Singgih Wiryono, Jakarta – The National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan) has released an annual report (Catahu) covering the last 21 years, beginning in 2001.
Komnas Perempuan Chairperson Andy Yentriyani said what needs to be noted from the data over the last 21 years is that gender-based violence has continued to increase.
"From the information gathered over 21 years, the number of reported cases of KBG (gender-based violence) has continued to grow every year", said Yentriyani when opening the launch of Catahu 2001-2021 at the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) office on Tuesday June 20.
Yentriyani said that the data over the last 21 years showed that there were 3.8 million reports of violence against women. After being verified, cases of gender-based violence totalled 2.7 million reports, which were dominated by incidents in the personal, public and state sphere.
Nevertheless, said Yentriyani, the increase in gender-based violence must be understood in positive terms because it shows an increasing awareness of reporting in society.
"The courage of and support for victims to report their cases is closely linked to growing confidence in society by victims to report their cases", she said.
On the other hand, access by women victims is also related to the knowledge of victims about where to report their cases.
Aside from this, said Yentriyani, the presence of affordable service institutions had contributed greatly to the increase in reporting.
"Thus it is increasingly clear that in developing indicators of legal developments in Indonesia, reducing the number of reported cases should not be the target", she added.
Yentriyani said that what needs to be emphasised is the target of all parties should not be to reduce or eliminate the number of reported cases of violence against women.
All stakeholders need to actively work to show progress in successful responses to existing case reports.
"In fact, the indicators of success need to move to show the development of successful attitudes, both in terms of prevention and handling [of cases]", she said.
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Catatan 21 Tahun Komnas Perempuan: Kekerasan Berbasis Gender Terus Meningkat".]
