One Step Forward, Two Steps Back? Legislative Reform on the Path to Justice for Victims of Sexual Violence in Indonesia: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back? Legislative Reform on the Path to Justice for Victims of Sexual Violence in Indonesia

Like other countries, Indonesia grapples with violence against women resulting from patriarchal institutions and compounded by gaps in the justice system. The UN Committee monitoring Indonesia’s implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) highlighted this issue as one of the main points of concern in their 2021 Concluding Observations. Since then, there has been a significant development in Indonesian legislation with the passing of the Law on Sexual Violence Crimes in April 2022 and the new Criminal Code in December 2022. On paper, these instruments aim to improve legal protection for sexual violence victims. However, challenges remain regarding the law’s implementation and possible backlash from certain provisions in the new Criminal Code. These challenges raise question as to what extent legislative reform is sufficient to create a path to justice for victims of sexual violence in Indonesia.