Policewomen urged to protect children affected by violence

Fitri Wulandari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Taking care of women and children who become victims of violence is seen as unrewarding in the police force. Officers serving on the Police Women's Desk, or RPK, are often facetiously referred to as "diaper officers".

Women's rights activists have attributed the twisted perceptions about helping women and children to the poor service that the victims receive when they file complaints with the police.

They urged the National Police on Saturday to include the Police Women's Desk unit in its organizational structure to provide better services to women and children affected by violence.

Purnianti, head of Mitra Perempuan (Friends of Women) and Firziana Roosnaleli of the Kalyanamitra women's crisis center believe that making the RPK a part of the National Police's official structure would help mend the situation.

"If RPK is in the structure, it will lead the way to a rewarding career path and nobody need be afraid of being sneered at as a 'diaper officer'," Purnianti told The Jakarta Post.

The Police Women's Desk, a special unit within the force designed to handle cases of violence against women and children, was established following the May 1998 rioting, when hundreds of women reportedly suffered sexual abuse.

RPK aims to provide a better service for victims of violence so as to encourage them to report the abuse.

The officers are provided with training to handle victims of violence.

Firziana suggested that if the activists' proposal was accepted, RPK would be available not only in big cities, like it is now, but also in villages.

"What happens now when we bring cases of violence to RPK is that the staff are not prepared due to a lack of funds, facilities and skills. They provide a terrible service," Firziana said.

The poor service is well known and it discourages victims to report their cases to the police. Consequently, it gives rise to "dark numbers", or unreported cases of violence.

RPK is expected to educate police officers to be more sensitive about such cases.

Cases of violence against women abound in Indonesia.

The National Commission for Anti Violence against Women (Komnas Perempuan) recorded 3,169 cases of violence in 14 provinces in the country in 2001.

In its year end report, Mitra Perempuan recorded an increase from 232 cases in 2000 to 258 in 2001 in Jakarta alone.

Most cases involve multiple abuses relating to domestic violence ranging from physical--rapes, beating, strangling--to psychological abuse.

Purnianti said the increase was mainly due to the fact that the victims, unlike in the past, had started to muster the courage to report the abuse.