ASEAN needs more data on violence against women

JAKARTA - ASEAN member countries need to have more data on the prevalence of violence against women to inform and guide the development of legislation, policies and programs that could prevent violence against women and protect survivors, UN official said on Monday.

"Without timely and accurate indicators, it is impossible to track progress or provide information that compels policy makers to act toward the elimination of violence against women," UNFPA Representative for Indonesia, Jose Ferraris, was quoted by the Jakarta Post as saying.

Only few ASEAN countries have reliable statistical data on the prevalence of violence against women although the 2004 ASEAN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women underscored the need for reliable statistics both to assess the prevalence of the social problem and to continually monitor changes, he said.

The National Commission on Violence against Women recorded that 119,107 cases of violence against women took place in Indonesia in 2011.

"Having that kind of data and information will allow us to be able to confidently say this is the situation of violence in the country and ask what are the policy measures that are being taken to address the problem?" he said.