WUNRN
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/06/indonesia-aceh-women-curfew-150609220802875.html
INDONESIA–ACEH PROVINCE BANS WOMEN FROM WORKING OR GOING
OUT AT NIGHT WITHOUT FAMILY MALE ESCORT
The capital of Indonesia's Aceh province has imposed a partial
curfew for women that it says will reduce sexual violence but which critics say
is discriminatory.
Internet cafes, tourist sites, sports facilities and
entertainment venues have been instructed to refuse service to women after
11pm unless they are accompanied by a husband or male family member.
Women will also be barred from working in such businesses after
the cut-off time.
Aceh, alone among Indonesia provinces, implements Islamic law
and makes homosexuality, gambling, and drinking alcohol punishable by caning.
Banda Aceh mayor Illiza Sa'aduddin Djamal said employing women
until late at night constitutes exploitation and makes them vulnerable to
sexual harassment.
"We have studied the matter thoroughly and this is in line
with the labour laws," Djamal said. "Our aim is to protect women
employees, especially those working at entertainment spots."
Women who break the rules would be reprimanded but businesses
that insisted on making their female employees work beyond the curfew risked
losing their license.
Curfew Criticised
The chief of Indonesia's national commission on anti-violence
against women said the measure would only restrict women's freedom and threaten
their livelihoods.
"The government should stop meddling in women's
affairs," said Azriana, who like many Indonesians goes by only one name.
"If the intention of the Aceh government is to provide
protection for women, it must instead educate the public and men to respect
women or provide security at the nightspots."
Azriana said the regulation would likely see Aceh's morality
police nabbing any women out after 11pm and not just those in specific sectors.
Riri Khariroh, another commissioner for the organisation, told
Al Jazeera that the curfew not only violated women's basic rights to have a
job, it offered no guarantees that women caught in a banned venue after 11pm
would be safe.
"It may lead to sexual harassment or sexual violence
because of the widespread stigma that the women who are still around until
midnight are not good women, so they ... deserve to be treated in bad
ways," Khariroh said.
"This curfew policy is not matched with the data of the
cases of violence against women in Aceh in which most of the cases occurred in
private areas (domestic violence) and was done by their husbands and
families."
While Djamal said the new curfews would take effect from 11pm,
Khariroh said it was her understanding that women would be refused service from
10pm and could not work after 11pm.
The decision comes just a month after unmarried men and women
were banned from riding together on motorbikes in one of Aceh's districts.
Under 2013 legislation, women passengers behind a male driver
were forbidden to straddle motorbikes and forced to ride side-saddle instead.