Activists to cite reproductive rights at Beijing meeting

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesian women activists are preparing to campaign for women's reproductive rights at the United Nations Conference on Women in Beijing next month, though they hope to steer clear of the issue of sexual rights.

Kuraesin Sumhadi, deputy chair of the Indonesian Congress of Women (Kowani), told reporters here Tuesday that her organization will join the NGO (non-governmental organization) Forum, to be held in connection with the conference, to push for women and their roles in development policies, education, health, human rights and politics. It is likely also that the question of women's reproductive rights will be raised, either in relation to the question of health rights or sexual rights.

Regarding women's reproductive rights, Sumhadi said,"We won't focus our attention on the question of sexual rights...but we'll link the campaign for women's reproductive rights to health issues and the right to determine one's family size."

Sumhadi, who is also president of the International Council of Women, likened the controversy surrounding reproductive rights to the abortion debate.

"We don't see abortion as a means to control population growth. Rather, we see it as a woman's right to have medical procedures to save her life," she said.

"We won't be dragged into controversies with those who see reproductive rights as the rights to sexual preference, we won't (recognize the notion to link the drive for reproductive rights) to gay rights," she added.

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"If people wish to see being lesbian or having lesbian relationships as women's rights, they may do so, but they should not link it to the question of a family system," Sumhadi said.

Sumhadi explained that women's organizations here base their campaigns for women's rights on existing laws and on the state ideology of Pancasila. The 1993 Family Law, for instance, clearly defines a family as a unit of society which consists of husband and wife and their children, though it does legally recognize other family situations headed up by widows and divorcees, for example.

The Family Law does not, however, cover the rising phenomenon of non-married single parents or the concept of a gay couple raising a family.

Kowani chairman Enny Busiri said her organization has been entrusted by the Ministry of Women's Roles to coordinate a number of Indonesian NGOs that will attend the Aug. 27 - Sept. 8 NGO Forum. At least 140 Indonesian activists are scheduled to join 35,000 other delegates at the meeting in Huairo, a suburb 50 kilometers outside of the capital.

At the fourth UN Conference on Women, from Sept. 4 to Sept. 14, representatives from some 180 countries are expected to deliberate on a "platform for action" and to have it ready for adoption by the end of the meeting.

After a number of preliminary meetings, the conference has agreed to focus on 10 "critical areas of concern" that have been identified as obstacles to the advancement of women in the world.

Among those areas are poverty, violence against women, human rights, economic disparity and conflicts, armed or otherwise, that victimize women.

The conference is also expected to set an agenda for the advancement of women at national and international levels into the next century. (swe)