A collective of civil society organizations and the Catholic Church have strongly condemned recent cases of homicide and sexual violence against women.
Last month, a woman’s naked body was found floating in the sea by fishermen in Hera outside Dili.
In a separate case in Suai in the Covalima municipality a woman was murdered by her boyfriend. A female student was also gang raped by her boyfriend and his seven friends in Oecusse.
The spokesperson for the movement against gender-based violence (MKHVBJ), Teresa Verdial de Araujo, said Timor-Leste had laws in place to protect women and had also signed the international treaty on the Convention on Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and reports to the Children’s Rights Commission (CRC).
However, de Araujo said women still had concerns about their personal safety.
“It’s sad because gender-based violence continues to happen in our country, especially violence against woman and children,” she said at a press conference at the Women and Children’s Legal Aid Service (ALFeLa) in Dili.
She said the government had since arranged for the burial of the woman found at Hera at the Kakaulidun cemetery, while the murder suspect in Suai had been captured.
The victim in the Oecusse case had also received treatment for injuries to her head and cheek and the suspects detained.
She called on the courts and department of prosecution to prioritize investigations into the recent cases.
ALFeLa provided shelter to 518 women and children from 2010 to June 2016, of which 237 involved cases of sexual abuse and 281 were cases of sexual violation.
Of those 518 cases, 40% have since been resolved, while 60% were still going through the legal process.
Catholic priest Juvito Rego said cases of sexual violence against women was a serious issue that needed to be addressed.
He said that the perpetrators in the cases did not understand their actions were wrong and according to the law they should be imprisoned.
He also urged women’s organizations to raise awareness about the issue to help prevent men from being violent towards women.
Hosanna church priest Domingos Alves said five major factors needed to be addressed in order to reduce incidents of violence against women, including strengthening family relationships and improving formal education.
He said the government must restrict access to pornography sites and the church should incorporate respect for women in its doctrine. He also called for the school curriculum to be revised to include sex education for students.
Meanwhile, Deputy President of Rede Feto Alzira Reis said she was extremely concerned that cases involving violence against women were continuing to increase every day.
Reis said increased police patrols were needed in public places which could potentially be dangerous for women.
Women organizations are also calling on judicial authorities to hand down rigorous penalties to suspects in cases as a deterrrent.
