Increasing Reports of Violence against Women

KOMPAS/HENDRA A SETYAWAN

A campaign against violence toward mothers and children continues to be voiced by the community through murals as seen in the Gandaria area, Jakarta, Tuesday (05/03/2019). Based on data from the National Commission on Violence against Women in 2017, cases of violence against women were still high, with 5,167 cases of violence against wives, dating violence (1,873 cases), violence against girls (2,227 cases). Meanwhile, based on data from the National Commission for Child Protection in 2017, there were 2,373 complaints of violence against children, most of which were dealing with sex crimes.

Reports of domestic violence against women are on the rise, according to the National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan), but the numbers may reflect an increasing willingness in the community to report cases.

There is a significant increase in the number of reported cases of violence against women. If in 2017 Komnas Perempuan recorded 348,466 cases of violence reported to various women\'s protection organizations and government institutions, that number jumped to 406,178 cases in 2018.

The increasing number of reported cases is worrying on the one hand, but on the other hand it suggests that the public is increasingly aware that violence in the private sphere cannot be tolerated.

Law Number 23 of 2004 on the elimination of domestic violence defines violence as physical, sexual, psychological or economic violence. The highest incidence of violence in 2018, according to Komnas Perempuan, was physical violence (41 percent), followed by sexual (31 percent), psychological (17 percent) and economic (11 percent) violence.

The perpetrators are usually people close to the victims, who are either related to them by blood (fathers, brothers, sisters, uncles, grandfathers), kinship or marriage (husbands) or by friendship (boyfriends).

Violence against women needs to receive special attention, because it is a violation of human rights based on gender. Such violence frequently occurs because of an imbalance in power within a relationship, which is often related to gender. This explains why women and girls are more often on the receiving end of domestic violence.

Within some communities, violence against women and girls is considered a natural thing. This mindset can lead to a continuation of such violence. Other people consider it a taboo to reveal cases of violence, so the victims and those around them choose to remain silent.

Not only does violence hurt the dignity of the victims as well as their feeling of security and authority, violence against women also causes physical injury, reproductive health problems, unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV. Gender-based sexual violence also causes economic losses for individuals, households and the state, because of the decline in the productivity of victims and perpetrators (if they are imprisoned).

We are still waiting for a draft on the elimination of sexual violence to be passed into law, as the text has not yet been approved amid objections from several community groups and factions at the House of Representatives.

On March 8, the global community celebrated International Women\'s Day with the theme "Balance for Better". A more equal and gender-fair world would produce a more harmonious and productive society, because women, after all, make up half the population.