Jakarta – Although Indonesia has since 1984 adopted the UN convention on the elimination of discrimination against women (CEDAW), many women in the country still face violence and discrimination, a high-level meeting on the convention concluded here Thursday.
Addressing the meeting, State Minister for Women's Empowerment Meutia Hatta said the abuses had been allowed to go on because of laws that encouraged discrimination and violence against women.
"We still have 16 national laws that do not support women's rights, on top of many regional bylaws that also allow for discrimination. No wonder we have problems of violence and discrimination," she said.
Meutia added many women in certain areas still faced problems over dressing and attitude. "Some of the problems are because the review of Marriage Law No. 1/1974 is still not implemented and because of the strong patriarchal system in Indonesia," she said.
In more remote areas, she went on, people ignored national laws and adopted customary laws that provided far more benefits to men than women. In inheritance cases, Meutia said, women often wound up with little.
Another problem was that courts handed down light sentences for perpetrators of violence against women. "In 2005, the National Commission on Violence against Women [Komnas Perempuan] found that these perpetrators received light sentences," Meutia said.
More than 20,391 cases of violence against women across 29 provinces were recorded by Komnas Perempuan in 2005, up from only 14,020 cases in 2004. Also in 2005 the commission reported 1,165 women had fallen victim to trafficking and violence, while more than 1,120 women had been raped.
In spite of the problems, Meutia highlighted some success in implementing the CEDAW.
Jean D'Cunha, regional program director for the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) for East and Southeast Asia, lauded Indonesia's progress in eliminating discrimination against women, pointing to scores of amended laws to strengthen women's place in society.
"Indonesia should be proud of amendments in electoral laws and qanuns [bylaws] in Aceh," she said.