Australian aid for women's rights

Australian aid for women's rights

The Australian government has donated Rp 10 million in aid to
improve public awareness of women's rights in Irian Jaya. The
funds have been transferred to Fokker Irian Jaya which is a forum
for various non-governmental organizations in the province,
including KKW Jayapura, P3W-GKI Irja, LBH and YPMD.

The forum has been dealing with efforts to expose women's
rights issues, focusing on sexual harassment and violence against
women. Newspaper and police reports have revealed an increasing
number of rapes in the province.

The Australian aid will be used to finance a study on rape and
violations of women's rights, to disseminate information and to
educate the public through the media and workshops. It will also
go toward the development of an information center and counseling
for sexual harassment victims.

The aid was presented by Jacqui Delacy, first secretary for
development cooperation at the Australian embassy in a meeting in
Jayapura. Also present was Jayapura Regent Yan Pieter Karafir and
members of local NGOs.

According to Delacy, Australia is delighted to be able to help
the organizations in dealing with problems concerning women.

Violence against women is one of 10 issues to be discussed in
the upcoming the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in
September this year. Australia has been a leading donor in the
Pacific region.

While in Jayapura, Delacy also visited the Indonesia-Australia
Technical and Vocational Education Project, Part A. The four-year
A$19.4 million project is funded by Australian Agency for
International Development (AusAid). The project also covers
several other provinces apart from Irian Jaya.

AMORO H. HANI

AusAid

Jakarta