RI defends its record on women's rights

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia is likely to face criticism at the world conference on women's rights in Beijing next month over its record on women's rights, according to a senior official.

Sjamsiah Achmad, assistant to the State Minister for Women's Roles, said yesterday that Indonesia has often been accused of having a poor record on women's rights. However, she said numerous steps have been taken to improve the situation and that Indonesia will be able to show the international conference the improvement.

Achmad added that the Indonesian delegates to the conference should be able to contribute to the efforts to present a good image there.

"We have many shortcomings, but we should try to find positive sides, too, while continuing our efforts to correct our mistakes," Achmad told reporters.

She said that maltreatment of women occurs almost everywhere. Abuse, rape and violence against women take place in any kind of community, in both developing and developed countries, she said.

"Violence occurs across cultures and countries, and the victims are always those who are weak, namely women and children," she said. "But this doesn't happen only here...In New York, too, women are abused."

Earlier on the same day, State Minister for Women's Rights Mien Sugandhi told reporters that Indonesia will participate in three conferences, held simultaneously, on women and development.

The first meeting will be the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) ministerial meeting on women's affairs on Sept. 1 and 2, which Mien, in place of President Soeharto, will preside over.

About 450 delegates from 125 countries will participate in the NAM meeting. A number of ministers and senior officials from 12 other countries will also attend as observers.

The NAM meeting is expected to produce a political statement, to be called the Beijing Message, which is to reflect a uniformity of commitment and efforts on the part of the NAM members.

That document will be deliberated further in the United Nations Conference on Women, which will begin on Sept. 4 and will run until Sept. 15.

"Indonesia will participate fully in the conference, and support and implement the results of the conference to the best of its ability," Mien vowed.

A number of documents, including the Beijing Declaration and the Platform of Action regarding 12 critical areas of concern, have been prepared over the past two years by countries that will attend the conference.

During the preliminary sessions, Indonesia always actively participated and contributed to the discussions on female workers, especially migrant women workers, poverty alleviation, education, women's rights to health services and gender equality concepts, Mien said.

Another conference to be attended by Indonesian delegates is the Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO) Forum on Women, which will be held between August 30 and Sept. 8 in Huairou city, some 50 kilometers from Beijing.

About 46,000 people will join the forum. Indonesian NGOs will send 147 activists and observers of women's affairs to the meeting.

Achmad said that the Indonesian delegation to the three meetings will carry similar missions.

She cited a number of potentially polarizing issues at the conferences, including protection for women migrant workers and sexual rights. Some groups have defined women's sexual rights as the freedom to establish homosexual relationships.

Another issue that may prove a subject of hot debates is that of human rights, Achmad said. (swe)