Cucu Saidah, AIPJ's Coordinator for Disability Inclusion
Giving vulnerable women a voice
Women with disabilities are twice as likely to face abuse, according to WHO figures, but in Indonesia they often have nowhere to go for support.
The Australia Indonesia Partnership for Justice (AIPJ) is helping Indonesia’s civil society organisations change that. This support has enabled one organisation, Sasana Integrasi dan Advokasi Difabel (SIGAB) assist a vulnerable woman to get justice, and so demonstrate how all Indonesians should be able to get access to fair, equitable treatment.
The case involved the sexual abuse of the young woman, who has a hearing impairment, by her teacher. For SIGAB, it was a way to test the legal system’s responsiveness to a more widespread, but largely unreported, problem. The court’s ruling, an eight year jail sentence for the perpetrator, was an important decision for the woman and the organisations supporting her. The prosecutor appealed the sentence and it was increased to 10 years.
The AusAID-funded AIPJ program has been supporting SIGAB to improve its information systems.
“Our support has been in developing SIGAB’s website for distribution of disability and legal information,” says Cucu Saidah, AIPJ Coordinator for disability rights. SIGAB has played a strong advocacy role in getting its networks to act on protecting women with disabilities.
“The awareness in cases of violence like this is still limited. If women with disabilities become a victim of violence, they often don’t know how what to do. They are afraid. In this case, SIGAB helped the affected woman to bring the case to court. It helped her to go to the police station to report the case, to go to the hospital for medical checks, to find good lawyers and to contribute to awareness of prosecutors, who initially were unwilling to proceed with the case,” says Saidah.
SIGAB paralegal, Sipora Purwanti worked directly with the woman as her case moved through the court. “We provide advocacy, empowerment and motivation to support victims through the courts. We have also created an Advocacy Alliance for Disability Law and Justice with other local organisations to help assist victims.”
“We have developed advocacy tools for other organisations and are delivering capacity building to them to help them understand the government’s decision-making processes, and how to lobby for change,” says SIGAB President Joni Yulianto. “The website is a key channel for this information; a channel we wouldn’t have had without AIPJ’s support.”
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In December last year AIPJ held and National Conference on Ending Violence against Women with Disabilities, with the keynote address by Graeme Innes, Commissioner of the Australian Human Rights Commission. The AHRC and Komnas Perempuan are collaborating on a series of activities that will lead to the development of a Strategic Plan to address violence against women with disabilities.
