3rd KANITA POSTGRADUATE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON GENDER STUDIES 16 – 17 November 2016 Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang 449 Ending Violence against Women in Indonesia: State Policy and Practice Zarizana Abdul Aziz Centre for Research on Women and Gender (KANITA) Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang Corresponding Email: zarizana@gmail.com Abstract Public international law mandates States to promote protect and fulfil human rights. State obligation at the international level is determined by international law which is comprised in the various treaties a State ratifies as well as customary international law. When a State assumes international obligations, it is obliged to comply with its international obligations premised on the due diligence principle. The research critically analyses the evolution, development and application of the due diligence principle in international law and presents a discourse on its utility in clarifying State obligation to eliminate violence against women. It then investigates Indonesia’s international obligation to end violence against women and what this obligation entails in the island of Java by focusing on specific forms of violence against women and by analyzing how far these efforts are in response to treaty obligations. Finally, the research investigates the perspectives of civil society in the assessment of Indonesia’s efforts, achievements and challenges in fulfilling the obligations and finally identifies and makes recommendations in areas where due diligence may be particularly useful and /or further used in eliminating violence against women. Keywords: Gender-based violence against women, international law, due diligence 1. Introduction Public international law mandates States to promote protect and fulfill human rights. State obligation at the international level is determined by international law is comprised in the various treaties a State ratifies as well as customary international law. When a State enters into a treaty, it is obliged to comply with treaty obligations at two levels, namely, it should discharge its obligation by ensuring that - a. it, the State and its agents, comply with treaty obligations and do not violate any of these obligations; and b. private individuals (non-State actors) in the State do not violate these obligations; brought to you by CORE View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk provided by Repository@USM