Jakarta, IDN Times – The Indonesian Judicial Research Society (IJRS) provides important notes regarding legal reform, in the issue of sexual violence, especially for victims.
IJRS researcher, Marsha Maharan, said that there needed to be a recovery mechanism in addition to restitution from perpetrators of sexual violence to victims. Can be through victim trust funding.
“First, it needs to be reaffirmed, the prosecutor’s office needs to ensure policy, supervision and capacity building to ensure that every public prosecutor can identify the impact of losses on victims of sexual violence, both physically, psychologically and economically,” he said at an online press conference, Monday. (7/3/2022).
The Public Prosecutor, said Marsha, must also inform the victim about restitution. This has been regulated in the prosecutor’s internal regulation, namely Guideline Number 1 of 2022 concerning Access to Justice for Women and Children.
“In addition to educational confirmation regarding executions, there is also a need for a victim trust fund mechanism or aid funds for victims of criminal acts,” he said.
Also Read: Many Child Sexual Violence Perpetrators from the Nearest Environment?
1. Victim Trust Fund complements the restitution mechanism
Webinar The urgency of the ratification of the TPKS Bill as a legal update on the protection and recovery of victims of sexual violence by IJRS, Monday, March 7, 2022 (Youtube/IJRS) Marsha said that this assistance could be a complement to the restitution mechanism, because restitution could only be executed after the case was decided.
“Meanwhile, as a victim of sexual violence, sometimes there are physical and psychological impacts that must be recovered as soon as possible and need money, and cannot wait for the completion of the court process which incidentally is complicated and long,” he said.
For example, continued Marsha, is the treatment of injuries and psychological recovery as soon as possible.
2. The state must present an effective mechanism for financing and fulfilling the rights of victims
Illustration of sexual violence (IDN Times/Sukma Shakti) The Institute for Criminal Justice Reform (ICJR) Indonesia has also voiced the same thing. According to them, the Draft Law on the Crime of Sexual Violence (RUU TPKS) should primarily aim to provide comprehensive rights strengthening for victims of sexual violence.
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With the comprehensiveness of the rights of victims of sexual violence to the aspect of recovery, the state must provide an effective special mechanism for financing and fulfilling the rights of victims.
The scheme, according to ICJR, can be present in the victim trust fund mechanism, which is the management of funds received by the state from non-tax revenues (PNBP), as well as financial criminal sanctions to be processed for the sake of the program to fulfill the rights of victims.
This scheme is a special scheme that does not absorb the State Revenue and Expenditure Budget (APBN), but demands the role of the state in managing its non-tax revenues for victims of criminal acts, including victims of sexual violence.
3. Note the lack of restitution, the perpetrator could be from a vulnerable economic group
Herry Wirawan, rapist of 12 female students in Bandung (document, Public Relations of West Java Kajati)ICJR in its written statement also explained that victim trust funds are important because compensation schemes for victims and providing services to them must be developed in a better direction.
The issue of restitution was widely discussed after Herry Wirawan, the rapist of 12 female students in Bandung, was sentenced to life imprisonment, and the judge handed down restitution whose fulfillment was charged to the Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection (KemenPPPA). This is a polemic because KemenPPPA argues that this is not borne by the state.
Restitution has several records, one of which is the difficulty of seizing the perpetrator’s assets to pay restitution, to the limited assets of the perpetrator to pay compensation due to his heinous act.
“For the record, the majority of perpetrators of sexual violence are the closest people to the victim, with this dynamic, the restitution imposed on the perpetrator in some cases will also put a financial burden on the victim, including the possibility that the perpetrator comes from a vulnerable economic group,” ICJR wrote as quoted, Tuesday (8/3/2022).
Read also: KemenPPPA: Victims of sexual violence have the right to compensation
4. State involvement in allocating PNBP
Money Illustration. (IDN Times/Aditya Pratama) This scheme, said ICJR, can be managed by the Witness and Victim Protection Agency (LPSK). Victim trust funds are obtained from financial sanctions applied to perpetrators, including from criminal fines, restitution to replacement money.
The state will be encouraged to commit to allocating a certain percentage of non-tax state revenue (PNBP), which is allocated to a victim trust fund which can be channeled directly to victims or to service agencies at the local level.