Rahel Narda Chaterine, Jakarta – The Student Alliance is asking that all nine forms of sexual violence still be included in the Draft Law on Sexual Violence Crimes (RUU TPKS), formally known as RUU PKS.
This is because in the latest draft of the law, the number of forms of sexual violence has been cut from nine to five. "So that (the RUU TPKS) still contains nine forms of sexual violence", wrote the Alliance in a press release on Tuesday December 7.
The nine forms of sexual violence are sexual harassment, rape, forced marriage, forced contraception, forced prostitution, forced abortion, sexual torture, sexual slavery and sexual exploitation.
In addition to this the alliance is also asking that key aspects related to the acknowledgement of victims' rights, procedural laws which are integrated with regulations on evidence, criminal stipulations, prevention and monitoring of sexual violence be included in the RUU TPKS.
The Alliance is of the view that although the name of the Draft Law on the Elimination of Sexual Violence (RUU PKS) was changed to the RUU TPKS, they emphasised that the law must still contain the substance of the original draft law.
The substantial aspects referred to are prioritising prevention, handling and rehabilitation from the victim's perspective in order to minimise victim blaming and the criminalisation of victims.
Furthermore, the Alliance is also pushing for the RUU TPKS and the Draft Law on the Protection of Domestic Workers (RUU PPRT) to be ratified immediately.
"As a concrete step in creating safe space not only for women and domestic workers, but for all of us", they said.
Earlier, in an academic draft and version of the RUU PKS in September 2020, a number of revisions were found. One of the main changes related to cutting the forms of sexual violence from nine to five.
In the House of Representatives (DPR) Legislative Body's (Baleg) version of the RUU TPKS, the five forms of sexual violence are sexual harassment (Article 2), forced use of contraceptive devices (Article 3), forced sexual relations (Article 4), sexual exploitation (Article 5) and crimes of sexual violence accompanied with other criminal acts (Article 6).
In the original draft meanwhile, civil society had formulated nine types of sexual violence based the findings of sexual violence crimes by a forum of service providers and the National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan).
The Student Alliance is made up of Student Executive Councils (BEM) and social organisations from dozens of higher education institutions around the country.
[Slightly abridged translation by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Aliansi Mahasiswa Minta 9 Bentuk Kekerasan Seksual Tetap Masuk RUU TPKS".]
