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Violence against women soars in 2021: Komnas Perempuan
The figure only represents the tip of the iceberg, Komnas Perempuan commissioners said.
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eports of violence against women increased across Indonesia in 2021, soaring above pre-pandemic levels, according to a report released by the National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan).
The uptick suggests that more women are now willing to report their abuse, said Komnas Perempuan commissioners, adding that the overall figure was just the tip of the iceberg and more cases were going unreported.
According to the report, as many as 338,496 cases of violence against women were recorded throughout last year, eclipsing the 2019 figure of 302,686 cases. The latest data also represents about a 50 percent increase from more than 220,000 cases reported in 2020.
Komnas Perempuan had compiled its own data along with reports from partner organizations and the Religious Affairs Ministry’s Religious Court System Bodies Directorate General (Badilag).
Among the types of violence that were included in the report are physical, mental and sexual abuse in public, personal, as well as digital spaces.
Komnas Perempuan commissioner Olivia C. Salampessy said the latest data represented “the tip of the iceberg” on cases of violence against women.
“The collected data was only limited to cases where the victims reported [their abuse], as well as the work of partner institutions that participated in data collection for this report,” said Olivia in a webinar on Monday.
“When the data indicates an increase [in violence against women], it does not mean that there were fewer cases reported in the previous years. Instead, the number of victims who stepped forward and reported their abuse increased, [aided by] expanded access to file their report.”
Read also: Ministry prepares decree to address sexual violence in workplaces
However, she expressed concerns that if the increase in reported cases was not accompanied with improved capacity by relevant institutions to handle them, efforts to process such cases would only “stagnate” going forward.
Most of the reported cases occurred in personal spaces as the bulk of the data came from Badilag, which tracks cases of violence that lead to divorce in religious courts across the country, said Komnas Perempuan commissioner Alimatul Qibtiyah.
The violence in personal spaces includes rape, attempted rape, marital rape, sexual harassment, sexual slavery, sexual exploitation and incest.
"Most of the perpetrators are people closest to the victims," Alimatul said.
She added that the commission had received more than 1,000 reports of sexual violence that occurred in public settings throughout last year, lamenting the fact that such violence continued to occur amid the sluggish progress of the long-awaited sexual violence bill.
“It seems like [sexual violence in public settings] will continue to occur as long as the sexual violence bill is not passed [by lawmakers],” said Alimatul.
Read also: House to deliberate sexual violence bill next session: Puan
Data compiled in the report also revealed the increasing trend of online gender-based violence, with 1,721 cases reported to Komnas Perempuan last year, an 83 percent increase from 940 reported cases in 2020. These forms of violence include cyberharassment, hacking, and sextortion,
The deputy chair of the Jakarta-based Jentera School of Law, Asfinawati, who attended the same webinar, highlighted that Indonesia’s judicial process had not been able to adequately facilitate efforts for victims’ recovery.
She pointed out that Indonesia, which was a party to the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) after it ratified the convention in 1984, did not fully implement CEDAW General Recommendation No. 35.
The recommendation, which was launched in 2017, stipulates that CEDAW parties are responsible for preventing gender-based violence against women. It also calls on parties to repeal laws that facilitate or condone gender-based violence.
“If we look at the Komnas Perempuan data, [gender-based violence] still occurs after 38 years [since CEDAW’s ratification]. So, this article [in the recommendation] has never been really implemented in Indonesia,” said Afinawati.
