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  1. II. OGBV case in Indonesia

II. OGBV case in Indonesia

The discourse of GBV has a long history, where the discussion is closely related to issues of human rights, women rights, and gender equality. GBV is mentioned in the General Recommendation of Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) Article 19 Point 1 which reads:9

“Gender-based violence is a form of discrimination that seriously impedes women’s ability to enjoy rights and freedoms on an equal basis with men.”

A reference to GBV is also stipulated in the General Recommendation on Violence Against Women through its results on the 11th session in 1992 by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, where Article 1 stipulates as follows:10

9 United Nations, Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, 18 December 1979, United Natons, Treaty Series, vol. 1249, paragraph 1.

10 United Nations, Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, 18 December 1979, United Natons, Treaty Series, vol. 1249, paragraph 1.

“Gender-based violence is that type of violence that is directed against a woman because she is a woman or it affects women disproportionately. It includes acts that inflict physical, mental, or sexual harm or suffering, threats of such acts, coercion, and other deprivations of liberty.”11

The convention was ratified by Indonesia through Law No. 7 of 1984 concerning the Ratification of CEDAW.

The main cause of the emergence of GBV practices is the existence of an unequal relationship between women and men in which men have power over women. In Indonesian law, the existence of unequal power relations was recognized by Supreme Court Regulation No. 3 of 2017 on Guidelines for the Adjudication of Cases in which Women Face the Law. The Guidelines recognizes the existence of asymmetrical power relations causing inequality/dependence in social status, culture, knowledge/education, and economy, which creates a sense of power of one party over another in the context of inter-gender relations and detriment for those with a lower position.12

The need for the Supreme Court Regulation must be seen in the light of the patriarchal values that are ingrained within Indonesian society. It indicates that within the Supreme Court a view has emerged that opposes a patriarchal culture that exacerbates the position of the oppressed by taking sides with those who already have more power. According to Simone de Beauvoir in her literature entitled “The Second Sex”, men are referred to as the Self, while women are called the Other. The Other is conceived as a threat to the Self so that if the Self wants to be free, then it must subordinate the Other to itself (Simone De Beauvoir 2011, 209-223).

Departing from that feminist understanding of unequal power relations between men and women, OGBV is defined as an act of attack against a person’s body, sexuality, and gender identity which is carried out on a platform based on digital technology.13 It should also be noted that the acts of GBV and OGBV both comprise harassment of the victim because of their gender background, but that OGBV is carried out through technological media (Ellen Kusuma and Nenden Sekar Arum, 2019, 4). In 2017, Komnas Perempuan summarized eight forms of OGBV, including approaches to deceiving (cyber

11 UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), CEDAW General Recommendation No. 19: Violence Against Women, 1992, https://www.refworld.org/docid/52d920c54.html, accessed February 23, 2021.

12 Indonesia, Supreme Court Regulation on Guidelines for adjudicating Women’s Cases in Conflict with the Law, PERMA No. 3 of 2017, Ps. 1 number 9.

13 Lidwina Inge N., “https://theconversation.com/sexual-violence-in-the-internet-increasing-duringpandemic-dan-sasar-anak-muda-kenali-form-and-what-is-can-do-152230 , accessed January 20, 2021.

grooming), cyber harassment, hacking, sharing illegal content, infringement of privacy, the threat to distribute personal content in the form of videos/photos of the victims without consent (malicious distribution), online defamation, and online recruitment. The Internet Government Forum adds other forms of OGBV, including stalking, depiction, sexual harassment, defamation, hate speech and exploitation, as well as other forms of victims’ experiences that involves a combination of physical, sexual, and psychological abuse, in or outside the cyberspace. The European Institute for Gender Equality categorizes OGBV into different forms of cyber harassment, such as non-consensual pornography (commonly known as revenge porn14 or sextortion), cyberstalking, gender-based sexual harassment, slut-shaming, unsolicited pornography, doxing, electronically enabled trafficking, to death threats or even online rape.15

One specific form of OGBV, Non-Consensual Spread of Intimate Images (hereinafter abbreviated NCII), is especially prevalent. NCII itself is a term that refers to dissemination of contents (photos or videos) that are made, taken, or distributed without consent by one of the parties involved; images that have been stolen via hacked digital device or other source belonging to the victim; and even images that have been faked by superimposing the victim’s face or their identity onto an existing intimate or pornographic images (deepfake system/effect) (Miha Sepec, 2019). This form of OGBV can be seen in several cases involving public figures with initials AP, LM, and CT which occurred in 2010; also, GA and MYD case in 2020, as described in the section below:

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