The Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection Ministry is ready to fulfil its duty as per the instruction of President Joko Widodo, who has encouraged to expedite the enactment of the sexual violence prevention bill (RUU TPKS).

In a video streamed on the ministry’s YouTube channel here on Wednesday, Minister of Women Empowerment and Child Protection Bintang Puspayoga affirmed that her ministry has been on the front line in terms of the efforts for ratifying the bill since 2016.

Puspayoga remarked that in 2017, her side, along with the presidential letter’s recipient ministry, had officially prepared a problem inventory list, or DIM, from the bill, but it had not been ratified until 2019.

“Then, this bill once again became the DPR’s (House of Representatives’) initiative during the Prolegnas (National Legislation Program) 2020 before continuing to this moment in the Prolegnas 2022,” she noted.

Earlier, President Widodo had sought to accelerate the ratification of RUU TPKS in the House.

“I have also urged the government task force that handles the sexual violence bill to immediately ready the problem inventory list (DIM) for the draft bill that is being prepared by the Indonesian House of Representatives,” the president noted.

The goal of this bill’s ratification is to provide protection to victims of sexual violence.

“I am optimistic that the sexual violence bill would be passed soon, so as to provide maximum protection to victims of sexual violence in the country,” the president stated.

The initial draft of the bill contains 11 chapters comprising 40 articles, he noted. Chapter I contains General Provisions, while the issue of sexual violence is regulated in Chapter II, he revealed.

Source: Antara News