CRPD
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(Art. 16) Freedom from exploitation, violence and abuse
(Art. 16) Freedom from exploitation, violence and abuse
List of Issue
Please provide information on the measures taken:
To prevent and combat all forms of exploitation, violence and abuse against persons with disabilities, including domestic and sexual violence and neglect;
To provide the necessary services for recovery, rehabilitation and social reintegration to victims;
To create a safe environment for the reporting, investigation and prosecution of cases of exploitation, violence or abuse against persons with disabilities;
To address and effectively reduce all forms of violence against women and girls with disabilities, including domestic and sexual violence, in accordance with the Committee’s general comment No. 3 (2016) on women and girls with disabilities.
Alternative Reports
DPOs Coalition Report (OHANA)
Existing regulations and programs have not been adequate to address the violation of the rights of Persons with Disabilities (PWD) in Indonesia, because to date Indonesia does not have an independent and comprehensive mechanism on how violence, exploitation, and violations of PWD rights in Indonesia are resolved. The National Disability Commission (KND) mandated by Law 8/2016 is yet to be formed, due to the Indonesian Government's reluctance to create an independent Commission not under the Ministry of Social Affairs. The latest development of the Presidential Regulation draft on the Establishment of the National Disability Commission still places the KND under the Ministry of Social Affairs.
Disabled Persons' Organizations (DPOs) reject this plan, because the hoped-for independent KND will be difficult to achieve if it is under the Ministry of Social Affairs (Kemensos), which mainly handles disability-related policies and programs. Meanwhile, Kemensos continues to push for the KND to be under its authority, arguing that the Government is limiting the budget to avoid forming new, independent institutions. This deadlock continues to be pursued by the Government without seeking solutions that could maintain the independence of the KND, while also facilitating the budgeting process for this institution during its implementation.
Various cases of exploitation still occur. Cases of persons with disabilities being exploited as street performers or beggars are still found, as happened to Feryadi (35 years old), a person with a mental disability in Jakarta. In addition to being street performers and beggars, exploitation is also often carried out by forcing them to commit criminal acts (especially drug abuse), or as low-wage workers.
Exploitation of persons with disabilities is also often carried out by media companies, where persons with disabilities are often commodified for heartwarming broadcasts and inspiring stories, but are framed with exploitation under the label of sadness and poverty. This subsequently impacts the stigma, perception, and stereotypes of the community towards disability itself.
Exploitation against persons with disabilities also occurs in relation to government aid to institutions implementing disability programs. In a case that occurred in Makassar, South Sulawesi, 6,280 fictitious data entries of Special Needs School (SLB) students were found in South Sulawesi in 2017. Allegedly, this was done to obtain more School Operational Assistance (BOS) funds than was warranted. Another case that occurred in Makassar, South Sulawesi: a person with a disability in Makassar was held captive for a month, forced to consume drugs with beatings, raped, and trafficked to satisfy sexual desires.
Another case: a person with an intellectual disability became a victim of indecent acts by a social worker of the West Java Provincial Social Services while attending skills training activities at the Rehabilitation and Social Guidance for Persons with Disabilities (BRSPC) Cibabat, Cimahi City.
In 2017, a student with special needs at Gunadarma University became a victim of bullying. The incident went viral on social media. The video showed the victim being harassed by other students while walking. The victim's bag was pulled by other students until he found it difficult to walk. The victim finally managed to break free and threw a trash can at the bullies. Other students who saw the incident were just laughing.
Article 28E Paragraph 1 of the 1945 Constitution guarantees the right to freedom of movement/relocation and citizenship is stipulated in Article 28E Paragraph 1 of the 1945 Constitution and Articles 5 and 25 of Law 8/2016. The right to citizenship is also affirmed in Law 23/2006 concerning Population Administration in conjunction with Law 24/2013.
The challenges in fulfilling and protecting citizenship rights lie in several factors, namely:
Difficulty in obtaining population identity for persons with disabilities. The Base Line Survey of the Disability Care Program conducted by SAPDA in 2015 found that many persons with disabilities were still unreachable or did not have an ID card (KTP) as one of the administrative requirements for citizenship.
Some disability cases do not have a Family Card (Kartu Keluarga) (due to their parents' status), which causes children with disabilities to have difficulty accessing social services.
The absence of data on persons with disabilities who do not have an ID card (KTP), Family Card, Marriage Certificate, or other population documents, which makes it difficult to provide the aforementioned population identity services. Although the Indonesian Government (through the Ministry of Home Affairs) has a program for providing KTPs and population identities to citizens, this cannot necessarily reach persons with disabilities because the existence of persons with disabilities who do not have a KTP or other population identity is unknown. There is no specific program that is affirmative and can reach all persons with disabilities.
In the process of making these documents, accessible facilities and reasonable accommodation are often not met. The obstacles faced are related to reasonable accommodation and access for various disabilities. This occurs, for example, when persons with disabilities cannot meet the established requirements for passport needs, such as fingerprints, face photos that must be positioned precisely in front of the camera, and so on. Mr. Matius, a person who once experienced leprosy and whose palms were affected, could not provide fingerprints when making a passport. The same thing happened when a person with an upper limb physical disability wanted to make a passport. In another case, a person with a disability whose face cannot be adjusted to the direction of the camera has to tilt their body and face to be captured by the camera. The same applies to those with severe, psychosocial disabilities, and persons with Cerebral Palsy (CP) who constantly move, making recording difficult.
There are still cases of persons with disabilities being hindered from traveling (air transportation) or going abroad. This case was experienced by DA, a person with a disability using a wheelchair, who was rejected by Etihad Airways when attempting to attend CRPD Training in Geneva. This flight ban was because DA was a wheelchair user traveling without assistance (alone). The case continued with mediation by the Ministry of Transportation DPO, but was not resolved because the resolution options seemed discriminatory. Finally, the case was brought to the South Jakarta District Court. The lawsuit faced Etihad Airways, the Indonesian Government, and the Soekarno Hatta Airport management. From this process, the South Jakarta District Court then ruled that Etihad was legally proven to have committed discrimination against Mrs. DA and ordered Etihad to pay material and moral compensation for the discrimination.
Another obstacle is that persons with disabilities are always asked to sign a declaration of illness when they want to board a plane. This declaration is discriminatory, because with this letter persons with disabilities are forced to admit that they are sick, and thus all risks that occur become the responsibility of the person with a disability. (See Attached photo of the intended declaration letter). Several cases have been recorded, including one on December 5, 2018, where EI, a person with a disability in NTT, was rejected by Wings Air Flight Rote-Kupang because he refused to sign the declaration letter.
Response List of Issue (Coalition/OHANA)
One of the problems currently occurring in Indonesia that has not received serious attention is related to institutions/asylums that still house persons with disabilities in an inhumane manner, including sexual harassment and rape.
Shackling (pemasungan) is also still a choice for society in treating persons with disabilities. Law enforcement and village officials often do not dare or ignore this treatment even though they know about it. The lowest level of government officials (village to hamlet) do not have the knowledge and awareness about the prohibition of shackling and how the community should treat persons with disabilities. This happens despite the Government promoting the "Shackling-Free" program.
There are no systematic and comprehensive efforts implemented by the Government to prevent and combat exploitation, violence, and torture against persons with disabilities. Usually, these programs are combined with women and children protection programs, such as in DKI Jakarta which incorporates the SPPT PKKTP program.
The Central and Regional Governments currently do not have data on violence against persons with disabilities in general or disaggregated data on women with disabilities.
The CIQAL Annual Report states that violence against persons with disabilities occurred throughout 2019 and was spread across a number of regions, namely: North Sumatra (4 cases), Riau (1 case), Lampung (1 case), DKI Jakarta (13 cases), Yogyakarta (47 cases), West Java (1 case), Central Java (2 cases), East Java (6 cases), Bali (1 case), South Sulawesi (5 cases), East Kalimantan (1 case), South Kalimantan (1 case), West Nusa Tenggara (5 cases), and East Nusa Tenggara (1 case). Source: CIQAL, 2020
Regarding women with disabilities, monitoring by disabled persons' organizations shows that almost all types of disabilities are at risk and potentially victims of violence, especially psychosocial, intellectual, deaf, and learning disabilities. This is related to the communication difficulties experienced by persons with disabilities, which are viewed by the perpetrators as a weakness for committing violence. (Number of Violence Cases against Women with Disabilities in Yogyakarta (2017 – 2020) Source: CIQAL, 2020)
Bipolar Care Indonesia (BCI) monitoring shows that violence experienced by persons with psychosocial disabilities (which includes Bipolar, Multiple Diagnosis, Depression, Schizophrenia, Schizoaffective, Personality Disorders and others) during the period 2015 – 2019 totaled 1,287 cases, consisting of physical violence, psychological violence, and economic violence. The following graph illustrates the forms of violence experienced during the period 2016 – 2019.
This BCI data is also confirmed by research conducted by LBH Masyarakat, where throughout 2017, at least 159 persons with mental (psychosocial) disabilities experienced violence, ranging from shackling (35.22%), violence in institutions (21.38%), forced restraint (17.61%), neglect (13.2%), mobbing/assault (8.8%), murder (1.88%), and rape (1.88%). Source: Bipolar Care Indonesia, 2020
Throughout 2020, at least cases of violence experienced by persons with mental-psychosocial disabilities continued to occur, ranging from psychological violence (53 Cases), Physical Violence (45 Cases), sexual violence (37 Cases), and Economic Violence (25 Cases). From the perpetrators' side, in sequence, violence was committed by parents, siblings, close people such as partners, boyfriends/girlfriends, friends, neighbors, and teachers.
Of the 200 cases monitored and documented above, physical violence was experienced in various forms of violence, ranging from beating, assault, confinement, attempted murder, and other physical violence. Source: Bipolar Care Indonesia, 2020
Meanwhile, there were 663 cases of psychological violence experienced by persons with psychosocial-mental disabilities during 2016 – 2019 in various forms of violence, ranging from insult or bullying, threats and intimidation, isolation or expulsion, discrimination, and not obtaining custody. The most common perpetrators of Psychological Violence are friends, close family (parents, siblings, partners, neighbors), teachers, health workers, and others. Source: Bipolar Care Indonesia, 2020
Meanwhile, economic violence against persons with psychosocial disabilities that occurred in the period 2016 – 2019 totaled 205 in various forms, namely: not being provided with sustenance, not being paid wages, being neglected, not receiving marital property, and other cases. The most common perpetrators of Economic Violence are family and surrounding environment, such as parents, partners, ex-partners and children, work superiors, and employers. Source: Bipolar Care Indonesia, 2020
Meanwhile, sexual violence cases occurred a total of 219 during the period 2016 – 2019 with various forms of violence, mainly committed by friends, ex-partners, partners, neighbors, teachers, health workers, and others. Form of Sexual Violence against People with Psychosocial Disabilities (2016 – 2019; 219 cases in total) Source: Bipolar Care Indonesia, 2020
Response List of Issue (HWDI)
The situation of women with disabilities is also reflected in a number of reports made by Disabled Persons' Organizations, such as the Center for Advocacy for Women with Disabilities and Children (SAPDA), in the Special Region of Yogyakarta, where 29 women with disabilities were recorded as victims of violence in 2015, in the form of sexual violence, physical violence, and economic violence. As many as 33 cases occurred in 2016 and increased to 35 cases in 2017. Of the cases recorded by the DPO in the Special Region of Yogyakarta Province in 2016, only 3 cases reached the judicial process, out of 76 cases of sexual violence reported to legal aid institutions and disability organizations.
Research conducted by the Indonesian Women with Disabilities Association or HWDI on October – December 2015, there are 85 cases of sexual violence against disabled persons in 22 provinces, with the typology: 35% (36 cases) against mentally disability, 7.08 % (6 cases) against blind (sensory) disability, 27.06% (23 cases) against mute disability, 8.24% (4 cases) against physically disability, 10.59 % (9 cases) against double disabilities, and 4.71 % (4 cases) against unknown types of disabilities.
The latest monitoring in 2019 conducted by HWDI in 10 provinces indicates that although a number of local regulations have been made to protect women and children from exploitation, violence, and abuse, in practice, there are still barriers between the regulations, state and government apparatus, and the availability of access to services and law for the protection of the rights of women with disabilities. There is also no comprehensive mechanism to ensure these regulations are effectively implemented. This causes violence, exploitation, and violations of disability rights to remain unaddressed.
The lack of planned, systematic, and measurable efforts by the Government to protect women with disabilities causes cases of violence and violations to continue. Monitoring data on the rights of women with disabilities conducted by HWDI shows at least 66 cases of discrimination and violence against women with disabilities spread across 10 provinces. From the 66 cases monitored by HWDI, it is known that the obstacles in handling victims of violence and exploitation of women with disabilities are in the investigation and inquiry process, due to the lack of accessibility facilities, including mobility, information, and communication facilities. Meanwhile, in terms of services, there are 4 aspects that have not been fully realized: victim assistance, the value of testimony from persons with disabilities (who are considered legally incompetent or not included in the testimony category), rehabilitation of victims with disabilities, and institutionalization.
In the situation mapping of women with disabilities by HWDI in 2019, within the period of 2017 - 2019, 115 legal events affecting women with disabilities were recorded, with the majority being rape cases, and other cases
Viewed from the perpetrator's perspective, these cases of violence, exploitation, and violations are also diverse, ranging from family members, the community, to state/government officials. The lack of social security for life outside the family makes women with disabilities victims of violence at home, as occurred in Palembang city, South Sumatra, in 2019, where the victim was a woman with Down Syndrome who was alone at home and was raped by her older brother with the threat of not being allowed to tell anyone about the incident. In Lhoksukon, Aceh, in September 2018, rape by a stepfather occurred more than twice to a woman with a hearing disability, carried out when the victim's mother was not at home.
Another case, in East Java Province. A woman with a visual disability in Sidoarjo Regency experienced rape, leading to her giving birth. It occurred in 2009 and was only discovered in July 2017, because it was never reported by the family or local village officials to law enforcement. Currently (2019), the child of the rape victim is 10 years old. In Pasuruan (East Java), on September 10, 2018, a woman with an intellectual disability (20 years old) in Beji Sub-district, Pasuruan Regency, experienced rape until she became pregnant by her neighbor. Initially, the family chose an amicable solution by marrying the two, but the perpetrator then fled and his whereabouts are unknown. The case was finally reported to the police, but after 2 months there was no follow-up. The police reasoned that this case was not easy because the victim had a mental disability.
Proposed List of Issue:
No 78 CRPD Report: the formation of the PPD Information and Consultation Center (PIK PPD) in 9 provinces in Indonesia shows a low increase in combating sexual violence against women and children with disabilities in terms of access to information, services, and protection for women with disabilities and the cooperation of the Integrated Service Center for the Empowerment of Women and Children (P2TP2A) in forming the PIK PPD. How does the Government attempt to integrate the rights of persons with disabilities into the work scheme of P2TP2A?
What is the process for formulating the Government Regulation Draft (RPP) on Reasonable Accommodation in the Judiciary and have all aspects of women with disabilities facing the law been included, starting from the investigation, inquiry, and judicial process?
Is there data on the number of women with disabilities who are victims of violence, the handling process, and up to the court proceedings, as well as the redress provided by the State?
Committee Recommendations
Adopt a comprehensive strategy, in close consultation with persons with disabilities, to prevent and respond to all forms of exploitation, violence, and abuse, including gender- and age-appropriate measures, accessible independent complaints mechanisms and appropriate redress, and accessible victim support services;
Amend the Criminal Code (KUHP) to prohibit marital rape and to reflect a broader definition of rape that recognizes the experiences of women and girls with disabilities, and ensure resources and financial assistance for forensic reports and DNA tests;
Ensure robust disaggregated data is collected on violence against persons with disabilities, including gender-based violence against women and girls with disabilities, in private and public spheres.
ⓘ Indicators
The existence of effective monitoring mechanisms to prevent exploitation, violence, and abuse. Prohibition of marital rape. Disaggregated data on violence based on disability.