Legal aid group concerned by abuse of women

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)