'Distorted notions' behind violence against women

'Distorted notions' behind violence against women

JAKARTA (JP): Domestic violence, especially against women,
fails to attract much attention due to the public's misconstrued
notions of family harmony, an official of the State Ministry of
Human Rights Affairs said.

Harkristuti Harkrisnowo, the state ministry's deputy for
evaluation and monitoring, said on Tuesday that Indonesians
approbation of family values and harmony often prevents
recognition of real problems going on within the family.

She noted a prevailing reluctance to admit the existence of
violence within the family fearing societal ridicule and the
shame of being a disharmonious family.

"We are too hung up on being a keluarga sakinah, harmonious
family," she said during a seminar on women commemorating World
Population Day which fell on Tuesday. The seminar was organized
by the State Ministry of Transmigration and Population and took
the theme of "Saving Women's Lives".

According to UNDP, at least one in every three women in the
world experience violence at some time in their lives, often by a
member of the family.

Statistics from Indonesia's Family Planning Coordinating Board
(BKKBN) showed that at least 23 million Indonesian women have
experienced violence, many in their homes.

Indonesia has only ratified one of the four United Nations
conventions on human rights and the rights of women -- the 1979
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
Against Women (CEDAW).

The other three conventions are the Vienna Declaration (1993),
the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women
(1994), and the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action
(1995).

Violence against women was defined in the Beijing Declaration
as "any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is
likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or
suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or
arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or
private life".

Harkristuti said Indonesia's Criminal Code only recognizes
four crimes against women and all of them deal with physical
violence.

These crimes are rape, abortion without the woman's consent,
the selling of women, and the kidnapping of women.

Even then, the clause on rape only defines the crime as an act
"with violence or threats forcing a woman other than his wife to
copulate".

"So if the forced woman is his own wife, it is not considered
rape even if there was a case of violence and threats,"
Harkristuti said.

The problem of exposing domestic violence is difficult not
only in Indonesia, but also in other countries, she said.(10)