One women raped every five hours: Activist<\/p>\n
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Women, beware. Every five hours, a woman is raped in Indonesia.
\nEvery day, at least one rape case in Jakarta is reported by the
\nmedia, not to mention the unreported ones, which may be triple
\nthe number.<\/p>\n
"Our circumstances are simply unsafe ... We can see that
\nalmost every day the media carries reports on rapes and sexual
\nviolence," Rita Serena Kolibonso of the non-governmental
\norganization Mitra Perempuan told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Rita said that the number of unreported cases could be three
\ntimes of the number of reported ones.<\/p>\n
By contrast, the Jakarta Police revealed in their year-end
\nreport that there were only 107 rape cases last year. In 2001,
\nonly 89 rape cases were reported to the police.<\/p>\n
The National Police's annual report showed, however, that the
\nnumber of rape cases rose by 11.93 percent in 2002, although a
\nexact number was not given.<\/p>\n
Rita said that sexual violence, including rape, mostly against
\nwomen and children, could take place anywhere and involve anyone
\nregardless of walk of life, education or age.<\/p>\n
"Sexual violence can happen in public places, in the
\nworkplace, at school, in prison, even in the private sphere like
\nat home with the perpetrators are known to the victims, like
\ntheir parents or relatives," Rita explained.<\/p>\n
Rita revealed that her NGO had handled 226 cases of violence
\nin 2002, of which 85 percent involved domestic violence.<\/p>\n
The National Commission on Children's Protection (Komnas PA)
\nreported earlier that during the January-November period last
\nyear, 481 cases of violence had been reported to it, 60 percent
\nof which involved sexual abuse. The 2002 figure was over 20
\npercent higher than 2001's 391 cases.<\/p>\n
Rita blasted the police and law enforcers for their failure to
\nbe proactive in investigating sexual violence despite the obvious
\nreluctance of the victims as well the public to report such
\nincidents to the police.<\/p>\n
"Many people are reluctant (to report rape cases) as only a
\nfew rape cases are brought to court. Besides, in most cases, the
\ncourts only give rapists light sentences," explained Rita.<\/p>\n
Legal considerations such as the fact that the culprit has a
\nclean record should not be used as mitigating factors, Rita
\ncontended. She underlined that judges should consider the life-
\nlong psychological trauma suffered by the victims, not to mention
\npossible physical damage to the victims' reproductive organs.<\/p>\n
"It's not fair for the victims to pay the full cost of the
\nmedical examinations required to legally prove that rape has
\noccurred," said Rita.<\/p>\n
The light sentences handed down, often as little as one or two
\nyears in jail, made a mockery of the deterrent effect, Rita
\ncontended<\/p>\n
According to the article 285 of the Criminal Code, rape
\ncarries a maximum sentence of 12 years in prison. Rapes of
\nunderage children carry a maximum of nine years in prison.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the Jakarta Police's chief of detectives, Sr. Comr.
\nAndi Chaeruddin, played down allegations that the police were not
\nworking proactively in tackling rape cases.<\/p>\n
"We have assigned a special team of detectives to investigate
\nsensitive cases related to children, teenager, and women's
\nissues," Andi said.<\/p>\n
In light of the psychological shock suffered by the victims,
\ndetectives from the team, Andi claimed, would visit victims to
\ntake their statements instead of summoning them to the police
\nstation.<\/p>\n
He failed to elaborate further.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/one-women-raped-every-five-hours-activist-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }