Colleges in Indonesia must create special teams for handling gender-based sexual violence cases in the campus environment, commissioner of the National Commission on Violence Against Women, Maria Ulfah Anshor, has said.

“We recommend the colleges to be able to form a team that tackles sexual violence on campus,” Anshor remarked.

She made the recommendation at a national webinar on ‘Pros and Cons of Ministerial Regulation on Prevention and Handling of Sexual Violence in Universities’, which was broadcast live on the YouTube channel of the Sharia Faculty of KHAS State Islamic University of Jember observed here on Monday.

According to Anshor, the special team should be tasked with ensuring that sexual violence victims on campus get comprehensive protection.

In addition, she said she hopes that the team can serve as a crisis center.

She also suggested the crisis center use a referral system so victims can obtain referrals to hospitals and psychologists as well as legal assistance. Some may be assisted to visit the Institute for the Protection of Witnesses and Victims (LPSK).

A crisis center with a referral system is necessary because not all universities have law and psychology faculties or experts on handling sexual violence cases, she explained.

Campuses must also ensure the ethics committee is not single-oriented, but focuses more on the interests of victims, she added.

Thus, Anshor said, victims can obtain comprehensive protection and sexual violence perpetrators can be sanctioned proportionately.

The recommendation is also a form of endorsement from the National Commission on Violence Against Women for Ministerial Regulation (Permendikbud) No. 30 of 2021 on the Prevention and Handling of Sexual Violence in the College Environment, she added.

The commission considers the regulation as a step forward to creating a safe educational environment without sexual violence, she remarked.

Source: Antara News