Indonesia lacks appreciation on women's rights<\/p>\n
In observance of the UN Day for Womens Rights that falls on
\nMarch 8, Rita Serena Kolibonso, executive director of Mitra
\nPerempuan, the Foundation of Elimination of Violence against
\nWomen, shared her view on the issue with The Jakarta Posts
\ncontributor T. Sima Gunawan. Below is the excerpt of the
\ninterview with the activist, who is also a former deputy director
\nof the National Commission of Violence against Women and a
\nfounder of the Foundation of Womens Reproductive Rights:<\/p>\n
Question: What are the crucial issues regarding womens rights in Indonesia?<\/p>\n
Answer: Its the implementation of womens rights in many sectors
\nsuch as reproductive health, elimination of violence against
\nwomen, politics and education.<\/p>\n
It involves two things. First, the policy of the government to
\nsupport the appreciation on womens rights, such as the laws and
\nregulations. Second, the appreciation of the society, the
\nindividuals and social groups.<\/p>\n
Women lack access to obtain their rights to reproductive health.
\nThe maternal mortality rate in Indonesia is the highest in South
\nEast Asia (with a ratio of 396 deaths per 100,000 births). There
\nis a lack of policy to deal with the problem. In the level of
\ndistricts and subdistricts, the activities related to the
\nprotection of the health of mothers and children are mostly
\nconducted by the society. This is not enough as they need funds
\nand the improvement of their skill.<\/p>\n
We recently conducted an in-depth interview with midwives in the
\nGreater Jakarta and we found that since the decentralization
\npolicy, the government stopped allocating funds for such a
\nprogram.<\/p>\n
The amendment of the 1945 Constitution in 1999-2002 clearly
\nstipulated womens rights, but this is not followed up with
\npolicies in the lower level. There are little efforts from the
\ngovernment to protect womens rights and to promote the
\nimplementation of their rights.<\/p>\n
Q: The high maternal mortality rate has much to do with unsafe
\nabortion. Abortion is illegal here, unless it is done to save the
\nmother and\/or the child as stipulated by Law No. 23\/1992. You
\nhave repeatedly mentioned that the law should be revised to
\nprotect women and to prevent deaths from unsafe abortions.<\/p>\n
A: If we talk about the issue, its not just about how to
\nlegalize abortion, but about health reproductive rights. Is there
\nenough service from the government on how a woman can use her
\nrights to make a decision about how many children she wants and
\nabout the contraceptives? Is there any service on safe abortion?
\nAnd how about the regulation on how one may terminate her
\npregnancy?<\/p>\n
There are many reasons why a woman wants to terminate the
\npregnancy. For example, if she is HIV positive, if she is not
\nsuitable to deliver a baby, if she is pregnant because of sexual
\nabuse, if she is not ready, psychologically or economically. In
\nmany cases married women want to terminate the pregnancy because
\nthey are not able to raise the baby properly.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, there is no place where women can get the
\nservice for health reproductive counseling. The government has a
\nfamily planning program, but women need much more than that.<\/p>\n
The population bill that has been passed by the House of
\nRepresentatives mainly discuss about the population growth and
\ndemography, but not about womens rights on reproductive health.
\nMany disagree to abortion, saying that it is against the religion
\nand our culture. They have a narrow perception about sex and
\nreproductive health, not consistent and unrealistic. Women who
\nhave children outside the wedlock and their children are socially
\nsanctioned. Whats more, if women are not ready economically to
\nraise children, the number of poverty will rise and women who
\nwill become more prone to other problems.<\/p>\n
Q: Indonesia has the state minister for the empowerment of
\nwomen and the government has also ratified the UN Convention on
\nthe Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.<\/p>\n
A: The program for the empowerment of women is not clear. The
\ngovernment ratified the convention in 1984, but this is not
\nimplemented properly. The bill on violence against women, which
\ninclude domestic violence, has not even deliberated (even though
\nthe draft has been drawn up more than five years ago).<\/p>\n
Q: How serious is the issue?<\/p>\n
A: This is very serious, but there is no statistics on
\ndomestic violence. It is a hidden crime as our system does not
\nallow the emergence of such cases in court. The cases come
\nforward as they are handled by non-governments organizations.<\/p>\n
Last year, for example, we received 272 reports on violence
\nagainst women in Greater Jakarta and 85 percents of the cases
\nwere conducted by husbands against their wife. The crimes also
\ntake place in other parts of the country, but people do not
\nregard them important.<\/p>\n
Q: Is it because of the patriarchal system in the society?<\/p>\n
A: Indeed, yes. The system has been strongly internalized
\nwithin the people that it has become a part of the culture, as
\nseen in the written materials or unwritten materials. The role of
\na husband and a wife, for example, is stipulated in marriage law
\nas well as many scientific papers. It is clearly mentioned that
\nthe husband is the head of the family.<\/p>\n
Q: How about the issue on women and children trafficking?<\/p>\n
A: That is another big problem. There are more cases on women
\nand children trafficking. Indonesia has more problems that allow
\nthe growth of the crimes as life becomes economically more
\ndifficult now. Many productive people lost their job and the
\neconomic burden has become the responsibility for the whole
\nfamily. Children are seen as an asset that can be manipulated to
\nmake money. There is a network out there that makes use of this
\nsituation, just like in the case of our migrant workers.<\/p>\n
And another thing Id like to address here is about polygamy.<\/p>\n
I still remember after Indonesia ratified the UN Convention on
\nthe Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women, the
\ncommittee of the convention asked the government about the issue.
\nThis is also a form of discrimination against women.<\/p>\n
Malaysia last year launched a campaign: One wife, one husband.
\nBut here, we heard reports about polygamy campaign.<\/p>\n
Discrimination against women prevails because of the lack of
\nappreciation on womens rights not only from the government but
\nalso from the people. Both the government and the society should
\nimprove their awareness on the issue in order to eliminate the
\ndiscrimination against women.<\/p>\n
Q: Women count for 51 percent of the country's population but
\ncurrently, only nine percent of the 500 legislators are women.
\nThe 2003 electoral law requires allows a quota of 30 percent for
\nwomen representatives in the legislative body.<\/p>\n
A: Thats very important. We need more legislators who are
\ngender sensitive to issue laws that can eliminate discrimination
\nagainst women. Women who are already hold important position as a
\nlaw maker or a policy maker also need to develop themselves so
\nthat they can see the problems and make efforts to find the
\nsolution. Like president Megawati, it is not enough for her only
\nto make a call for the people to respect womens rights. She has
\nto make sure that her subordinates implement the policy properly.<\/p>",
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