Judges must be more gender-sensitive:

Director General

Jakarta | Badilag.net/english (29/9)

Director General for Religious Courts Body, Wahyu Widiana, said this Tuesday morning (29/9) that Religious Court’s judges must be more sensitive to gender issues to defend women’s rights and accommodate gender-based justice in judges’ verdicts.

“Religious Court’s judges should be more open-minded and active in following recent issues outside the court, especially on gender issues,” Wahyu told Badilag.net after launching a book ‘Demi Keadilan dan Kesetaraan’ (For the shake of Justice and Equality) at Century Park Hotel, Jakarta.

He said that about 60 % of Religious Court users were women. This means that courts (judges) must be more gender-sensitive since people seeking justice from Religious Courts are dominated by female.

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While acknowledging that judges are independent and free from any interventions in producing judgments, Wahyu insisted that ideally judges maintain three aspects of justice (legal, moral and social justice) in their rulings. By doing so, Wahyu believed judges’ verdicts would satisfy justice seekers’ demand of gender-based justice.

Although Religious Courts have long made significant efforts to defend the rights and equal justice for women through judgments for example, Wahyu still sees the urgency of upgrading gender sensitivity of judges as Indonesian legal cultures are considered by many as gender-biased.

Badilag’s appreciation

The launching of the book “Demi Kesetaraan dan Keadilan; Dokumentasi Program Sensitivitas Jender Hakim Agama di Indonesia” (for the shake of Justice and Equality; A Documentation of Gender Sensitivity Program for Indonesian Religious Courts’ Judges) was hosted by PUSKUMHAM UIN Jakarta (Pusat Studi Konstitusi, Hukum dan Ham/Center for Constitution, Law and Human Rights Studies, Jakarta State Islamic University) in collaboration with The Asia Foundation and Royal Netherlands Embassy.

Director General of Badilag, who was asked to officially launch the book, conveys his high appreciation and deep gratitude to the parties involved in the publication of the book, especially PUSKUMHAM, The Asia Foundation and The Netherlands Embassy. He supports the presence of the book as it can broaden judges’ horizon and enhance their sensitivity to gender.

The Book, written by Arskal Salim, PhD, Lies Marcoes Natsir, Euis Nurlaelawati, PhD and Wahdi Sayuti, is a record of gender sensitivity training conducted by PSW (Pusat Study Wanita/Women’s Study Center) UIN Yogyakarta and Putroe Kandee Foundation in Sharia Courts in Aceh Province and several Religious Courts in West Sumatra and South Sulawesi.

Attending and giving addresses at the launching were Prof. Dr. Komarudin Hidayat (Rector of UIN Jakarta), Dr. Yayan Sofyan (Director of PUSKUMHAM), Dr. Sandra Hamid (Representative of Asia Foundation) and Hon. Nikolaus Van Dam (Dutch Ambassador).

PUSKUMHAM, The Asia Foundation and The Netherlands Embassy also expressed their high appreciation to Badilag for its concern and cooperative stance towards the gender sensitivity program. [cho]