Ludwina Victoria Sielke Laurent Sopacuaperu

The Voiceless Responses to Sexual Violence: Are Victims Dissociated from Justice?

Ludwina Victoria Sielke Laurent Sopacuaperu

Will victims of sexual violence accomplish proper support and quick responses if they report the incident to the police? Sexual violence issues have been recurring lately and revive Sexual violence is any sexual act involving force, physical harm, or even psychological intimidation to someone who did not want to1. This misbehaving treatment can occur to females and males of any age by any person, anywhere and anytime2 . Most perpetrators are looking for a victim who cannot combat, for instance, an underage child, disabled person, and minority.

Nevertheless, a mature victim also struggles to avoid sexual violence immediately since it occurs unexpectedly. Many victims find the difficulties of their lives after getting sexual violence related to their emotional, mental health, and relationship in the social community3 . Hence, victims encourage themselves to report the incident to the authorities, yet several societal factors break it. This essay will draw on some cases and studies of sexual violence to argue that victims have an affliction to be acknowledged by authorities appropriately. Perpetrators live their best lives while victims are fighting for justice, face the public sentiment, as well as recover from trauma both physically and mentally.

The judiciary often fails or even consciously stops responding and supporting victims for any reason. In 2020, the National Commission on Violence Against Women received more than 900 sexual violence cases in Indonesia4. Based on the case handling results, only an insufficient number of successful victims can get their rights. The rest are either still waiting for justice or have given up on fighting. For instance, a sexual violence case at Shiddiqiyyah Islamic Boarding School in Jombang began in 2019. However, the perpetrator was not apprehended until 2020 although authorities to arrest the perpetrator immediately. After waiting for two years, the perpetrator

1 International Encyclopedia of Public Health (2016): 491 498. 2 Forensic Science 5, no. 3 (1975): 243 255. 3 E New Zealand: Ministry of Justice, 2018), hlm 1. 4 Kekerasan Siber, Perkawinan Anak, Dan Keterbatasan Penanganan Ditengah Covid- (Jakarta: Komnas Perempuan, 2021), hlm 70.

was eventually arrested. Indonesian law enforcement has proven a prolonged legal process towards sexual violence cases. Furthermore, validating the sexual violence elimination bill causes inappropriate responses toward the victim. As we knew, in 2020, it was still stuck as a revised draft and legitimized a month ago. Consequently, so many cases have not been handled as fairly as possible. This circumstance liberates the perpetrators and becomes one of the reasons why victims are unwilling to report sexual violence incidents perpetrated against them.

Next, silencing sexual violence victims in universities is more important than supporting them against the perpetrators and assisting them during the trials. The most recent case is a female student of the University of Indonesia who got raped by her colleague in February 2020. She had reported the incident to one of the lecturers of her department. However, rather than receiving a follow-up for her case, one of the university threatened her that she might lose her scholarship if this case went further. At this point, victims are often threa instituti 5 . Suppose victims report their cases without the consent of the campuses authorities; they will possibly end up like one of the students of Sriwijaya University who crossed out from the judiciary list after reporting their cases to the police.

There are still many obstacles from certain parties that create difficulties for victims to receive justice while letting the perpetrators fly freely. A survey conducted by the Ministry of Education in 2020 showed that 77% of lecturers agree about the sexual violence phenomenon on campuses and 63% of them did not report the incident6 . One of the factors that caused the high rates of unreported cases is the distrust of the campus authorities, which led the victims to think that reporting the sexual violence cases would be pointless7 . fear and prejudice are not for no reason. Many buried sexual violence cases were . The injustice in universities can encompass backlash and threats to rescind their reports. Indeed, victims have faced a challenging situation and the terrifying fact that perpetrators are still roaming.

5 Carla Henry and Jacqueline Adam (Jenewa: International Labour Office, 2018). 6 The Preventions of Sexual Violence in Universities Through The Regulation Form The Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of 2021 Jakarta: Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology, 2021), hlm 2. 7 018), hlm 12.

Admittedly, some people argue that it is better to resolve amicably sexual violence rather than fighting for pointless justice. It is hard not to notice that many people consciously try to drown the sexual violence cases because they are ashamed of the incident related to their organizations or institutions. Although some unlucky victims ended up being surrendered to their injustice, that does not mean we should get used to this. The traumatized and injustice treatment might overburden them, which can cause terrible mental health problems8 . -depression because her family and campus authorities did not support her after being raped twice by her senior and boyfriend. This case indicates that victims, again, being avoided and ignored by expected people could help them. Justice is not about sending perpetrators to jail but giving them practical and meaningful consequences as the responsibility for their wrongful behavior9 . Punishments for the perpetrators are expected to emphasize that their unjustified behavior can cause a destructive variant impact on the victims and parties related to them. Equally important, even if victims receive justice and know the perpetrators are arrested, they still wake up every morning with the memory hanging over them and still need to fight over the healing process. not only to deliberate to give lesson and consciousness of perpetrators responsibility but also to make victims feel secure and sure that they are not alone in going through the healing process.

Sexual violence is part of critical emergency misdeeds in our country. It occurs anywhere and causes a sense of insecurity in public society. Even the court system, the related parties, family, and community cannot guarantee victims will receive proper justice. Lastly, it is helpful to treat victims with care and respect, so they do not recall the memory of the incident and support them in giving practical consequences to the perpetrators. In this way, we habituate our society and the court justice system to recognize that sexual violence is not a minor thing. It is necessary to follow up on perpetrators and the victims as well. Responsive services will positively impact our society to have a positive community environment and educational attitudes10 .

8 Lori Haskell and M Randall, The Impact of Trauma on Adult Sexual Assault Victims (Report Submitted to Justice Canada, 2019), hlm 12. 9 -Survivor (Durham: Social and Legal Studies 28, no. 2, 2019), hlm 8. 10 Edmonton: Sexual Violence Prevention and Education Committee, 2020), hlm 39.

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