Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection Minister Bintang Puspayoga affirmed that her administration had continued to coordinate with the House of Representatives (DPR) to immediately ratify the Draft Law on the Sexual Violence Crimes.

The statement was quoted from a video uploaded on the ministry’s YouTube channel, as seen from Jakarta on Wednesday.

The ministry also coordinates with stakeholders, such as religious and traditional leaders, as well as NGOs, academics, universities, mass media, ministries or agencies, and law enforcement institutions.

“These various coordination and consultation efforts have been conducted in a broad framework as one of the five directives of the president for the Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection Ministry that entail bringing down the rate of violence against women and children wherein one form of violence that causes immense agony for women and children is sexual violence,” she emphasized.

Puspayoga stated that the ministry was leaving no stone unturned to ensure that the bill was immediately ratified so as to serve as a comprehensive legal shield to protect the public, especially women and children, from sexual violence.

President Joko Widodo had pressed for immediate ratification of the Bill on the Crime of Sexual Violence in the DPR.

“I have also requested the government task force that handles the Sexual Violence Bill to immediately prepare the Problem Inventory List for the draft bill that is being readied by the Indonesian House of Representatives,” the president affirmed.

It aims to provide protection for sexual violence victims.

“I expect the Bill on the Sexual Violence Crimes to be passed soon, so as to provide maximum protection to the victims of sexual violence in the country,” the president stated.

Source: Antara News