Rights Group Pushes Stronger Reference to Domestic Violence Law
Deputy Chief Justice, Hon. Andi Syamsu Alam (left), the keynote speaker of the seminar
Jakarta | Tempo Interactive (17/11)
An advocacy group on woman's rights has urged the integration of the domestic violence law into the legal system of the Religious Court to expand legal basis for decisions taken by the court and to provide more protection for victims of domestic violence.
In a seminar in Jakarta on Monday (16/11) Director of the Legal Aid Foundation of the Women's Association for Justice Nursyahbani Katjasungkana said the Supreme Court have to issue a regulation or a memorandum to incorporate the Law No.23 of 2004 on Domestic Violence into the Religious Court. “Religious Court focuses (although not limited) on family matters, and divorce (is a family matter which) also caused by violence.”
“The Domestic Violence Law,” Nursyahbani went on,“ addressed domestic violence as collective responsibility, while judges (in religious courts) remained assessing the domestic violence merely as an excuse for divorce, and did not to acknowledge its broader impact.” Nursyahbani said that no religious or regular court use the law to issue an order to protect the victims of the domestic violence.
The Supreme Court denied the statement. Junior Supreme Judge overseeing Religious Court, Andi Syamsu Alam, said the law has been used in making decisions upon certain cases. “The issue has also been considered in the internal education and training programs for judges.”
In 2008 the Religious Court recorded 221.520 divorcement cases 64.89 percent filed by women and 33.11 percent by men. The most common reasons includes dispute, abandonment, financial condition, and forced marriage. (Alwan Ridha Ramdani)