Women called on to help women victims

Women called on to help women victims

Sari P. Setiogi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Activists are calling on women across the country to help ease
the suffering of women and child victims of the quake-triggered
tsunamis in Aceh and North Sumatra.

Speaking at a press conference with the State Minister for
Women's Empowerment and the United Nations Development Fund for
Women (Unifem) on Saturday, women's activist Debra Yatim said
that surviving the tsunami was not the end of the problem for
many Acehnese women and children.

She spoke of a woman and her two-month-old baby who were
miraculously found alive after a couple of days floating in the
sea after the disaster.

"She wanted to breast-feed her baby as she was told it might
be the safest way considering there is almost no clean water
available in Aceh with which to mix baby formula at the moment,"
Debra said.

However, after being deprived of food and having a lack of
proper rest, she was producing less and less breast milk, she
added.

Women's issues, however, were not touched upon at the recent
emergency summit on the Asian tsunami.

"There was no discussion on the solution for women-related
problems that might appear after the tsunami," said UN ambassador
of Millennium Development Goals (MDG) Erna Witoelar.

The problems might include stress, sexual harassment and human
trafficking.

In a hope to overcome the problems, the Office of the State
Minister for Women's Empowerment has set up an aid emergency
center, focusing on aid that might be needed by women and
children.

"We provide them with underwear, sanitary napkins and diapers
for babies, something that might be missed by other
institutions," said State Minister for Women's Empowerment Meutia
Farida Hatta Swasono.

She also called on all Indonesian women to help each other.

"It was a massive natural disaster and we should work together
to manage the recovery process until all women and children there
are able to have their normal lives back. There should be a
sisterhood," she said.

The minister's office has arranged three main tasks of the
center for the next six months in a bid to protect women victims
in the affected areas.

The office also pledged to set up trauma centers in Aceh as
well as shelters for women and children to help them recover from
the trauma of their ordeal as well to reunite them with their
families, if possible.

"I also highlighted the threat of child trafficking at this
time of emergency, as many of them might have lost their parents.
These young children are vulnerable and helpless," Meutia said.

She added that her office would also set up child protection
centers in refugee camps to deal with child-related problems.

"The centers will be responsible for registering children,
supplying them with basic needs, tracing and reuniting them with
their families," said Meutia.

The office has also organized some 380 child psychologists for
counseling children in Aceh. In the long term, it will provide
some 1,000 shelters for women with vocational skills to help them
move on with their lives.