Legal aid group concerned by abuse of women

JAKARTA (JP): A legal aid group highlighted on Wednesday the increasing trend of women to work in those jobs during the economic crisis where they were prone to abuse.

Women were increasingly seeking jobs with no legal protection such as working as maids inside and outside the country, or being trapped by trafficking syndicates into become sex workers, a statement from the Legal Aid Office of the Indonesian Women's Association for Justice (LBH-APIK) said Wednesday.

Prostitution was unacceptable to social and religious norms while it was "preserved for profit", the association said.

Its year-end statement cited the Minister of Social Affairs' statement in July that around 11,000 women were being employed as sex workers in Jakarta suburbs, Semarang and Batam in Riau, most of them coming from industrial zones and underdeveloped villages in Java, Sumatra and Nusa Tenggara.

The office also cited a November report of the findings of Udayana University in Bali which revealed girls of as young as 8 to 14 years old catering to pedophiles among tourists.

"The sex workers' position has become more vulnerable following the closure of entertainment centers and red-light districts in certain areas across the country," the statement said.

"Many women have been forced to take up such a profession after losing their jobs and since they had difficulties in finding other employment," director Nursyahbani Katjasungkana said.

Quoting a labor activist in Bekasi, east of Jakarta, the association said the number of sex workers in the regency had increased from 2,000 to 2,500 in only a few months and most of them were former workers of factories operating in the region.

The director added reference to further reports of organized trafficking of girls in Bandung, West Java, which involved a police officer.

"The children were locked up in dark rooms, beaten and exploited to make money. They also experienced sexual violence both from their pimps and clients," the statement said.

A labor activist, who asked for anonymity, earlier said hundreds of women every week arrived in Batam and were temporarily employed as prostitutes in entertainment centers and a red-light district there before they were sent to nearby Singapore and Malaysia to seek jobs.

"Most of the prostitutes came from Bandung in West Java and West Nusa Tenggara and only a few were locals and from Sumatra," he said.

The association further said that women would still be reluctant to report violence, citing the rejection of several officials of reports that women were raped during the May riots. The government later confirmed 76 women were violated.

Among its recommendations the association urged the ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of Trafficking in Persons. It also said it received reports of 33 cases of domestic violence compared to 19 last year, adding that the increased rate of reporting may have been caused by higher awareness among women.

Another women's rights group, the Mitra Perempuan crisis center, earlier warned women to expect more domestic violence, citing a trend that the crisis had become an excuse of men to pick on their spouses. (rms)