West Papua - Evangelische Kirche von Westfalen

ploited – by whatever means in the domestic field
as well as in public. Assumed that a case could
be made public another difficulty would emerge,
namely the psychological and social inhibition
threshold: The confrontation with all the social
consequences which follow the disclosure of the
case. In the case of violence against women this
is “normal” and happens daily. Additional problems
are poorness, domestication and social
subordination of women. All this marginalises
them completely to get access to justice.
The lack of a perspective for women and the disregard
for their experiences when decisions are
taken, mainly in rural areas, creates a jurisdiction
and principles which do not include the interests
of women.
In the informal sector, where the strong patriarchal
culture hinders women to obtain access to
justice the same mechanism can be observed.
Women are confronted with traditional and religious
regulations, which exclude gender aspects
and weaken their position. Therefore women live
in a subordinate position, like as intellectually
“weak” and “low” creature of God, below men,
just barely involved in decision-making processes,
without any possibility to make their own
choice, without any appreciation of their contri-
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butions – in the private as well as in the public
sector. They are assigned to a particular group,
which has to comply, when they meet the patriarchal
dominance within social structures and
traditions.
Infact this is also evident that since 2005 50% of
the known cases the victims have withdrawn their
charge with the result that the lawsuit couldn’t go
any further (Komnas Perempuan, 2008). This
withdrawal of the charge shows that women, the
victims are still ashamed, they feel guilty for the
violence they had to suffer, they fear to be regarded
as guilty by their family as well as by the
society they are living in.
Third: Not all women have the same access to
justice. Nine of ten women who are head of a
household have no access to legal assistance to
check their divorce. The cases of women from rural
areas still remain unclear and up to now they
are not on the agenda of women’s organisations.
Therefore it is difficult for women, mainly for those
coming from poor population groups with little
education, to obtain access to justice, mainly in
connection with court proceedings.
Fourth: The structures which were specially created
to respond to acts of violence against wo-
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