KSI Interview Series: KSI Interview with Azriana, Head of the National Commission on Violence against Women 2015 - 2019

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KSI Program Officer, Mirisa Hasfaria, had the chance to interview Azriana, the Head of the National Commission on Violence against Women 2015–2019, to discuss her changed role, from activist to the head of the Commission, and her views on how the Commission uses data and evidence to influence the policy-making process, and how to integrate gender perspectives into research for policy.

Q: Can you tell me about your background?
A: I was born in Lhoksukon, which is now the capital of North Aceh. I completed my bachelor degree in 1993 at Syiah Kuala University in Banda Aceh. Since 1995, I have been handling issues on violence against women, in addition to working as an advokat or legal advocate; at the time it was called a pengacara or attorney at law. In 1998, the status of Military Operational Zone (DOM) in Aceh was revoked, however, armed conflicts ensued, rendering local government activities in Aceh paralysed for some time. After the revocation of DOM status, I worked in humanitarian activities, especially in helping refugee women and children. Until today, my activities have mostly revolved around civil society movements rather than practicing law.

Q: Becoming the Head of the National Commission on Violence against Women (Komnas Perempuan) for the period 2015–2019 surely requires a different commitment than your previous position as an NGO activist working outside a government institution. Why did you choose this path? 
A: Advocacy work by NGOs at a certain level requires political power. This power can be obtained by organising community movements, becoming a policy maker through a political party, or getting involved in a state institution functioning as a human rights mechanism to ensure that the Government fulfils the human rights of the people. I chose a national human rights mechanism as my advocacy vehicle when I started to face challenges organising women’s groups in Aceh. After the conflict and tsunami, community empowerment programs used approaches that were not at all empowering, and religion was being so powerfully politicised that it led to diminished critical thinking by the community. This was making my advocacy work more difficult. In addition to that, the number of friends working in advocacy in the field of women’s issues was dwindling, the women’s empowerment space was taken over by religious fundamentalist groups, and violence and discrimination against women increased. It was even being justified by using Islamic Sharia. This was happening in areas still suffering from the remnants of the conflict, where stigma and violence were used to deal with diversity. Due to this increasingly limited space, I decided to join the National Commission on Violence against Women, a more strategic vehicle in relation to its mandate and authority to respond to the violent situation against women, especially in Aceh.

Q: Violence against women is a phenomenon that has existed for a long time. How does the National Commission on Violence against Women present data and information as evidence for policy change in order to achieve social justice? 
A: The National Commission on Violence against Women uses data from its monitoring and studies to establish new knowledge on violence against women through a number of publications, concept papers and policy papers. We communicate this new knowledge to relevant parties, namely national and local governments, law enforcement agencies, universities, religious organisations and indigenous institutions, to promote the production of better policies. In addition to that, we utilise the data from our monitoring and studies to develop support mechanisms for victims of violence that can be used by service providing partners, both community based and government institutions. We also use the data to develop themes, taglines and public campaign material/media, such as the ‘16 Days Campaign on Violence against Women’, ‘Let’s Speak the Truth’ and ‘Diversity of the National Commission on Violence against Women Campaign’, collaborating with partners throughout Indonesia.

Q: What kind of progressive manoeuvring space does the National Commission on Violence against Women intend to create to improve the uneven power relationship between women and men in Indonesia? 
A: A space that places the issue of women’s rights, especially eradicating violence against women, at the same level of importance as the main issues of the state and nation. The National Commission on Violence against Women tries to improve the legal sphere that still positions women as targets or marking symbols, by: documenting discriminatory policies; creating a mechanism that enables easier access for victims to have their rights fulfilled; opening spaces of recognition and protection for household workers, migrant workers and entertainment industry workers; and influencing global policies through involvement in international human rights forums and mechanisms. 

Q: There are a number of agendas on social change to create conducive individual and community constellations, social relationships and behavioural patterns to achieve a life free from fear and discrimination against women. How do you and the National Commission on Violence against Women choose priorities?
A: The National Commission on Violence against Women formulates its strategic goals and priority issues once every five years, which then translates into its annual work plan. These strategic goals and priority issues are established based on monitoring results, including the Annual Records of Violence against Women in Indonesia, analysis of the National Commission on Violence against Women on the internal and external situation related to the issue of violence against women, and baseline data owned by the National Commission on Violence against Women.

Q: There is a real gap between researchers and the policy-making objective. Often, research for policies is gender neutral and does not consider that women will face more challenges accessing, controlling, participating in and receiving benefits from said public policies. What are your suggestions so that researchers pay closer attention to this gap? 
A: Researchers need to constantly possess and sharpen their gender perspective. This perspective must be integrated into their research stages as a whole, starting from research design, method development, data collection and analysis, to the development of recommendations. A gender perspective will enable researchers to develop a conducive and effective method for women from specific groups–vulnerable groups and minority groups–who are still facing social and cultural challenges, to convey their views and experiences. 

Q: The National Commission on Violence against Women develops and publishes various reports, such as monitoring reports, legal and policy assessments, institutional reports and international reports. How is the evidence collection process conducted? What process does the National Commission on Violence against Women use to influence policy making?
A: Evidence or fact collection is done based on the monitoring instrument developed by the National Commission on Violence against Women. This instrument was designed by considering the situation and condition of women in every context and dimension of violence. Monitoring and fact collection is conducted by engaging the participation of the local community. The National Commission on Violence against Women establishes monitoring networks in almost all of its monitored areas. In addition to providing skills for local people to perform documentation, these monitoring networks are part of our efforts to ensure the sustainability of local resource-based monitoring. 
The National Commission on Violence against Women presents the results of its monitoring report to policy makers at a specially organised public event. Policy makers are asked to respond to the findings and recommendations from the Commission. After the report presentation, the Commission engages in consultation with each policy-making institution (ministry/institution or other government agency) to ensure follow up on the recommendations. On the issue of sexual violence for example, the National Commission on Violence against Women, along with the Service Providing Forum partners, has the initiative to draft the Law on Eradication of Sexual Violence, to ensure that the need to protect women suffering sexual violence is included in the draft. 

Q: I want to specifically highlight the Commission’s monitoring report entitled, ‘On Behalf of Local Autonomy: Institutional Discrimination within the Sphere of the Indonesian State and Nation. Monitoring Report of the Condition of Women’s Constitutional Rights Fulfilment in 16 Districts/Cities in 7 Provinces’. Findings from the National Commission on Violence against Women state that there were 154 problematic local policies issued between 1999 and 2009, as they facilitate institutional discrimination, both through their goals and impacts. Additionally, the Academic Paper on the Policy Analyst Functional Position developed by the State Administrative Agency, Centre for Policy Management Study, Magister of Public Administration, Gadjah Mada University, concluded that losses incurred by the state from problematic public policies has reached trillions of rupiahs each year – each local regulation needs Rp. 500 million to Rp. 2 billion. Based on this evidence, what can the Commission do to promote effective local policy making without reducing people’s rights or perpetuating violence against women?
A: One of the important achievements of the National Commission on Violence against Women in its advocacy to oppose discriminative policies is the integration of an anti-gender-discrimination clause into Law Number 23 Year 2014 on Local Governance. This law also provides a layered revocation mechanism for discriminative local policies. This achievement evolved from intensive discussion between the National Commission on Violence against Women and the Legal Bureau of the Ministry of Home Affairs starting in 2012. In addition to that, the Commission has developed a Guideline for Testing Constitutional Policy to help local government ensure that local regulations do not contain discriminative materials or substance in guaranteeing the fulfilment of the constitutional rights of the public. This guideline has been socialised to local governments in the 10 provinces and districts/cities producing the highest number of discriminative policies. The challenges will be in making sure this guideline is referenced by local governments when producing regulations. Structure wise, the Commission has no authority for that. Therefore, the Commission needs to continue to encourage the Ministry of Home Affairs to optimise its authority to conduct mentoring to local governments in regulation development to prevent and revoke discriminative local regulations. There were at least 421 discriminative policies as of October 2016.

Q: What suggestions will you give to activists striving for the fulfilment of women rights, both through research and advocacy, so that they are successful in supporting real changes in order to achieve social justice? 
A: The strive to fulfil human rights for women does not only come face to face with existing social and cultural construction still undermining women, but also with policy makers whose paradigm is formed by a social system that is gender biased, even sometimes misogynistic, towards women. Research and advocacy are two important areas that influence each other in the effort to fight for human rights fulfilment for women. Advocacy should be done based on data and facts. Research results will be in vain if not used to advocate for change, therefore, synergy between research work and advocacy work needs to be established. In the context of violence against women, both research and advocacy should be centred on the victim.