Major natural disasters throughout the country in recent years have caused problems for displaced people, especially women and children.
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PALU, KOMPAS — Major natural disasters throughout the country in recent years have caused problems for displaced people, especially women and children. Inadequate and unsafe facilities in temporary shelter centers leave them vulnerable to violence.
A Kompas survey on people displaced by disasters from October 22-29, in West Nusa Tenggara (North Lombok and West Lombok regencies) and Central Sulawesi (Palu and Sigi), with 100 respondents in each temporary shelter camps, shows that up to 8 percent of female respondents have been victims of violence and sexual harassment in the camps.
The violence was generally committed by someone close to the victim, namely siblings (50 percent) and neighbors (37.5 percent), while only 4 percent of respondents dared to report the incident to the authorities (neighborhood unit heads and neighborhood communities (RT/RW), village heads, security officers). A further 7.5 percent of respondents claimed to have seen or heard acts of violence against children by parents and neighbors.
The threat of violence continues at evacuation sites, as experienced by women survivors of the earthquake, tsunami and soil liquefaction in Central Sulawesi. After the natural disasters, which took place on Sept. 28, 2018, a number of women and girls experienced "new" disasters, ranging from sexual harassment, exploitation and rape to domestic violence (KDRT) and child marriages.
Sartika, 40, a survivor of soil liquefaction who now lives in a temporary shelter in Tawaeli district, Palu city, experienced sexual harassment and domestic violence. "When I was living in a makeshift tent, a man entered the tent and held my body while I was sleeping. When I woke, the perpetrator ran away. The case could not be followed up because it was dark and I did not see the perpetrator’s face," said Sartika, who is now taking care of her six children by herself.
Poor facilities
After the disasters, 250 cases of violence against women and girls were reported to the Women\'s Friendly Rooms at 12 refugee points in Palu, Sigi and Donggala. The service has been provided by the Central Sulawesi Women\'s Equality Struggle Group and the Study Circle for Central Sulawesi Women, since October 2018. The actual number of violence cases that have occurred against women survivors is thought to be much greater considering there are 400 refugee points with 172,000 displace people.
According to the head of the Central Sulawesi Office of Women\'s Empowerment and Child Protection, Ihsan Basir, fewer than five cases have been legally processed. This is because not all survivors reported the cases to the police.
Deputy chairperson for the protection of women\'s rights at the Women\'s Empowerment and Child Protection Ministry, Vennetia R Danes, emphasized that every time there is a disaster, she requested that the evacuation centers be equipped with a Women and Child Friendly Post as a place to file complaints, receive psychosocial services and cater to the specific needs of women and children.
Violence against women survivors of the disaster in Central Sulawesi was also revealed in the Rapid Assessment of Gender-Based Violence in Emergency Response Period (November 2018-January 2019) by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) together with the Women\'s Empowerment and Child Protection Ministry. That was reinforced by studies by UN Women and a number of institutions (February-May 2019).
UNFPA studies in 10 evacuation camps in three disaster areas found 57 cases of domestic violence, attempted rape, sexual harassment, sexual exploitation and female circumcision. There were even teenagers who were raped and became pregnant and two teenagers who died due to unsafe abortions.
Survivors of the eruption of Mount Sinabung in Karo regency, North Sumatra, also complained that the evacuation centers were unfriendly to children and women. (VDL/NSA/SON)