Building the case for a disability-inclusive justice system

Khotimah has become somewhat of a disability champion herself, after participating in a trial involving a person with a disability. She has worked to show her colleagues in the profession what can be done to increase the court’s accessibility to people with disabilities and ensure they receive a fair trial.

The 2017 annual report by Komnas Perempuan, or the National Commission on Violence Against Women, shared with Devex, states that only 8 percent of the cases it has handled in the year involved people with disabilities as victims reaching court, highlighting the barriers for people with disabilities to access justice.

The modifications and efforts to raise awareness and understanding of the needs of people with disabilities in the district court of Wonosari were made with guidance from Sasana Inklusi & Gerakan Advokasi Difabel, or SIGAB, a grassroots organization for people with disabilities that works in partnership with other organizations, civil society, and the government to share research and best practices on disability-inclusive development.

Since 2012, the organization has received funding from Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade under its Australia-Indonesia Partnership for Justice program, which aims to contribute to strong and accessible justice and security institutions in the country.

The Wonosari district court setup should be replicated in all courts in Indonesia, ideally. In the past, the director generals of Indonesia’s religious court and the general court of Indonesia have passed circulars requiring district courts to provide disability-friendly facilities.

Champions of disability inclusion in legal proceedings regarded the provisions as milestones. In 2011, the government of Indonesia ratified the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which provides a shift to how governments should realize and promote the rights of people with disabilities, from a medical and welfare approach to one based on human rights. This was followed by a new law on disability in 2016 that identifies the rights of people with disabilities to justice and legal protection.

Lack of technical guidelines to properly translate the regulations into action, however, has left them open for individual court interpretation. One court, Khotimah said, built a ramp so high, it is a hazard rather than a benefit for wheelchair users.

There is also still a lot to be done to build the capacity of the justice system to accommodate the legal needs of people with disabilities.

A more complex barrier

Legal provisions in Indonesia and a lack of knowledge of the courts have kept them from the reach of people with disabilities.

Sipora Purwanti, alias Ipung, knows this all too well. She has been advocating for the rights of people with disabilities for more than a decade, as program manager for SIGAB and as a person with mobility challenges herself — she had polio as a child.

Over the last seven years, she has honed her knowledge of Indonesian law, the country’s legal system, and how inclusive it is to people with disabilities.

She and the advocacy team at SIGAB believe court cases involving people who, like them, have some form of disability, can be processed fairly only if their rights and needs are understood and recognized early.

Indonesian law, Ipung learned, for example, requires a witness to be able to see and hear. But this is impossible for people with visual and hearing loss. To prove an act was done in violence, the law requires the victim be able to establish resistance as a means of self-defense. But this is difficult for people with physical or mental disabilities.

Through the organization’s legal aid unit, the team at SIGAB helps ensure people with disabilities who need to face the court have access to information on court procedures and that their needs are properly identified before court proceedings. This includes finding the right interpreter for those unable to speak, as people with disabilities, particularly those with hearing impairments, can be exposed to different types of sign languages used in Indonesia.

Early wins

SIGAB’s legal assistance work has spread in several districts and municipalities in Gunung Kidul. Police officers familiar with the organization’s work contact SIGAB directly when they encounter cases involving people with disabilities. The organization has also established a network of paralegals who consult with SIGAB on these issues.

But to scale, DFAT Indonesia, under the second phase of its AIJP program, is facilitating knowledge sharing with other civil society organizations on what SIGAB has done and how the court in Wonosari applied the necessary changes to become more inclusive, such as through site visits and discussions. The bilateral aid donor has already done this with a civil society organization in South Sulawesi.

Using the inclusive court pilot in Wonosari as an example, SIGAB has also advocated with Indonesia's supreme court to release a new regulation enforcing compliance of its earlier circular on more accessible courts. One of the things the organization and its partners wanted to prove to the supreme court was how accessibility does not necessarily have to be costly. In Wonosari, the court tried to find ways within its budget to accommodate the modifications in the building.

To be sure, there are other considered inclusive courts in Indonesia, such as in South Sumatra and East Java. But their presence remains the exception rather than the rule for now. Ipung is convinced building an inclusive justice system across the country that involves the rights of people with disabilities is in for the long-haul.

She has been working on disability advocacy since 2004, but policy changes on inclusive justice have only just started happening over the past five years, she explained.

Editor's note: DFAT facilitated Devex's travel for this reporting. However, Devex maintains full editorial control of the content.