Church activists in Indonesia organize workshop to enhance the implementation of Sexual Violence Law

The Flores Volunteer Team for Humanity (TRUK-F) of the Indonesian Catholic Church sponsored a workshop for humanitarian activists on May 30 at the Pelita Maumere Hotel Hall to enhance their understanding of the Law on the Crime of Sexual Violence (LCSV), PojokBebas report.

Several interfaith partners from Sikka, East Flores, and Ende participated in the workshop titled "Strengthening Understanding of the Law on Sexual Violence (LCSV) for Service Institutions, Communities, Paralegals, and Academics in Nusa Tenggara Province (NTT)."

The organizing committee explained that the purpose of the workshop was, among other things, to develop a strategy for joint advocacy and implementation of this law to address a variety of cases that favored victims and to improve the performance of the law on sexual violence that favored victims.

On April 12, 2022, the Indonesian House of Representatives ratified the Sexual Violence Act into law.

In his material presentation, Fr. Hubert Thomas Hasulie, SVD, one of the workshop facilitators, assisted participants in discovering or identifying the challenges encountered during the Law's implementation.

Humanitarian activists concluded from the group discussion that there were several issues with the implementation of the law on sexual violence, including the fact that law enforcement officials were not prepared to implement the law because they had not optimally coordinated, the regional government had not made this issue a priority that needed to be addressed immediately, and there was a lack of outreach to the general public, traditional institutions, and religious institutions.

In this case, the Visum et Repertum fee became an obstacle in handling claims or the follow-up process of handling cases of sexual violence; difficulties with expert witnesses; the community still stigmatizes the victim or blames the victim; customary sanctions given for the recovery of victims are not in favor of the victims; and the role of religious leaders is not in favor of the victims.

Hasulie facilitated the workshop participants to propose solutions to tackle the issues above, including the need for law enforcement officials to be involved in the discussion process, the importance of outreach to the community and traditional institutions, the importance of capacity building for facilitators or community service providers in the subdistrict or village, the necessity of preparing a budget for victim assistance, and the significance of holding cross-sectoral workshops.

The Chairperson of the TRUK-F, Sister Fransiska Immaculata, SSpS, said that efforts to be made to reform the law to prevent and address all forms of sexual violence, as well as to protect and rehabilitate sexual violence victims.

"The birth of the Law is a manifestation of the presence of the state, but access to justice for women victims of sexual violence has not been optimal," stated Sr. Immaculata.

Sister Immaculata used this occasion to present data indicating that, as of May 2023, only one of four sexual violence complaints against adult women involved the LCSV in the regency of Sikka. 

"The absence of derivative regulations for the LCSV and law enforcement officials in complete comprehension of the Law are obstacles to implementing the Law. Aside from this, the public's understanding of the LSV Law is still diverse, said Immaculada.

As of January 1, 2023, the Ministry of Women's Empowerment and Child Protection of the Republic of Indonesia released data regarding sexual violence in Indonesia. There have been 10,033 instances of sexual violence to date. Based on these numbers, there were 8,974 female and 1,926 male victims. -