Violence against women up in NTB

Luh Putu Trisna Wahyuni, Mataram

The incidence of domestic and other forms of violence against women has increased significantly in West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) province during the past year.

More than 3,500 complaints were filed with various institutions, including the provincial social affairs office and nongovernmental organizations, in the period from last year to this month, compared with only 729 cases reported in 2002.

The director of the Legal Aid Institute of Justice for Indonesian Women (LBH-APIK) in NTB, Beauty Erawati, said the statistics reflected a rising awareness of women of their rights.

"The significant increase in the amount of violence against women may have resulted from a growing awareness among women of the need to file official reports to institutions they believe can help them," said Beauty.

Her legal institute alone received more than 1,000 reports of violence against women in 2003, double the number that reached it the previous year.

As of June the legal institute has handled 807 cases, mostly domestic violence, filed by women migrant workers employed in the Middle East. Included were some reports of rape and rights abuse.

Separately, migrant workers' advocacy group Panca Karsa Foundation said it recorded 1,366 cases of violence against migrant workers between 2003 and the first semester of this year.

As of June the provincial social affairs and women's empowerment offices in NTB dealt with 688 cases of violence, while the provincial police recorded 25 rape cases.

Beauty said the rising number of domestic violence cases was a nationwide trend.

She said a number of NGOs and the Office of the State Minister for Women's Empowerment had persistently urged the President to issue a decree on national action to eradicate violence against women.

Without the decree, no state funds would be allocated for the national movement, she said.

LBH-APIK in NTB is handling 26 cases of violence against female migrant workers in the first-half of 2004. Two of the workers, from West Sumbawa and Sumbawa regencies respectively, were killed.

Beauty said the fact that most casualties of violence against Indonesian women migrant workers overseas were not sent home had made it difficult for LBH-APIK to prove the violence had taken place.

Between 1.4 million and 2.1 million Indonesian female migrant workers currently work abroad, either legally or illegally.

Beauty said human trafficking was another crime threatening women in NTB who wished to work overseas. The province has been dubbed the major supplier of women migrant workers after East Java.

So far, North Sulawesi is the only migrant worker supplying province that has enforced a bylaw on trafficking in women.

With regard to the issue of trafficking in women and children, Indonesia is ranked in the second tier, due to its awareness of the issue, albeit without law enforcement to eradicate the crime.