The Legal Aid Institute in Bali (LBH Bali) said the overwhelming majority of sexual violence cases in the province happened on college grounds, based on reports filed to the organization last year.
Forty-eight people filed a report to LBH Bali through a reporting mechanism they had set up, 45 of whom said that the incidents had occurred on college campuses.
“Most of the sexual [violence] incidents happened on [college] campus. The same campus that should have been a safe and healthy space for learning for everyone,” LBH Bali Head Vany Primaliraning said.
Out of those 45 reports, the majority was categorized as sexual harassment, while several were rape cases. The perpetrators, meanwhile, include lecturers and university staff, with many victims saying that they were threatened from speaking out about their ordeals.
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“Hence the campus turns into this place of protection for the perpetrators of sexual violence,” Vany said.
“When they want to file a report to the police, they are threatened by the perpetrators, family of the perpetrators, or even the campus management itself.”
In some cases, the colleges even accused the victims of tarnishing their reputation and threatened to report them to the police. On the other hand, some victims live under the persisting stigma of shame and further pressure from their family members, adding to their reluctance to pursue justice.
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