National conference on Ending Violence against Women with Disabilities
On 6-7 December 2012, AIPJ together with Komnas Perempuan hosted a National Conference on Ending Violence against Women with Disabilities.
Opened by Agung Laksono, Indonesia’s Minister for People’s Welfare, the conference gathered expert panelists from many sectors to discuss implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability, in relation to protecting women with disabilities from violence. A keynote address was given by Graeme Innes, Commissioner of the Australian Human Rights Commission.
Commissioner Innes told the audience that violence against women was also a problem in Australia with 25 percent of reported rapes being against women with disabilities. He also drew attention to the economic cost. “Violence against women costs millions of dollars every year, so reducing this will strengthen our economy,” he said.
Speaking as both Commissioner and as a person with a disability, he said that the UN Convention needs to be more than just a set of words on a piece of paper. “Even if we remove the environmental barriers, we will still encounter attitudinal barriers. We are part of the community - we don’t want to be excluded,” said Commissioner Innes.
Many recommendations on education, health, access to justice and employment were put forward by the panelists and participants. All agreed that the responsibility falls on every ministry and institution, and all must work together on a coordinated front.
“DPOs (Disabled Persons Organisations) have an important role to play, providing information to the government where there is still a low level of understanding,” said Cucu Saidah, AIPJ’s disabilities expert. “But today we have seen that the government is committed to supporting us, and I am very pleased to see how many DPOs we have here today.”
“On day two we had meetings between the DPOs and Komnas HAM, Komnas Perempuanand Komnas Perlindungan Anak Indonesia (the Child Protection Commission). This is probably the first time these commissions have been brought together with the DPOs” added Cucu. “They have agreed to include disability in all future reporting mechanisms, so we have already achieved something today – people with disabilities will at least be more visible,” she said.
