB), have strongly opposed the bill from the outset, arguing that it encouraged adultery and encourage "LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender] behavior".
Responding to the bill’s latest inclusion in the priority list, Women's Empowerment and Child Protection Minister I Gusti Ayu Bintang Darmawati urged the House to stop delaying its deliberation.
“We cannot delay the deliberation process for the [sexual eradication] bill anymore, seeing that there is an urgent need for it,” Bintang said as quoted by kompas.com. “[…] Because sexual violence does not only affect its victims; it is also shaping the mindset of the general public toward [a permissive culture of sexual violence].”
Read also: Coronavirus pandemic leads to rise in domestic violence cases in Indonesia
LBH APIK earlier published an annual report that revealed an increasing number of reported cases of violence against women last year amid the COVID-19 pandemic and insufficient safe reporting and legal mechanisms, including 80 sexual violence cases, 418 cases of domestic abuse and 307 cases of online gender-based violence
An earlier report by the National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan) corroborated LBH APIK's findings of rising online gender-based violence during the pandemic. Komnas Perempuan data shows that 659 cases of online sexual harassment or abuse were reported from January to October last year, more than double the 281 cases reported in 2019.
