The Citra Mandiri Mentawai Foundation (YCMM) is holding a podcast on the occasion of the 24th Mentawai Islands Anniversary (HUT). As well as being involved in the Mentawai Enchantment Festival at Mapaddegat. This event will be held on 4-7 October 2023 at PLUS Setia Christian High School. On this occasion, YCMM interviewed Child Protection Social Workers from the Ministry of Social Affairs and the Head of the Mentawai Islands Regency Education Service. They were asked for their responses regarding the handling of sexual violence against women and children in Mentawai.
Leo Swanri Bago, from the Ministry of Social Affairs, said that cases of sexual violence against women and children are increasingly common, especially in Mentawai. In fact, the perpetrators were people who were connected to power, such as village heads, teachers, ustad, priests, and even the victim's own family. Based on 2018 data and information, as many as six cases of violence and abuse against children in Mentawai have been decided in court.
However, in 2019, cases of sexual violence increased to seven cases. Meanwhile in 2020, it rose to twenty-one cases. In 2021, it decreased to fifteen cases, and in 2022, it rose again to eighteen cases. Finally, in 2023 until last October, ten cases were recorded. Sadly, there are several victims who ultimately choose to end their lives by committing suicide due to the trauma they feel.
Leo added that social status and lack of public knowledge about the law are obstacles in disclosing the handling of sexual violence. Plus, the victim and the victim's family do not have any costs if they are summoned as witnesses in the trial at the Padang State High Court. This is because access to people who are in conflict with the law incurs quite a lot of costs.
Cases of sexual violence against women and children are a shame for the victim and their family if they are reported to the police. Plus, people in the surrounding area, including the victim's relatives, are reluctant to report it if they know about cases of abuse that have occurred.
“It should be noted that cases of violence and harassment against women and children are common offenses. "Anyone who knows and sees him can report it to the police in their respective area," explained Leo.
As a non-governmental organization that also focuses on protecting women and children, YCMM carried out data collection on marginalized groups (people with disabilities, women, children, mothers as heads of household and the elderly) from September to October 2022.
The data collection aims to create disaggregated data on marginalized groups from Nemnemleleu village – as one of YCMM's assisted villages – so that access and basic services for marginalized groups in the village can be increased.
Of the 411 families in Nemnemleleu village, only 245 families were taken to serve as samples. This sampling process uses the Purposive Probability Sampling technique. Which provides an opportunity for members of the population determined by the enumerator to be selected as members of the sample according to the purpose of data collection.
The data collection results show that there are 38 people with disabilities. Consisting of 16 people with physical disabilities, 10 people with visual disabilities, 5 people with speech disabilities, 1 person with learning and 6 people with psychosocial disabilities.
Of the 245 families, there are 42 families where the woman is the head of the family and 11 families where the man is the head of the family. Meanwhile, the elderly group is measured from those aged over sixty years as many as 87 families. Finally, the number of survivors of sexual violence against women and children was 5 people.
Village residents consider that the problem of people with disabilities is a social problem that needs to be given first priority to be addressed. Seeing the difficulty of people with disabilities accessing education and health services as well as social security.
Oreste Sakerebau, Head of the Mentawai Education Service, is responding seriously to sexual violence against women and children in 134 elementary schools (SD). He also said that almost 75% victims were children in elementary school. This will be stated in the Decree of the Team for the Prevention and Handling of Child Violence in Schools.
It is important to do this because schools should be able to provide a sense of security and comfort to all students and parents who have entrusted their children to the school. Oreste added that this policy will be implemented starting in 2024.
Tarida, YCMM Social Inclusion Project Manager, said that the community and all stakeholders need to work together to overcome the problem of sexual violence against women and children at the village level.
“Through the village government, we have held critical discussions to develop safe protocols for women and children at the village level. "The draft protocol will be used as the basis for village government policy, both through Village Regulations and Village Decrees," explained Tarida.
Meanwhile, at the regional government level, there needs to be a special policy regulating the prevention, protection and handling of sexual violence against women and children. In this way, Mentawai can minimize the number of cases of sexual violence against women and children. "As well as realizing Mentawai as a gender-just district," concluded Tarida.
