The Surakarta City Government emphasized its commitment to invite all levels of society to break the chain of violence against women. This was conveyed by the Head of the P3AP2KB Office of Surakarta City, Purwanti, in a talk show to commemorate the 16th Anniversary of Violence Against Women (HAKTP), EmpowerHer: Raising the Hidden Voice, Fighting Violence, held at the Surakarta City Hall, November 28, 2023.
This discussion aimed to discuss the implementation of Law No. 12 of 2022 on the Crime of Sexual Violence (TPKS) in Surakarta City. The event was a collaboration between the local government of Surakarta, specifically DP3AP2KB, SPEK-HAM Surakarta and the Indonesia Initiative for Change in Access to Health (IPAS) Indonesia supported by the Government of Canada.
In her speech, Purwanti emphasized that the government has an obligation to oversee the implementation of Law No. 12 of 2022 concerning TPKS so that victims get services and rights in accordance with the mandate of the law. According to her, this oversight requires cooperation from the government itself, the media, activists and all levels of society.
“Through the 16th anniversary of HAKTP in 2023, we invite all stakeholders to unite in an effort to break the chain of violence against women in Indonesia, especially in Surakarta City,” said Purwanti.
She added that the 16th HAKTP commemoration event is in line with the Surakarta City Government’s goal to reduce the number of gender-based violence. He noted that during 2022 there were 104 incidents of violence against women and children spread across five sub-districts in Surakarta City. This year, the Surakarta City Government is also targeting a joint commitment to realize women-friendly villages.
Briefly, Purwanti also mentioned the initiatives of the Surakarta City government to oversee the implementation of Law No. 12 of 2022 on TPKS in Surakarta City. Among them are the socialization of sexual violence prevention in universities, the preparation of a handbook of guidelines for preventing sexual violence in universities, and the socialization of domestic violence prevention through mass media. In addition, the government also conducts programs such as trauma healing and capacity building for victims and survivors of violence.
“Through this activity, we hope that there will be a joint commitment from institutions, communities, media, universities to jointly realize that Surakarta City has no more violence against women,” she concluded.
The commitment is expected to be the first step to create innovation or modeling of the implementation of the TPKS Law in Surakarta City, explained Dr. Marcia Soumokil, Executive Director of IPAS Indonesia. Through funding from the Government of Canada, Yayasan IPAS Indonesia and local partners will work together through the ARUNIKA project to encourage such modeling over the next 3.5 years in Surakarta City.
“We hope that cooperation with all stakeholders, government and civil society can create an integrative service modeling for victims and survivors of sexual and gender violence in accordance with the mandate of Law No. 12 of 2022 concerning TPKS,” Marcia said.
Practices or models for reducing the number of violence and handling victims based on the local context have long been of particular interest to the Government of Canada. For this reason, the Government of Canada is very enthusiastic to encourage integrated service innovations in handling cases of violence in Surakarta City. This is in accordance with the Government of Canada’s policy of mainstreaming women’s rights.
“I believe Central Java can be a model province in Indonesia in addressing and reducing violence against women,” said Kevin Tokar Counsellor and Head of Development Cooperation at the Canadian Embassy to Indonesia.
In this activity, a number of stakeholders from the P3AP2KB Office, Commission IV of the Surakarta City DPRD, the Health Office, UPT PPA and Moewardi Hospital, signed a joint commitment to realize Surakarta City free from sexual violence.
