Indonesia’s National Commission on Violence against Women (Komnas Perempuan) is an independent national institution that promotes women’s human rights in Indonesia. The Commission was established by the Presidential Decree number 181 in 1998, on October 15. In response to organizational development within Komnas Perempuan, Presidential Decree number 65 and 66 was signed in 2005, superseding the former decree.

Komnas Perempuan was established in response to the vehement demand of civil society, especially women, for state’s responsibility on handling cases of violence against women. The demand was subsequent to mass rape and other forms of sexual attacks against Chinese women during May 1998 riots occurred in Jakarta and several other big cities in Indonesia.

Komnas Perempuan’s framework is developed by referring to the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia, the Act no 7/1984 on the Ratification of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the Act no 5/1998 on the Ratification of the International Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or punishment (CAT), the International Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women and other policies on human rights.

Based on Presidential Decree No. 65/2005, the purposes of Komnas Perempuan are:

1. To build conducive situation for the elimination of all forms of violence against women and the fulfillment of women’s rights in Indonesia,
2. To increase prevention efforts for all form of violence against women and protection of women’s rights.

Presidential Decree No. 65/2005 gives Komnas Perempuan mandate:

1. To increase awareness of all forms of violence against women and prevention efforts and elimination of all forms of violence against women,
2. To provide research of all rules and laws, and international instruments relevant for protection of women’s rights,
3. To monitor, which includes fact finding and documentation of violence against women and violation of women’s rights, and to disseminate the results of monitoring activities to the general public, and to take actions for accountability and handling cases of violence against women,
4. To give recomendations to government, legislative and judicative bodies, as well as civil organizations to support law and policy making that strengthen the prevention and elimination of all forms of violence against women, and protection of women’s rights,
5. To build regional and international partnership in order to increase prevention efforts and elimination of all forms of violence against women and also protection, and fulfillment of women’s rights.

Role

The execution of its mandate puts Komnas Perempuan to take the roles as:

• observer and  rapporteur for violation of gender-based human rights and for fulfillment of   women’s human rights as victims;
• resource center for women’s human rights;
• initiator for policy reforms and policy making;
• negotiator and mediator between government and victims and women’s human rights defenders, highlighting the interests of the victims;
• facilitator for the development of local, national and international networks to prevent violence against women and to build their capacity in eliminating all forms of violence against women.

Beneficiaries of Komnas Perempuan activities:

1. Women victims of violence;
2. Women vulnerable to violence;
3. Women human rights defenders;
4. Women Crisis Center;
5. The State, through the availability of inputs for strategic steps to carry out its responsibility to fulfill human rights  as mandated by the constitution and as its commitment to the international community.

The Mandatory, 2010-2014

The plenary meeting of Komnas Perempuan’s commisioners (rapat paripurna) is the highest authority in the decision-making process of the mandatory. The Commissioners, members of the plenary, were chosen from various backgrounds and subject to the Paris Principles on human rights mechanism. The election is held openly, conducted by an independent team that holds consultation with partners in deciding the criteria and the selection process details. To ensure the continuity of the organization’s initiatives, and to see that democratic principles are observed, an individual may only be elected twice in a row and the reelected Commissioner must not exceed 30% of the total number of Commissioners.

There are fifteen Commissioners for the term of 2010-2014. Amongst them, a chairperson and two vice chairpersons were elected. The rest are to head Sub-commissions and Task Forces to ensure the fulfillment of the mandates of Komnas Perempuan, namely the Sub-commissions of Monitoring, Development of Recovery System, Legal and Policy Reformation, Research and Development, Public Participation, and Task Forces for Papua, Migrant Workers and Women in Constitution and National Legal System.

In its works, the Commissioners obtain assistance from the Executive Committee, led by a General Secretary. The Executive committee consists of divisions and units according to the needs of the existing sub-commissions and task forces, in addition to the five secretarial offices: General, Human Resources, Finance, Information and Documentation, and Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation.

Komnas Perempuan’s Plenary Commission 2010-2014

Chairperson:

Yuniyanti Chuzaifah

Vice Chairperson:

Desti Murdjiana, Masruchah

Member:

Agustinus Supriyanto, Andy Yentriyani, Arimbi Heroepoetri, Husein Muhammad, Kunthi Tridewiyanti, Neng Dara Affiah, Ninik Rahayu, Saur Tumiur Situmorang, Sri Nurherwati, Sylvana Maria Apituley, Tumbu Saraswati, Yustina Rostiawati

Secretary Jendral

Pinky Tatontos

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Eleven Priority Issues for Komnas Perempuan, 2010-2014

1. Violence against women in the context of conflicts and past human rights violations;
2. Violence against women in the context of marriage and family;
3. Violence against women as the consequences of women’s impoverishment, including the contexts of migration, exploitation within factories and domestic works, exploitation of natural resources, and internal displacement;
4. Violence against women as the consequences of abuse of identity politics, and moral and religious-based policies;
5. Sexual violence in various other contexts, including violence by public officers, teachers, public figures and in the media;
6. Violence against women vulnerable to discriminations, including but not limited to the diffables, indigenous women and members of minority groups;
7. Violence against women in the contexts of detention and conditions similar to detention;
8. Violence against women in cultural practices;
9. Violence against women within electoral process (national and local);
10. Woman defenders of human rights;
11. Strengthening human rights mechanism for women.

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The Sub-commission of Monitoring of Transgression against Women’s Human Rights

In carrying out its mandate, Komnas Perempuan strives to collect information and conducts facts finding regarding the cases of violence against women and other forms of gender based human rights violations, their roots causes and consequences towards the fulfillment of women’s human rights. The results of the monitoring is then reported to the executives, legislatives, judiciaries and the general public; including recommendations on the remedies and preventive measures to be followed through by each relevant authoritative party. Through cooperation with partners which are specialized in servicing woman victims of violence, Komnas Perempuan publishes the ANNUAL REPORT on Violence Against Women (CATAHU) on the number, forms and trends of the violence against women in Indonesia and the quality of services available for victims provided by governmental agencies or civil society organizations. To strengthen the monitoring function based on the active participation of the society, Komnas Perempuan develops monitoring instruments and mechanism, including building monitoring network in areas where human rights violation is prone to happen.

The Sub-commission for the Development of Recovery System for Survivors

The integration of the fulfillment of woman victim’s rights, namely the rights to truth, justice and recovery, in the state’s and public system and mechanism to address the survivors is the paramount factor in ensuring the availability of a comprehensive recovery. To that end, Komnas Perempuan is building the synergy between the state and the society to encourage a development of a broad-based recovery system, pushing for a legal national and local recovery policy governing an integrated multisectoral service, endorsing an improvement in case treatment quality through inter-institutional dialogue between groups providing services for victims’ recovery, building the understanding that violence against women is part of public health issues, and advocating the integration of the need for recovery in all human rights mechanism. Komnas Perempuan encourages development of community-based initiatives and maintaining solidarity between women human rights defenders and the survivors.

The Sub-commission of Legal and Policy Reform

The elimination of violence against women requires a policy framework that is conducive for the fulfillment of women’s human rights. To that end, Komnas Perempuan actively provides policy inputs and deliberations to legislative, executive and judiciary institutions, in order to improve the national and local legislation. This initiative is carried through legislation process within the national and local parliament, judicial review of the Constitutional Court, and the dialogues with state institutions holding a strategic role in the elimination of violence against women. With the Police Force, State Attorney Office, Department of Justice, bar associations and women’s organizations, Komnas Perempuan makes the effort to strengthen the capacity of law enforcement agencies to build an integrated, gender-sensitive justice system, responsive to solving the cases of violence against women.

The Sub-commission of Research and Development

The availability of latest and most comprehensive information on the problems of violence against women, its root causes and consequences is essential in formulating strategic planning to eliminate and handling violence against women. For that end, Komnas Perempuan conducts researches and analysis on various issues of violence against women. The effort includes collaboration with the Postgraduate Program on Woman Study at the University of Indonesia, in a program called “Knowledge from Women”. The program is intended to open dialogues between academicians and practitioners of women’s human rights. It is expected that the dialogues would lead to a more comprehensive understanding about the violence against women, and a conceptualization of a knowledge based on the experience of the survivors in surviving the threat of violence and the uphill task of fighting for justice. Komnas Perempuan is currently developing a scholarship program to develop the capacity of woman human rights defender both in concept and in the practice of advocacy.

The Sub-commission of Public Participation

To create an environment conducive for the elimination of violence against women, and the fulfillment of women’s human rights, an active public participation is necessary. The public support would be pledged if the community understands why violence against women (VAW) needs to be urgently well responded. To that end, Komnas Perempuan strives to provide the public with robust information on the forms, root causes, consequences, and the efforts to eliminate VAW. The information is conveyed through the website of Komnas Perempuan, social networking on the Internet, independent publications, the mass media and campaign activities. The campaign activities are also utilized to forge strategic coalitions with individuals and civil society organizations; locals, national and international. The three main campaign activities of Komnas Perempuan are: the Sixteen-day Plus Campaign against VAW, Let’s Talk Truth, and the Pundi Perempuan. Other activities include the Commemoration of the May 1998 Tragedy, the Commemoration of Against Torture Day, the Constitutional Day, and other principal historical days regarding the Indonesian nation-building and human rights.

The Task Force of Women in the Constitution and National Legal System (since 2007)

The decentralization process through the local autonomy is a crucial instrument for the democratization of Indonesia. For women, the local autonomy opens up opportunities for a more accessible quality service for the survivors of VAW, and the policies on gender equality. On the other hand, the imperfect mechanism of the local autonomy has borne a more serious problem, namely the implementation of a number of local policies discriminatory against women, a serious challenge to the constitutional guarantee of citizenship rights. To address the matter, Komnas Perempuan develops a monitoring system in order to understand the problem and the impact of the discriminatory policies on women and on the national integrity, conducts policy dialogues at the national and local level, conducts programs to strengthen local legislation capacity in cooperation with local reformist groups, and organizes public support for the non-discriminatory fulfillment of constitutional citizenship rights.

Task Force for Papua (since 2008)

The problem of violence against women in Papua has been one of the priorities for Komnas Perempuan since its establishment. The cooperation with local woman organizations is forged through, for instance, the joint effort to document cases of VAW and to develop an integrated gender justice perspective into the human rights education. Considering the complexity of VAW cases in Papua and the implementation of local autonomy in the provinces, Komnas Perempuan facilitates the strengthening of the Woman Working Group in the Papua People Council to conduct its mandate to fulfill women’s human rights. The empowerment to monitor VAW in a participatory, independent, accountable way is the focus of the collaboration, in addition to endorsing the recovery for woman survivors of VAW cases perpetrated in personal, community or state sphere. The recovery effort is based on the principles of state responsibility and active public participation.

The Task Force for Migrant Workers (since 2008)

In the wake of impoverishment and the shortage of available jobs across the country, numerous women have taken the risk of working abroad in order to support the life of themselves and their families. Without the provision of adequate protection for migrant workers, especially woman domestic workers, cases of deprivation of rights, discrimination and violence —physical, psychological, or sexual— are perpetually endured by women migrant workers. Since its establishment, Komnas Perempuan has been actively encouraging the state’s responsibility to protect women migrant workers and their families, including the provision for legal aid and recovery for women survivors of VAW. The advocacy towards that end is conducted by forging alliances on local, national, regional and international level, including communications with the UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants  and UN Special Rapporteur on Torture. Komnas Perempuan continues to monitor the conditions of the fulfillment of woman migrant workers’ human rights in the collaboration with the National Human Rights Commission, endorsing the public effort to demand the ratification of the Convention of the Protection of Migrant Workers and Their Families, and building synergy between the advocacy for protection of women migrant workers and the national effort to build protection for women domestic workers.

Public Reporting

Komnas Perempuan accepts reports from survivors and/or those accompanying the survivors, by visit, phone, or long distance correspondence: mail, fax or e-mail. Because Komnas Perempuan does not have a mandate for direct support, it continues to build referral mechanism and advocacy support mechanism to address the report of VAW cases. The analysis of the reports received annually has always been a part of the Annual Report on VAW (CATAHU), in order to strengthen the understanding about VAW and to shed light on the strategy for its prevention and treatment.

Accountability and Transparency

As an effort to preserve democracy and to contribute in improving the management of the state institutions, Komnas Perempuan abides by the principles of accountability and transparency. In addition to annual reporting and election of Commissioners for each term, Komnas Perempuan regularly forms independent evaluation teams to measure its performance and find ways to improve its working strategy. All reports go in writing to the President and the public by ways of discussion forums, printed materials or publication on Komnas Perempuan website. Komnas Perempuan also welcomes external evaluation effort, by national or international institutions, including the UN.  The protections for survivors, the independence of human rights mechanism and transparency have become the abiding principles for Komnas Perempuan in handling the financial matters.

Komnas Perempuan has two sources of funding: the public funding through the National State Budget and the grants from donors, national or international, individuals or institutional. The state funding is an integral part of the effort to encourage state’s responsibility for the fulfillment of human rights, especially the prevention and treatment of VAW cases. The majority of state funding is used to pay for operational costs, while the costs for programs are supported by other grants. The balance between the two sources is maintained to ensure independence of Komnas Perempuan. In addition to monitoring from state’s auditory body, Komnas Perempuan regularly calls for audit by independence auditing firms. To date, Komnas Perempuan is developing an advocacy for state financial management that is more responsive to the needs of the survivors and more compliant to the human right mechanism.

Institutional Setup

Consultation to collect information and suggestion from various partners, state institutions and the general public is one of the regular mechanisms for Komnas Perempuan to build its work strategy and to ensure a common ground on the VAW issues. Komnas Perempuan develops and strengthens local, national, regional, and international networks in order to conduct advocacy. Komnas Perempuan builds networks to monitor VAW and consolidates local reformist groups to encourage local legal reforms. Komnas Perempuan establishes forums for dialogue between groups servicing survivors of VAW, and encourages the formulation of ALIMAT as a network to develop a just family law.

Komnas Perempuan does not establish local branches. Komnas Perempuan’s commitment to preserve democracy and in relation to its will to honor its own history, Komnas Perempuan conceives that local women’s human rights mechanism should be based on the aspiration in each region. Komnas Perempuan supports public initiatives to develop the mechanism. For the purpose of reaching out in its responses to the cases of VAW throughout the country, to include remote areas, Komnas Perempuan collaborates with civil society organizations, especially group servicing survivors of VAW and woman organizations.

International engagement

One of the mandates of Komnas Perempuan is to develop international cooperation. To that end, Komnas Perempuan, among others, actively participates in the international consultative and advocacy forums through the Asia Pacific Women, Law and Development (APWLD) network, implementing “The Jakarta Process” – a collaborative initiative between national human rights commissions and the migrant workers advocacy groups, both on the national and regional level, and initiating a meeting between human rights commissions of India, Korea, the Philippines dan Indonesia, and woman rights commissions from Asian states such as Nepal, India, Pakistan, Bhutan, the Philippines, and Cambodia.

As a human rights mechanism, Komnas Perempuan actively supports the efforts of the survivors and their advocacy groups to access international human rights mechanisms. For instance, Komnas Perempuan facilitated the meeting in 1998 between the UN Special Rapporteur on VAW Rhadika Coomaraswamy and women survivors of the May 1998 Tragedy, Aceh, Papua and East Timor; consultative meeting with the UN Special Rapporteur on VAW Yakin Atruk in 2004; with the UN Special Rapporteur on Migrant Workers in 2005; with UN General Secretary Special Representative for Human Rights Defenders in 2006; and with the UN Special Rapporteur for the Elimination of Torture in 2007. Komnas Perempuan also submitted independent reports to those Special Rapporteurs and submitted recommendations based on the findings of the monitoring efforts to relevant UN committees, such as the CEDAW Committee in July 2007 and CAT Committee in May 2008.

At the regional level, Komnas Perempuan submitted inputs for the process of forming new human rights mechanisms in ASEAN, namely ASEAN Inter-Governmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR), ASEAN Commission on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Women and Children (ACWC), and ASEAN Committee on Migrant Workers (ACMW), to strengthen the commitment of ASEAN nations in upholding human rights. Komnas Perempuan also participated actively in developing the criteria for the selection process for the Indonesian representatives in the ACWC.

Principal Achievements

Komnas Perempuan initiates the building of knowledge based on VAW, for instance through the books “Peta Kekerasan terhadap Perempuan” (The Map of VAW) and “Kita Bersikap: Empat Dasawarsa Kekerasan terhadap Perempuan di Indonesia” (Our Stand: Four Decades of VAW in Indonesia); monitoring reports of the state of the fulfillment of human rights for women survivors of violence against women and other gender-based human right violations within various contexts, such as  May 1998 Tragedy, Aceh, Poso, 1965 Tragedy, Buyat, Manggarai, detention situation, against migrant workers, attacks on Ahmadiyah religious minority, and in relation to the policies based on morality and religiousity; publication of key documents containing state’s documents and documents from international human rights mechanisms, and the Annual Report on VAW;

The integration of “Integrated Service” and “Community Based Service” for the woman survivors from violence against women within the implementation of state’s responsibility on the rights of survivors. The concept conceived through collaboration with community based service groups has contributed to the establishment of various policies for better handling of VAW and institutional set-ups, both local and national, for instance the Protection of Women and Children Unit within the Police Force, the Integrated Crisis Centers in many hospitals, and the coordination center for handling cases of violence against women and children;

The availability of legal frameworks for the fulfillment of survivors’ rights, including the Elimination of Domestic Violence Act, the Witness Protection Act, the Act Against Human Trafficking and the inclusion of the effort to address discriminatory regulation in the National Middle Term Development Plan of 2010-2014;

The availability of recommendations and considerations, with the perspective of gender justice and the fulfillment of citizen’s constitutional rights, for executive, legislative, and judiciary institutions, as well as the general public, on the prevention and handling cases of VAW. In addition to the monitoring reports, the recommendations are submitted in the forms of policy inputs, as were the cases with the Aceh Government Act, the Disaster Management Act, Truth and Reconciliation Commission Act, the proposition of Komnas Perempuan in the Judicial Review of the Anti-Pornography Act and of the Religious Defamation Act, and the encouragement to develop theological basis for the justice for woman survivors, supported by four religious institutions, namely  Muhammadiyah, Nadhatul Ulama, Persekutuan Gereja Indonesia dan Konferensi Wali Gereja Indonesia;

Komnas Perempuan makes available instruments to widen public understanding and encouraging public participation in the effort to eliminate VAW. The instruments of monitoring gender-based human rights violations, training modules such as on human rights with gender justice perspective, gender based crimes against humanity, Handling Cases of Domestic Violence for Religious Court, and The Fulfillment of Women Citizen’s Constitutional Rights, and other references developed by Komnas Perempuan have been often used by other institutions in order to develop their own capacity;

Komnas Perempuan develops Pundi Perempuan as an initiative to promote the sustainability of public fund to support the existing groups servicing VAW survivors;

Komnas Perempuan has achieved national and international recognition as a human right mechanism. The recognition was conveyed, amongst others, by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, on November 30, 2009, in the crowning event of the Tenth Anniversary of Komnas Perempuan, by the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, by the UN Special Representative for Human Right Defenders, and in the findings of independent evaluators. Komnas Perempuan is referred to by other countries, for instance Nepal, in developing national special mechanism for the fulfillment of women’s human rights

“Thanks to Komnas Perempuan for continually carrying the voice of the survivors of May 1998 Tragedy. So far, we, the Chinese-ethnic women, are largely silenced. Today, we have found a new strength; we are no longer alone in fighting for justice.” (A Chinese woman in responding to Komnas Perempuan’s report on the condition of women survivors of sexual assaults in the May 1998 Tragedy after 10 years of the incident)

“Komnas Perempuan is our home, where we can fight for justice for women survivors of violence.” (A woman human rights defender from Maluku, Komnas Perempuan National Consultative Forum, 2009)

“The collaboration with Komnas Perempuan feels like a true friendship between women human rights defenders. Komnas Perempuan was the first to inquire into our condition when we were devastated by the tsunami. Many of us lost our beloved ones. The loss was compounded by the fatigue from disaster management work, and the exhaustion from the effort to help woman survivors due to prolonged armed conflict. Komnas Perempuan understood that we were burnt out and in need of recovery in order to carry on with the struggle.” (A woman defender of human rights from Aceh, Komnas Perempuan National Consultative Forum, 2007)

Main Campaigns

16 Hari Anti Kekerasan terhadap Perempuan (Sixteen-days Campaign on Elimination of VAW)

This international campaign was first introduced as a national campaign in Indonesia by Komnas Perempuan in 2001. The annual campaign starts on November 25 (the International Day of Elimination of Violence Against Women) and ends on December 10 (the International Day of Human Rights). The campaign is designed to raise public support towards elimination of all forms of Violence Against Women (VAW) and other gender-based human right violations.

Pundi Perempuan

Pundi Perempuan is a solidarity public fund to support woman survivors of VAW. The fund goes to support the performance of women crisis centers to accompany survivors in their struggle for justice and recovery, including to run safe-house. The fundis also used to support recovery activities initiated by the community of women survivors of VAW, and to provide subsidy for health care for women human rights defenders. Since 2003, Pundi Perempuan has been supporting 37 groups, two woman survivors groups and one woman human rights defender.

Mari Bicara Kebenaran (Let’s Talk Truth)

This is a movement to encourage Indonesians to open their mind and discuss about the dark and hidden history of their own country, through listening to the voices of the woman survivors. it is aimed to raise public support towards the fulfillment of woman survivors and to ensure that gross violations of human rights shall not reoccur in the future.