Gender and Development

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Indonesia

Legal Assistance and legal campaign advocacy, Indonesian Women’s Association for Justice - LBH APIK

Background to the project

The Indonesian NGO, LBH APIK has been providing legal support for women and campaigning for the recognition of their legal rights for many years. Established in 1995 by the prominent feminist lawyer, Ms Nursyabani Katjasungkana, LBH APIK combines legal aid, research and advocacy in its work to establish a legal system in Indonesia that guarantees equity of treatment for women and men. To date, LBH APIK has helped thousands of women in need of legal aid particularly in the areas of domestic violence, sexual harassment, abuse and rape, marital and family problems, and inheritance and property rights. It was also played an active role in the draft Domestic Violence Bill (1998). In general, LBH APIK adopts a two-prong approach which provides free legal aid to women who are socially, economically and culturally marginal (covering consultation with lawyers and court costs), while campaigning and advocating in the area of gender and the law.

The value of LBH APIK activities has become more pronounced in the light of Indonesia’s recent economic and political turmoil. There are a number of factors operating here but two deserve special mention. Firstly, financial hardship has placed additional strains on families and society in general leading to increasing numbers of women who are victims of violence, sexual assault and desertion. LBH APIK estimates that violence against women increased by 40 to 50 percent during the economic crisis in 1997. Economic hardship also contributes to additional economic and social problems arising from exploitation in the work place and the increasing number of women forced into sex work and the migrant labor force. In the current economic climate, fewer women have the economic resources to pursue legal avenues of redress on their own. This places great demand on the legal aid provided by organizations such as LBH APIK, as well as increased pressure on the need to investigate alternative dispute resolution mechanisms particularly at the village level.

Secondly, the Republic of Indonesia has implemented a process of decentralization in response to the demands for greater regional political and economic autonomy. Consequently, provincial and district level governments have been given greatly expanded legislative powers. Unfortunately, new legislation developed at the regional level in parts of Indonesia shows little evidence of gender-sensitivity, reflecting instead a growing fundamentalism and primordialism which more often than not discriminates against women, curtails their freedom and denies their human rights. For example, the northern province of Aceh has implemented Islamic Syariah Law, with increased attempts by the local government and community to force women to wear Islamic attire. In the West Sumatran district of Padang Panjang, local legislators are considering laws that would effectively place a curfew on women’s movement outside the home between the hours of 22:00 to 4:00 unless accompanied by a spouse or direct male relative. Another proposed law defines tight clothing or revealing parts of the body as pornography.

With financial support from RETA 5889, LBH APIK is grappling with such problems in five Indonesian districts of Malang, Palembang, West Nusa Tenggara, Medan, and Pontianak. Recognizing the urgent need to increase women’s awareness of their legal rights and to provide legal aid for disadvantaged women in the current political and economic context, LBH APIK is implementing a number of activities designed to raise women’s legal awareness and protect their legal and human rights.

Project Components

The main objective of the project is to promote legal advocacy, assistance and consultation for women. In achieving this objective, the project will increase women’s awareness of their legal rights and capacity to fight for their rights. The project runs for three months.

While the activities implemented in each district differ slightly, all activities can be characterized within the following areas:

• Legal consultations to socially, economically, politically and culturally disadvantaged women.
• Women’s legal rights information and awareness campaigns
• Training of selected social groups in women’s legal issues.

The project’s overall focus on legal consultation, awareness and training is designed to extend the reach of legal knowledge and advice that can be provided by the relatively small number of lawyers who volunteer their services to LBH APIK. LBH APIK hopes to increase women’s access to affordable legal information by training non-legal women on basic legal issues of relevance to women. Decentralization is another reason for this focus as objections to proposed legislation must come from within the regions involved; the objections of national NGOs or even the national government are easily met with disregard.

Outcomes of Project

In Malang, East Java, LBH APIK conducted a weekly radio program and provided legal consultation on a weekly basis over the three months. The radio program was organized around a selected topic which was discussed first and followed by a phone-in question and answer segment. The radio program was enthusiastically received by many women and some men calling to take advantage of the legal advice on offer. Subjects discussed over the twelve weeks included rape and sexual harassment; violence against women; women’s rights in the family; legal protection for female migrant workers; unregistered marriage; domestic violence; the right of widows; under age marriage; legal protection of sex workers; and legal aspects of contracts. LBH APIK also implemented a legal awareness program in cooperation with Fatayat NU, the largest Muslim women’s organization in East Java. The program focuses on the rights of women in the family and violence against women, especially domestic violence and was conducted in 12 regencies (kecamatan).

In Palembang, North Sumatra, LBH APIK concentrated on distributing brochures, leaflets and stickers on the theme ‘Stop violence against women’. This campaign on violence against women was chosen as the main theme for activities in Palembang because of the increasing number of violent acts against women in the region. One of the more highly visible activities here was the distribution of stickers in the main street of Palembang. Volunteers stopped cars and approached pedestrians to distribute Stop violence against women stickers. This received considerable media attention, hopefully conveying the message to a wider audience. Additional project activities in Palembang included several legal awareness programs. In all 350 women participated in workshops that focused on violence against women, particularly domestic violence, sexual harassment and rape, and how the legal system can protect women. Most participants were from surrounding villages, many describing themselves as housewives. At both occasions, leaflets, posters and stickers were given out and participants asked to further distribute them.

Project activities in West Nusa Tenggara focus on paralegal training for women. This is a relatively new initiative in Indonesia. The idea here is to provide respected local women - such as teachers - with training in basic and practical knowledge on laws and legal procedures related to common legal problems confronting women. The objective is not only to increase the repository of local legal knowledge and awareness but also facilitate the resolution of disputes at the village level, thus operating as a form of alternative dispute resolution. It is too early to say whether this will be successful, but if legal advice is more accessible at the village level it may enable some disputes to be settled locally, thus circumventing the need and expense to pursue legal advice and court action in provincial and district cities. The main areas of training so far are family law and migrant workers rights.

Other legal awareness programs in West Nusa Tenggara target decision-makers at the regency level, university law faculty students and informal and religious leaders. Legal awareness here focuses on broader issues relating to women’s legal and human rights. It is anticipated that this will lead to the establishment of an informal network of influential people who can (a) disseminate information to the wider society and (b) inform debate on proposed legislation (particularly legislation that impacts on the rights and status of women).

In Medan, South Sumatra, LBH APIK focused on the issue of women’s social status in order to counter the still strong perception that women have a lower social status than men. In addition to an information campaign - this time done via leaflet distribution in various shopping centers in Medan - legal awareness programs have also been conducted in a number of villages and regencies.

In Pontianak, West Kalimantan there are particular issues surrounding the needs of female migrant workers, sexual violence against women, and trafficking of women and children (often across the border into Malaysia). For this reason, LBH APIK undertook range of different activities designed to raise awareness amongst different groups. One activity was the development of posters, leaflets and a legal awareness program on the rights of female migrant workers. A legal awareness program on the rights of female migrant workers was then held with around 100 people attending. The head of the regency and the head of police at the regency level also attended. Materials and a legal awareness program were also developed on the reproductive health and legal aspects of sex workers. Once again LBH APIK organized a forum, this time attracting around 95 people. As above, the head of the regency and the head of police at the regency level attended and endorsed the message promoted by LBH APIK.

Two youth-oriented programs were also developed in Pontianak. The first organized for students from the senior high school, focused on issues of sexual harassment of students, dating violence and rape. The second was developed in association with the police office in Sambas, and looked at issues of sexual harassment, rape and drug abuse. Various student and youth organizations attended this workshop.

The success of legal awareness and training projects is often difficult to measure. However, there are a number of indications that the awareness campaigns and training programs undertaken in this project have been well received and effective. For example, in Palembang, there was increase in the number of women seeking legal assistance from LBH APIK following the ‘Stop violence against women’ campaign. There was also a very favorable response from local government agencies, particularly in Palembang and Pontianak where government officials from the police, the regency, and the Women’s Empowerment Bureau assisted and participated in LBH APIK activities. In Palembang, local LBH APIK staff have been appointed as resource persons for the Women’s Empowerment Bureau’s campaign of ‘zero tolerance against violence’ and as part of this have been asked to continue their campaign ‘Stop violence against women’ at the village level. In a similar vein, the Pontianak branch office of LBH APIK has been appointed as focal point on issues relating to female migrant workers. As evidence of the respected position, the Indonesian consulate in Brunei now refers to LBH APIK Pontianak on issues relating to the welfare and rights of Indonesian female migrant workers.

Future Direction

In recent years, the Government of Indonesia has shown support for gender equality and equity in legislation and policy, including the 1990 State Guidelines, Law No. 22/1999 on Regional Autonomy, and Law No. 25/2000 on the National Development Plan. The Presidential Instruction 9/2000 on Gender Mainstreaming takes this commitment one step further, providing for gender mainstreaming in all government policies, legislation and programs. The government has also introduced a Zero Tolerance Policy in relation to violence against women and adopted a National Plan of Action for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. These two initiatives in particular require a coordinated approach by both government and non-government organizations. In this context, there is much to be gained by ADB continuing to separately fund important women’s NGOs active in the field of VAW, as well as facilitating links between government and non-government organizations.

LBH APIK is a good example of both of these types of arrangements. Over time, it has built up considerable capacity and expertise at policy, advocacy and community mobilization levels. It has also developed good linkages with government agencies as seen in its appointment as a focal point on violence against women in Palembang and the rights of migrant workers in Pontianak.

From ADB’s perspective, the ability to work with NGOs committed to gender and development is becoming increasingly important in the case of Indonesia for two reasons. Firstly, as many government agencies realize, they do not have the resources to undertake social mobilization and information campaigns at the village-level. Secondly, given the process of decentralization, ADB will increasingly deal with regional governments directly, many of whom lack either the commitment or capacity to meet the central government’s as well as ADB’s own emphasis on gender equity and equality.

In terms of loan projects, ADB could expand the community mobilization and education campaigns undertaken by the NGOs focusing on gender equity, in cooperation with the Ministry for Women’s Empowerment and the Ministry of Justice, to effect the government’s Zero Tolerance Policy and National Plan of Action for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. Another area to consider here is the development of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms, particularly to meet the demand for accessibility, affordability and gender equity in the area of dispute resolution.

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