New body set up to protect women from violence
JAKARTA (JP): The new National Commission on Violence Against Women announced its 21 members on Tuesday and immediately moved to criticize the media coverage of women victims of violence.
A member, noted psychologist Saparinah Sadli, said the commission's mission was to proactively remind the government to continue efforts aimed at "a conducive situation" for the realization of human rights, particularly when women were concerned.
Saparinah said that in line with this mission, the commission requests that "coverage of violence against women not be colored by information about the victim's private life..."
The statement referred to media reports of the Oct. 9 death of Marthadinata, alias Ita.
"The phenomenon of blaming the victim... has happened to other female victims of violence such as Marsinah," the commission said in reference to a labor activist killed in 1993.
Marsinah's killer is yet to be found.
Rita S. Kolibonso, another commission member who set up the Mitra Perempuan crisis center, said information based on experts' quotes "who may have reached conclusions too hastily" were "unfair to the victim who is no longer able to defend herself".
Investigations into the private background of the victim would influence public opinion about her credibility, which nevertheless should not have an impact on a thorough investigation into the case, said Rita, a lawyer.
A presidential decree setting up the commission was signed by President B.J. Habibie on Oct. 9.
Saparinah said the commission "manifests the responsibility of the state which has ratified the (United Nations) Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women".
The commission, she added, was committed to eliminating this kind of discrimination, "be it in the domestic or the public sphere".
Activists from Irian Jaya, Aceh, East Timor and Yogyakarta are among members. Ali Yafie, an executive of the Indonesian Ulemas Council, is one of three men on the commission. The others are retired police general Koesparmono Irsan and Boen Setiawan, a medical doctor.
Other members include Kuraisin Sumhadi of the Indonesian Women's Congress (Kowani), sociologist Mely G. Tan, Nuriah A. Wahid of the Nahdhatul Ulama Moslem organization, Nursyahbani Katjasungkana, a founder of the Legal Aid Office of the Association of Women for Justice (APIK) and Ita F. Nadia of Kalyanamitra, who is now active in the Volunteers for Humanity which helps victims of the May riots.
Both Saparinah and Koesparmono sit on the National Commission on Human Rights, which Saparinah said would be among the existing bodies which the new commission would work with.
"It is not that the Commission on Human Rights does not want to address the issue of violence against women," Saparinah said, "But there are limitations." She added that the government's funding of the commission "would not influence its independence".
Members were selected based on their individual capacity and their concern for women, not on their organizational associations, Rita said.
The commission, the secretariat of which is on Jl. Kusumaatmadja 69, Central Jakarta (tel: 3107158), will hold a national dialog on violence against women on Oct. 15. (anr)