Govt urged to protect women in Aceh

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A women's rights activist has appealed to the martial law administration in Aceh to protect female residents and activists from possible sexual harassment by troops during the military operation.

Yana (not her real name) told The Jakarta Post during an interview on Tuesday that she had heard that female residents in rural areas were often sexually harassed by male soldiers claiming to be looking for female members of the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM).

"Please, provide female officers if the authorities must question girls and women in Aceh," she said.

Male officers, whether from the police's Mobile Brigade or the military, often summon girls and women to their posts for questioning over their possible involvement with Inong Balee -- GAM's female military wing -- in a bid to uproot the separatists, Yana said.

These women, claimed Yana, would then be asked to take off their tops, as troops in Aceh believed that Inong Balee members had a certain tattoo on their chests.

Yana herself was once summoned to Banda Aceh Police headquarters, where she was interrogated about the Inong Balee.

"I was told to take off my top, but I was lucky, as the officer who checked my body was female," Yana said.

She said that her female colleagues and other female civilians in remote areas in the province were less fortunate than she.

"A male officer in Bireuen strip-searched my colleague as she refused to take off her top," said Yana, who then cried, regretting that she could do nothing to help her friend.

The situation might be worse for ordinary civilians, Yana said, as they had no power to defend themselves.

Last week, the media reported on the rape of a 15-year-old female student by a member of the Mobile Brigade in Bireuen.

Bireuen Police had earlier denied the report, but Aceh Police headquarters later detained First Pvt. Muhammad Solichin over the incident.

The police are still processing the case.

Last week, a female volunteer with the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) reported that several officers of a joint police-military force attempted to sexually harass her.

The National Commission of Human Rights (Komnas HAM) has said that it has verified three cases of rape and 15 cases of sexual harassment by the troops in Aceh against female civilians.

Ita F. Nadia, who was sent to Aceh as part of a Komnas HAM team, said she had interviewed two victims and they had both admitted that they had been raped by security officers.

She and other members of the Komnas HAM team are to return to Aceh to verify more reports on sexual harassment and rape cases.

National Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Zainuri Lubis said that the police had yet to receive reports on alleged sexual harassment by the Mobile Brigade.

"We only have the report over the rape, and we have detained the suspect. But we have yet to receive any reports on sexual harassment," he told the Post on Tuesday.

Zainuri suggested that female civilians who were sexually abused by government security forces should report it to the police.

"The police will investigate the case. Otherwise, they could inform other parties of the incident so it will be publicly known," he said.