Rights groups have lashed out at the government for not doing enough to end discrimination against women, warning that women and girls face a continued risk of rights abuses and questioning the government's commitment to protecting them.

An open letter issued on Thursday by London-based Amnesty International and the CEDAW Working Group of Indonesia (CWGI) to Linda Agum Gumelar, the minister for women's empowerment and child protection, slammed Indonesia's lack of progress in implementing the recommendations of the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), which it ratified in 1984.

It noted that in July last year, the UN CEDAW Committee had flagged Indonesia's failures to meet its obligations and issued a series of recommendations.

"However, a year later many of these recommendations aimed at combatting gender-based discrimination and violence remain largely unimplemented and further, there is a lack of awareness about the recommendations, in particular among government agencies," the letter said.

"The failure to take concrete steps... leaves women and girls at continued risk of human rights abuses, and calls into question the government's commitment to protecting and promoting their rights."

The groups said that among the issues that the government had failed to properly address was "the persistence of discriminatory laws and regulations at the national and local levels," including provisions for polygamy and a low age of marriage in the 1974 Marriage Law, as well as discriminatory regional bylaws.

"The committee recommended the repeal or amendment of all such laws and regulations within a clear timeframe. Further, it specifically requested that Indonesia report back after two years on steps taken to review the Marriage Law and to repeal without delay discriminatory laws in Aceh," the letter said.

Amnesty noted that a directive from the Justice Ministry called for local laws to be drawn up in compliance with human rights parameters, but "in reality this had little effect for women and girls," with many problematic laws remaining in place and more being drawn up.

Amnesty and the CWGI also noted that the government had failed to repeal a 2010 regulation allowing "female circumcision," despite the CEDAW Committee's concerns about "serious regression" with regard to the practice of female genital mutilation.

The groups also addressed the problem of violence and abuse of female domestic workers, noting that legislators had "made slow progress in finalizing a draft Domestic Workers Protection Law," as well as the exploitation of migrant workers by placement agencies and employers.