English - CEDAW Southeast Asia

CEDAW and the Law:
dling of domestic violence by public officials; (e) require state management agencies, local government
units and courts to have a professional social worker working full-time on domestic violence
cases; (f) provide protection to victims of violence through emergency or temporary protection
orders; (g) require the provision of mandatory services for victims of domestic violence, such
as emergency shelter, skills training, livelihood development services or job referrals, psychosocial
counselling, reintegration, medical assistance, and free legal assistance; (h) require that
law enforcers, procurators, health service providers, legal aid providers, social workers and the
courts that deal with domestic violence cases have comprehensive training on gender sensitivity
and handling cases of domestic violence; and (i) require health service providers to document
and report all cases of domestic violence. The law must also ensure that information relating to
the identity of the victim be kept confidential at all times, unless disclosure is requested by the
victim. Further, mediation or conciliation must not apply in cases of domestic violence where the
victim cannot make choices independently or is traumatized from the violence.
Rape and other forms of sexual abuse
Rape and several forms of sexual assault are prohibited by Articles 111-116 of the Penal Code.
It is, however, recommended that, in relation to Article 111 of the Penal Code (Rape), the clause
unable for self-defence be revised to read unable to give valid consent, thus emphasizing that
lack of consent is the deciding factor in prosecutions for rape and not lack of self-defence. The
provisions on rape and other forms of sexual assault must be revised to include prohibitions on
a range of sexual acts, including inserting: (a) a penis into a persons mouth or anal orifice; and
(b) an instrument or object into a persons genital or anal orifice. Marital rape and the commission
of obscene acts committed against adults must also be explicitly penalized.
In prosecutions for rape, rape against children, forcible sexual intercourse and forcible
intercourse with children, under Articles 111-114 of the Penal Code, evidence of the victims past
sexual conduct, opinions or reputation should not be admitted by the courts as evidence. It is also
suggested that it must be explicitly provided in legal documents that the degree of resistance
needed to establish the crime of rape must only be an overt physical act signifying resistance to
the act of rape. No requirement of great physical resistance is necessary. Appropriate guidelines
on assisting rape victims and handling cases of rape more sensitively should be issued. They
should include: (a) providing rape victims with psychological, medical and health-care services;
(b) assisting in securing legal assistance; (c) ensuring privacy and safety of rape victims; and (d)
mandatory training of gender sensitivity, and rape and sexual assault cases, for those handling
these offences.
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Incest
Article 150 of the Penal Code penalizes the crime of incest. No specific forms of redress are provided
for crimes of incest. It is recommended that strengthening access to justice by victims of
incest must be a key policy measure for this issue. Legal documents must provide appropriate
victim and family support where crimes of incest are detected. Mandatory services should be provided
by state management agencies, such as: (a) emergency shelter; (b) skills training, livelihood
development services or job referrals for the victim and victims family; (c) psycho-social
counselling for the victim and victims family; (d) reintegration; (e) medical assistance; (f) free legal
assistance; and (g) professional social worker assistance. Temporary protection orders should
also be available for victims of incest. Further research on this issue must also be strongly urged
to further law-making.
Executive summary