'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)