June 10, 2026
JAKARTA – Hundreds of Indonesian women and girls continue to die in gender-based killings, with activists warning that state neglect, inadequate healthcare and systemic injustice are increasingly contributing to preventable deaths, particularly in eastern Indonesia.
A new report by advocacy group Jakarta Feminist recorded 230 femicide victims in 2025, including 31 underage girls, up from 209 cases documented a year earlier. The report, titled Negligence Leads to Death, was launched on Friday.
Drawing on media reports, court rulings and documentation from women’s support groups, the report found that most perpetrators were people closest to the victims, including husbands, boyfriends and former partners. Motives were often layered, ranging from economic hardship to relationship conflicts.
Beyond direct acts of violence, however, Jakarta Feminist highlighted a growing pattern of what it describes as indirect femicide, in which women face a heightened risk of death because of negligence, repeated violence or failures by institutions to provide protection and essential services.
“We found femicide cases that resulted from both negligence and the state’s failure to provide women with access to essential services,” Jakarta Feminist program officer Nur Khofifah said at the report’s launch in Jakarta.
Among the cases highlighted was that of Irene Sokoy, a pregnant woman from Jayapura, Papua, who died in November after hospitals allegedly refused to treat her during labor. Another involved Maria Yunita of Sikka, East Nusa Tenggara, who died after being unable to undergo emergency surgery during childbirth because no anesthesiologist was available.
The report described such cases as evidence of “the state’s systemic failure and disregard for women”, arguing that inadequate healthcare and other public services had contributed to preventable deaths.
The concentration of cases in eastern Indonesia reflected persistent inequality and limited access to basic services, particularly in Papua, according to Gispa Ferdinanda Warijo, lead researcher at women’s advocacy group Sa Perempuan Papua.
Despite Papua’s administrative expansion from two provinces to six in 2022, aimed at accelerating development and reducing disparities, access to healthcare and protection services remain limited, leaving many women who experience violence without adequate support.
“When we talk about Papuan women’s access to healthcare [and other basic services], we also have to ask whether the existing structures actually allow them to access those services,” Gispa said.
She added that the heightened military presence amid ongoing conflict in Papua had further increased women’s vulnerability. Gispa cited the death of Tarling Wanibo in Central Papua, who was allegedly shot dead in May before a bomb was placed on her body.
“When Papuan women die, there is a normalization of those deaths, even by the state, which justifies them by saying, ‘Oh, we thought they were separatists,’” she said.
The report also found that many court rulings in cases involving rape and murder failed to apply the 2022 Sexual Violence Eradication Law, depriving victims and their families of their rights and remedies.
Responding to the findings, Supreme Court Justice Ainal Mardhiah said the judiciary had paid increasing attention to femicide, including through guidelines and training programs for judges handling cases involving women.
However, she acknowledged that femicide is not recognized as a distinct criminal offense under existing legislation, including the Criminal Code.
“Therefore, when such cases reach the courts, what we can do is treat femicide as an aggravating factor in our rulings,” Ainal said on Friday.
The National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan), which published its own report in February, similarly warned that femicide had become a recurring yet underreported form of violence, while gender-sensitive law enforcement continued to fall short.
The commission urged law enforcement agencies, particularly the National Police, to adopt a gender-sensitive approach and recognize gender-based motives when handling cases involving the killing of women.
Separately, in a move aimed at strengthening protection for women, the Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection Ministry launched an integrated service pilot program in Jakarta on Thursday.
Under the one-year initiative, healthcare, shelter and protection providers will coordinate assistance through a single mechanism to ensure faster responses to reports of violence against women. If successful, the model is expected to be expanded nationwide