Murder and Femicide from A Legal Perspective in Indonesia

Emanuella Malonda

Murder and Femicide in Indonesia

Feminist Society Indonesia — Nowadays, there has been a lot of news about murder cases that have attracted public attention; interestingly, most of the victims of these murder cases are women. This is certainly closely related to the study of femicide. Therefore, it is necessary to have a basic explanation regarding murder and femicide.

Murder can literally be interpreted as a process, method, or act of killing so as to take the life of another person. Meanwhile, murder, according to Wirjono Prodjodikoro, is an act or deed carried out by a person against another person so that in his actions it can cause the loss of someone's life. In the rules in Indonesia, murder is directly interpreted in Article 338 of the Criminal Code, which reads: "Anyone who intentionally takes the life of another person is guilty of murder". Hence, it can be concluded that murder is an act by a person that results in that person being killed or dying.

Meanwhile, the meaning of femicide has not been clearly regulated in Indonesian laws and regulations, however, femicide is not a new discourse in global dynamics. The National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan) states that femicide is the deliberate murder of women because of their sex or gender, which is driven by superiority, dominance, hegemony, aggression, or misogyny towards women; a sense of ownership of women, inequality of power relations, and sadistic satisfaction. Femicide is often categorized as an unusual murder because there are many things behind the murder so that it is categorized as femicide.

There is a difference between murder and femicide even though the end of the act causes death or loss of life. When viewed from its content, femicide is different from murder because it contains aspects of gender inequality, domination, aggression or oppression. Femicide is not death as is generally the case but rather a product of patriarchal and misogynistic culture and occurs both in the private, community and state spheres. Based on these aspects, a new classification was created in the realm of Murder, namely, Femicide.

You can also read: Femicide Has Been Increasing in Indonesia, How Can We Deal With It?

When viewed based on its type, Femicide has 9 types of Femicide, namely: (1) Intimate Femicide, (2) Cultural Femicide (in the name of honor, related to dowry, related to race, ethnicity, related to accusations of witchcraft, related to injury and cutting of female genitalia, Femicide of babies: abortion, infants and toddlers), (3) Femicide in the context of armed conflict, (4) Femicide in the context of the commercial sex industry, (5) Femicide of women with disabilities, (6) Femicide of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, (7) Femicide in Prison, (8) Non-Intimate Femicide (Systematic Murder), and (9) Femicide of Human Rights Activists/Humanitarian Activists.

In short, it can be seen that Femicide has not been systematically regulated in the Laws and Regulations in Indonesia, but globally several countries have regulated rules on Femicide including Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Venezuela.

Indeed, Indonesia has basically issued a regulation, namely Law Number 7 of 1984 concerning the Ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), but in reality, there has not been found a specific regulation (lex specialist) that implements the spirit and mandate of CEDAW.

This shows the government's lack of seriousness in protecting and maintaining the dignity of a woman from the grip of superiority, domination, hegemony, aggression and misogyny. Therefore, the Indonesian government needs to immediately issue regulations that specifically regulate femicide in order to protect and free women from all forms of oppression.

If you are interested in issues related to gender equality and in-depth discussions about feminism, join with Feminist Society Indonesia. Feminist Society Indonesia aims to promote gender equality and women’s rights activism through education and advocacy. To get related articles, please visit the page feminist-society.blogspot.com.

You can also contact us on:

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View More:

https://www.unwomen.org/en/news-stories/press-release/2024/11/one-woman-or-girl-is-killed-every-10-minutes-by-their-intimate-partner-or-family-member

https://unric.org/en/behind-closed-doors-the-deadly-reality-of-femicide/

https://www.unwomen.org/en/articles/explainer/five-essential-facts-to-know-about-femicide

 

Gender Bias in AI: Mitigating Strategies

 Zulkhadir Riandi

Feminist Society - Today, the course of life in the era of the 5.0 industrial revolution has brought increasingly heavy digital and technological developments, in which digital and technological advances continue to evolve. One of the connections is with the existence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) that continues to advance and evolve throughout all lines of human life. Where today, almost anything in the digital world can be run easily with the help of AI.

On the one hand, AI has a positive impact because it can make it easier for us where AI can generate whatever we order based on clear and specific prompts. But on the other hand, AI actually has a negative side, where AI tends to be gender-biased. For example, AI or other search engine mechanisms tends to generate or deliver results with a majority of men in jobs such as doctors and women in nurses. Another example can be seen when we carry out searches related to everything related to childcare, which is always associated with the mother, as if it were only the role of the mother, whereas childcare is the responsibility of both parents (mother and father).

You can also Read: The Importance of Paternity Leave in Promoting Gender Equality and Family Well-Being

AI systems are biased because they are human creations. Who makes decisions informing AI systems and who is on the team developing AI systems shapes their development. Unsurprisingly, there is a huge gender gap: Only 22 percent of professionals in AI and data science fields are women—and they are more likely to occupy jobs associated with less status. In terms of gender bias from data, data points are snapshots of the world we live in, and the large gender data gaps we see are partly due to the gender digital divide. For example, some 300 million fewer women than men access the Internet on a mobile phone, and women in low- and middle-income countries are 20 percent less likely than men to own a smartphone. These technologies generate data about their users, so the fact that women have less access to them inherently skews datasets. Even when data is generated, humans collecting data decide what to collect and how.

How to Mitigate Gender Bias in AI?

Mitigating gender bias in AI algorithms is crucial for creating fair and equitable systems. Here are some strategies:

1.       Diverse Data Collection

Gathering diverse and representative data during model training will have direct implications in overcoming gender bias in AI. Therefore, we have to ensure that the dataset includes various gender identities, backgrounds, and experiences.

2.       Bias Detection and Audits

Regularly audit AI models for bias. Identify discriminatory patterns and adjust the algorithms accordingly. Tools like fairness metrics and adversarial testing can help. This mechanism is of paramount importance to persistently prevent gender bias in AI systems.

3.       Feature Engineering

Be mindful of features that might introduce bias. Remove or adjust features related to gender, race, or other sensitive attributes. Thereby, the full awareness of the technicians and all parties involved in the creation of AI systems is really needed.

4.       Balanced Representation

Oversample underrepresented groups to balance the dataset. This helps prevent the majority group from dominating the model’s predictions. The more representative of gender participation in creating AI systems is, the better AI systems will be.

5.       Ethical Guidelines

Develop clear guidelines for AI development that address bias. Involve ethicists, social scientists, and affected communities in the process. By making good guidelines for AI creation, it will drive a better procedure that takes into consideration gender equality.

Remember that bias elimination is an ongoing effort. By combining technical solutions with ethical considerations, we can create AI systems that treat everyone fairly.

If you are interested in issues related to gender equality and in-depth discussion about feminism, let's join with Feminist Society. Feminist Society aims to promote progress in gender equality and women’s rights through education and advocacy. To get related articles, please visit the page feminist-society.blogspot.com.

You can also contact us on:

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Email                  : fem.official7@gmail.com

View more:

Ayesha Nadeem et al. Gender Bias in AI: A Review of Contributing Factors and Mitigating Strategies. AIS Electronic Library. (2020). https://aisel.aisnet.org/acis2020/27/

https://ssir.org/articles/entry/when_good_algorithms_go_sexist_why_and_how_to_advance_ai_gender_equity

https://analyticsindiamag.com/understanding-ai-biases-and-ways-to-fix-them/

 

Femicide Has Been Increasing in Indonesia, How Can We Deal With It?

Juneidi Coloay

Feminist Society – Recently, the many murder cases that have occurred in Indonesia have become a hot topic of conversation on social media. Moreover, the murder cases that occurred apparently involved women as victims. This condition is generally known as "Femicide".

Definition of Femicide

Nowadays, femicide has become an important global indicator of gender inequality and violence. Femicide is generally understood as a condition that involves the intentional murder of women due to power relations, but broader definitions of femicide include any killing of women or girls.

Current Cases

Femicide has been increasing and booming in Indonesian media portrayals in recent times. Where there have been several cases of femicide that have caused quite a stir in cyberspace:

1.       On Thursday 25 April 2024, the murder of a woman committed by her co-worker accompanied by the dumping of the victim's body in a suitcase was found on Inspeksi Kalimalang Street, Sukadanu Village, West Cikarang District, Bekasi Regency, West Java.

2.       On Friday 3 May 2024, a murder was committed by a husband against his wife, in Temboan Village, Maesaan District, South Minahasa Regency, North Sulawesi.

3.       On Friday 3 May 2024, a woman from Bogor was killed by her male partner in the Kuta area, Badung Regency, Bali. The perpetrator killed the victim because he was emotionally asked to pay more for a commercial dating service.

4.       On Friday 3 May 2024, the sadistic murder of a woman occurred in Ciamis Regency, West Java. The victim was killed and mutilated by her own husband.

Legal Framework

According to Vienna Convention in 2012, femicide can take the form of, inter alia: (1) the murder of women as a result of intimate partner violence; (2) the torture and misogynist slaying of women; (3) killing of women and girls in the name of “honor”; (4) targeted killing of women and girls in the context of armed conflict; (5) dowry-related killings of women; (6) killing of women and girls because of their sexual orientation and gender identity; (7) the killing of aboriginal and indigenous women and girls due to their gender; (8) female infanticide and gender-based sex selection foeticide; (9) genital mutilation related deaths; (10) accusations of witchcraft; and (11) other femicides connected with gangs, organized crime, drug dealers, human trafficking and the proliferation of small arms.

The reasons why femicide happens are diverse, however the main factor is due to power relations between men and women. Thereby women’s rights are highly vulnerable to being neglected. The Indonesian laws have actually regulated diverse kind of legal actions to protect women from femicide phenomenon. Nonetheless, femicide is still hard to tackle as it has been growing in Indonesia at the end of the day.

What Should We Do?

Although we have strong and comprehensive regulations to protect women, but those are not enough to stop femicide cases. Therefore, there should be progressive steps by the government to overcome the femicide phenomenon in Indonesia.

1.       The Importance of Good Relationship

Women empowerment comes into play in building good relationships and avoiding toxic relationships either inside or outside the family circle. Women’s awareness of those things can help them to avoid acts of domestic violence, abuse by family members, as well as crimes in romantic relationships.

2.       Supportive Public Policy

There should be supportive public policy for women, as simple as public facilities which are special for women, children, pregnant, and those with disabilities. It could be like special train carriage, special bus station and so on. It could prevent and protect women from sexual harassment and multiple forms of sexual violence in public spaces.

3.       Active Role of External Parties

There needs to be an active role from related parties like making efforts to involve the mass media and public campaigns, providing psychological assistance, legal advice and support, as well as active and massive role from the police and other legal apparatus.

If you are interested in issues related to gender equality and in-depth discussion about feminism, let’s join with Feminist Society. Feminist Society aims to promote progress in three key aspects of gender equality and women’s rights activism: Law, Policy, and Advocacy through the provision of digital-based information. To get related articles, please visit the page feminist-society.blogspot.com.

You can also contact us on:

Instagram            : @feministsociety.id

Email                     : fem.official7@gmail.com

View More:

https://itsagirlmovie.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Vienna_Declaration_on_Femicide.pdf

https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-08398-8_2