Women March in Indonesia for Equality and Justice Amid Legislative Attacks on Rights and Freedoms

 

Participants of the Women’s March 2018 in Jakarta. Photo by Women’s March, used with permission.

Over a thousand people joined the Women’s March in more than a dozen Indonesian cities calling for justice and protection of women’s rights. The simultaneous marches took place on March 3, 2018, a few days before International Women’s Day on March 8.

The Women’s March has eight demands addressed to the national government:

Abolition of discriminatory laws and policies that perpetuate gender violence

Pass laws and policies that protect women, children, indigenous people, people with disabilities and gender minority groups from discrimination and sexual violence

More accessible justice and rehabilitation for gender violence victims

Stop the state and society’s intrusion against a person’s body and sexuality

Abolition of stigma and discriminations against a person’s gender, sexuality, and health status

Abolition of the practice of violence in courts, schools, and workplaces

Ending economic and financial depravation against women especially those working in factories, transwomen, sex workers and domestic workers.

A more proactive society in abolishing unfair practices and culture of violence existing in various institutions

Among the issues raised in the rallies was the approved amendments to the Indonesian criminal code (RKHUP) which would criminalize criticism of members of the House of Representatives (DPR). Participants also denounced the passage of legislative measures that outlaw adultery as well as the sharing of information about contraception and sexual education.

Read more of this article

Source: Global Voices

Visited 437 times, 1 visit(s) today

Comments are closed.