KUHP 'must address all crimes' against women
KUHP 'must address all crimes' against women
JAKARTA (JP): Activists are calling for greater recognition
of violent acts against women in the Criminal Code (KUHP) as
currently most articles in the code only address general physical
crimes.
Criminal justice expert and woman activist Harkristuti
Harkrisnowo said on Sunday that articles in the code which
specifically address crimes against women are Article 285 on
rape, Article 347 on abortion without the woman's permission,
Article 297 on the trading of women and Article 332 on the
abduction of women.
"Unfortunately other physical abuses such as incest, marital
rape and sexual harassment are not considered criminal and thus
go unpunished," she told a seminar here.
She claimed that the definition of rape was also
discriminative as sexual violence against a woman was not a crime
if the assailant was the husband.
"That means marital rape is not a crime. Also sexual
intercourse with an underaged girl is not categorized as
statutory rape if the girl had consented," said Harkristuti who
is also one of the deputies of the Ministry of Justice and Human
Rights.
She said our society generally rejected marital rape as it did
not believe such a thing exists.
"If a husband forces his wife to have sexual intercourse,
wouldn't it be rape?" she said.
"Once a man even got angry with me, saying that if wives are
too tired to serve their husbands because they had been working
at the office, then there should be a law forbidding women from
having a career," she added.
"As if being a housewife is not tiring," she remarked while
adding that the Criminal Code should also include psychological
violence against women.
"Pornography, polygamy...aren't they violence? A husband
giving his wife a very small amount of money for expenses is
financial violence," said the member of the National Law
Commission and a professor at the University of Indonesia's Law
School.
According to Harkristuti many of these points are being
incorporated in the new Criminal Code bill currently being
drafted.
Many women in the dialog, which reflected on the role of women
in the Jakarta archdiocese, also questioned the rigidness of the
church over women's issue.
Activist Yustina Rostiawati noted that the church remains very
much a male dominated institution.
"The church has long been dominated by men. Women for example
cannot become archbishops. While we know that it is very hard to
change the paradigm, we're asking the church to be more open and
sensitive toward women's issues," she remarked.
There were also questions over how to deal with the issue of
abusive husbands as divorce is forbidden in the Catholic church.
"Separation is allowed, but will it help solve the problem?"
Yustina asked. (hdn)