Hera Diani, Jakarta – After taking on cases of violence against women for the past five years in her hometown in West Nusa Tenggara province, activist-cum-lawyer Beauty Erawati said she was ready to call it quits and switch to a more secure job.
By more secure, she meant no more unwelcome guests coming to her house, throwing stones or threatening her with swords or sickles; no more being called a promiscuous widow, or receiving sexually intimidating phone calls and pictures.
"My family has asked me to move to Jakarta where it's supposed to be safer. To be honest, I'm ready to give up. But then another case comes up and I feel the calling again," Beauty, who works for the West Nusa Tenggara branch of the Association for Indonesian Women for Justice, LBH Apik, told a seminar here Monday.
Beauty is one of many women in the country who risk their lives as human rights defenders. They include labor activist Marsinah, who was raped and murdered. And Ita Martadinata, murdered after calling for an investigation of the abuses against Chinese-Indonesian women in the 1998 riots. Police determined the murder was not related to her activism, but fellow activists believe it was. And Mama Yosefa from Papua, who was brutally interrogated and kept in a room full of human excrement for her role in leading a rally.
There is also Suciwati, who has been fighting for justice over the murder of her husband Munir Said Thalib, a noted human rights activist who was poisoned on a flight from Jakarta to the Netherlands in September 2004.
Like Beauty, Suciwati has received threats, ranging from bombs to blackmail. "Yet, impunity remains. We have to change this. We are tired of violence," Suciwati said at the seminar.
A study by the National Commission on Violence against Women from November 2005 through August 2006 showed that women human rights defenders are much more vulnerable to violence and discrimination than their male counterparts.
The study was a result of a series of discussions with 58 female activists all over the country. Specifically, it found they are vulnerable to sexual violence, including rape, sexual torture, sexual harassment and stigmatization. Rape is an especially effective weapon, and thus rape or threats of it are employed often.
"Sexual violence also includes the corrosion of women's credibility based on their marital status. That 'good' women are those who marry and obey norms of patriarchy. Unmarried activists are then labeled as old maids, lesbians, man-haters, and full of rage," said commission member Saparinah Sadli.
Female activists are attacked in their roles as mothers, wives and daughters, and some are silenced when their children and families become the targets of threats.
Activists in the seminar urged the government to ensure protection for women human rights defenders and to end impunity for perpetrators.
Elisabeth Rehn, the United Nations Special Rapporteur for the Human Rights Situation in the Balkans, said if perpetrators were not put on trial, it was impossible to achieve truth, justice and reconciliation. "As Indonesia resumes membership in the UN Security Council next year, it is in a position to address the issue," she said.