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Government urged to pass bill to combat sexual violence against women
Jakarta Post - May 3, 2016
"The number of rape victims, many of them later murdered, has continued to increase. The state must be responsible," Lathiefah Widuri Retyaningtyas of the Indonesian women's foundation Perempuan Mahardhika said in Jakarta on Tuesday.
"There is no reason for the government not to pass the sexual violence bill immediately," she went on.
Perempuan Mahardhika, together with 117 other NGOs and institutions, including the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) and Simponi (Music Syndicate of Earth Dwellers), condemned the rape of YY, a 14-year-old student. She was found dead in Bengkulu after a brutal gang rape carried out by 14 men, most of whom were teenagers.
M. Berkah Gamulya of Simponi said sexual violence against women likely occurred because of the society's patriarchal culture, which often tolerated such crimes. He said many victims of sexual harassment had been blamed for the crime, accused of wearing sexy clothes or being out late at night.
Gamulya later cited the 2013 UN study, which stated that one out of four men in six Asia-Pacific countries admitted to having raped a woman who was not his partner. "Hence, it is a male responsibility to educate other men not to rape women. It is not their responsibility to educate women to dress 'properly'," he further said.
Gamulya said the government should include a one-hour minimum gender equality lesson in schools to lessen patriarchal culture in the society.
YY disappeared on April 2. Her body was found two days later in a ravine in desolate bushland area in Padang Ulak Tanding district, Rejang Lebong regency. Local police have arrested 12 of the 14 suspects, some of them are believed to have been the girl's schoolmates.
Local media outlets reported the murder and rape, but had treated it as an ordinary crime – alongside news on landslides and junior high school final exams.
The National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan) recorded 321,752 cases of violence against women in 2015, up from 293,220 cases in the previous year. The commission began to draft the sexual violence bill in 2014 and it has been included as a 2016 national legislation priority (Prolegnas).
In the bill, Komnas Perempuan listed six forms of sexual violence against women: rape, sexual harassment, sexual exploitation, sexual control, sexual torture and sexually charged punishment. The bill also stipulates a maximum sentence of 15 years imprisonment for sex-crime convicts. It also has several articles that provide better protection for rape victims. (vps/ebf)
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