ILRC Records 20 Sexual Femicide Cases Throughout 2025
The Indonesian Legal Resource Center (ILRC) recorded 20 cases of sexual femicide throughout 2025, an increase compared to the previous year which reached 18 cases. This finding is part of 61 femicide cases monitored during the period from 1 January to 30 December 2025.
The report titled “Anatomy of Sexual Femicide 2025: Beyond Death, Normalising Control and Punishment of Women’s Bodies” was released to coincide with the 33rd anniversary of Marsinah’s death and the fourth year of the implementation of the Sexual Violence Crime Law (UU TPKS), on Saturday, 9 May 2026.
ILRC Director Siti Aminah Tardi stated that sexual femicide is the intentional killing of women driven by gender motivation and involving elements of sexual violence, either directly or symbolically. According to her, Marsinah’s experience became one of the bases for formulating the crime of sexual torture in the UU TPKS.
“The UU TPKS imposes harsher penalties for sexual violence crimes that result in the victim’s death. However, the challenge in sexual femicide is that sexual violence also occurs after the victim has died, and this is not yet covered by the UU TPKS,” Siti said in an official statement on Saturday, 9 May 2026.
ILRC recorded Lampung as the province with the highest number of cases, namely four cases, followed by North Sumatra with three cases. Victims of sexual femicide were dominated by girls, teenagers, and young women aged 4 to 25 years. The perpetrators were mostly men aged 18-30 years who were close to the victims, such as boyfriends, ex-boyfriends, neighbours, to co-workers.
ILRC researcher Tri Febi Maharani noted a shift in the location of incidents compared to the previous year. If in 2024 cases were more common in public spaces, in 2025 the majority took place in private spaces such as homes and bedrooms.
“This erases the myth that threats only exist outside the home, because the victim’s daily spaces actually become the highest vulnerability locations for women,” said Tri.
ILRC also found that 60 percent of cases were triggered by sexual violence. Meanwhile, 20 percent were forms of punishment because the victim refused to have sexual relations, date, or marry. Meanwhile, 15 percent of cases were related to theft and 5 percent were triggered by jealousy.
According to Siti, forms of sexual violence not only occurred before the victim’s death but also after death. Of the total cases monitored, 15 cases of sexual violence occurred before the victim’s death, three cases after the victim died, one case before and after death, and one case has not been revealed.
ILRC recommends that law enforcement agencies recognise the elements of sexual violence in women’s murder cases and optimise the imposition of harsher penalties, including if the violence is committed after the victim’s death. In addition, the institution encourages the state to recognise Marsinah as a victim of sexual femicide and proposes that the day of Marsinah’s death be commemorated as femicide day in Indonesia.