Women's health programs in Aceh

Women's health programs in Aceh

Sudirman Nasir, Melbourne

It is crucial that Acehnese, men and women, be directly
involved in all stages of rehabilitation programs in the
province. Women's participation is also critical since it has
become apparent that the civil war and the tsunami disaster have
affected women more severely than men.

The catastrophic consequences of war on women's health and
wellbeing were obvious due to the fact that war is characterized
by large scale violence, militarization and masculinization of
society. Thus, it is not a surprise that women's vulnerability is
a common phenomena during and after war. Non-combatant groups,
women and children in particular, are those most vulnerable
during and after wars.

The disastrous impact of war on humans has been well recorded.
Death, disease, physical and psychological trauma, socio-economic
and cultural calamities have been reported in many publications.
War also causes many physical and psychosocial problems as a
result of injuries, malnutrition, infectious diseases,
reproductive problems, chronic pain, depression, post-traumatic
stress disorder, disability or even premature death.

In addition, sexual violence against women such as rape,
harassment, forced prostitution, forced abortion, sexual slavery,
etc., that frequently occur during wars have traumatic impacts on
women's health. Women also bear a heavy burden during war to feed
and support their families while their men are at war, that
exacerbates their health and wellbeing. Women's suffering is also
evident when they are compelled to live in refugee camps. Many
women even choose to be combatants and experience the traumatic
effects of the battlefield.

Armed conflict in Aceh offers a good example of the dramatic
consequences of war on women's health and wellbeing. Human
suffering in general and women's agony in particular are evident
in Aceh and have been aggravated by the recent earthquake and
tsunami.

The tsunami disaster in Aceh has stimulated worldwide
responses to help the victims and inevitably attracted
international pressure for a resolution of the conflict between
the Indonesian military and Free Aceh Movement (GAM).
Nonetheless, peace negotiations between Indonesia and GAM tend to
be exclusive and neglect the participation of Acehnese civil
groups including women's organizations.

ELSAM (the Jakarta-based Institute for Policy Research and
Advocacy) claims that during the DOM (military operations) era,
at least 1,958 people disappeared, 1,321 died, 3,430 suffered
various forms of torture, and 209 women were victims of sexual
violence. It is also reported that there were 3,000 widows and
16,375 orphans.

The above should be considered as just the tip of the
iceberg. There were many other violations in remote areas of Aceh
that were never reported. Fear and stigma frequently prevents
many Acehnese from talking about their traumatic experiences due
to the brutal attitudes of the Indonesian Military and police.
However, the data significantly indicated women's vulnerability,
especially due to sexual violence and the large number of widows
and orphans.

It is also clear that sexual violence towards women in
conflict areas, including Aceh, often has symbolic and political
meanings, attempting to emphasize the failure of men to protect
their women, to infiltrate and destroy communities, and to
alienate women from their community.

Acehnese women's suffering continues when they were forced to
live in refugee camps with low availability of food, lack of
clean water, electricity and sanitation that triggers many kinds
of infectious diseases and premature deaths.

Women's vulnerability in Aceh due to the long armed conflict
and natural disasters strongly indicates the urgency to
prioritize women's health programs in the province. National,
provincial and local government should conduct intensive public
consultation to design, implement and monitor women's health
programs as part of the process of rehabilitation.

The writer is a postgraduate student at the Key Centre for
Women's Health in Society, University of Melbourne. He can be
reached at s.nasir@pgrad.unimelb.edu.au.