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Decade-old law failed domestic abuse victims: LBH APIK
Jakarta Post - April 15, 2015
The Women's Legal Aid (LBH APIK) noted in its annual report published on Tuesday that domestic violence cases still sat on the top of the list of cases of violence against women handled by the organization last year.
"We worked on 527 domestic violence cases last year. The figure accounted for around 75 percent of the entire 704 cases we handled in Greater Jakarta," LBH APIK director Ratna Batara Munti said during a press conference on Tuesday.
The number of cases handled by the organization decreased from 992 in 2013, but the organization claimed the number was just the tip of the iceberg because most female victims choose to keep silent and hide their problems.
According to the law, domestic violence is categorized in four ways: physical abuse, psychological abuse, sexual abuse and abandonment.
The report showed that of the 527 cases, 259 cases, or around 49 percent, were categorized as a combination of the four kinds of abuse, while 9 percent were considered abandonment cases and 7.5 percent were psychological abuse.
Despite the hundreds of reports received by the foundation, only two cases had made their way to court.
One of them was a case of abandonment experienced by a Depok, West Java housewife, identified as Swk. The victim's husband had not provided for the family's daily needs and even had debts unknown to her.
After two years of legal proceedings, her husband was found guilty and sentenced to one year imprisonment and six months on probation.
The law on domestic violence eradication rules that punishment for physical abusers is between four months to 15 years imprisonment, or a maximum fine of Rp 45 million (US$3,467), while psychological abusers can get between four months and three years in prison, or a maximum fine of Rp 9 million.
Domestic sexual abusers are threatened with four to 20 years of imprisonment or a maximum fine of Rp 500 million, while abandonment convicts can be sentenced to a maximum of three years imprisonment and Rp 15 million in fines.
The organization noted light punishment, as well as a long and exhausting legal process, had become a challenge that often makes the victims reluctant to face a court battle.
Ratna added that different law enforcers also have different understandings on how domestic violence was proved. In many cases, some law enforcers still required victims to provide at least two witnesses besides herself.
"They still use the Criminal Code's rules when they should apply what the UU KDRT [law on domestic violence eradication] already determines," she said. The law on domestic violence eradication only requires the victim and another witness for a domestic violence case to be processed, she added.
Meanwhile, the head of the East Jakarta Police's Women and Children Protection Unit, Comr. Endang Sri Lestari, said besides the legal enforcers, victims who have little knowledge of the law can also halt the prosecution of domestic abusers.
She said in some cases victims and suspects have reached amicable settlements and dropped their cases. "We need to educate people that amicable settlements should not end a domestic violence case investigation," she said.
She added that the parties in most domestic violence cases handled by her office went away after reaching a settlement and could not be traced by her officers. (prm)
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