Jakarta Resolution:
“Women Fight Corruptionâ€
On 18th and 19th March 2013, in the Southeast Asia Regional Conference “Women Fight Corruptionâ€, 95 representatives of civil society and governments from Indonesia, India, Cambodia, Timor Leste, Vietnam, Laos, Malaysia, Philipines, came together to commemorate the International Women’s Day which falls on the 8th of March 2013. The objective of the conference was to increase awareness as well as to strengthen stakeholder commitment on the issues of women’s movements fight against corruption. The conference was organized in recognition of the fact that corruption has a gender dimension, whereby women – specifically impoverished women and children – bear a greater burden of the impact of corruption. Corruption is a daily experience, especially for women from grassroots communities, majority of whom are victims of corruption. Studies conducted in several countries and the experience of civil society organizations and grassroots women show that there is a relationship between the level of corruption and gender equality.  Low levels of corruption are associated with greater gender equality. So, strengthening the women’s movement in the fight against corruption can provide a breakthrough in the efforts towards eradication of corruption.
 To strengthen the women’s movement against corruption, we have developed an Action Plan and Women’s Resolution to fight corruption to become recommendations for the anticorruption movement of each country, namely:
- Anti-corruption education and joint movement to raise critical awareness on the values of truth, honesty, integrity, transparency and accountability.
- To include women grass root in the consultation process of policy development and corruption eradication program, so all strategies of corruption eradication reflects women’s experiences at the grass root level
- To endorse and play an active role in structural changes at all levels, starting from the household, schools, public institutions, private sector/corporation and the government to the attainment of power sharing, openness, and freedom of information and participation in decision making.
- To develop and strengthen watchdogs of corruption at all levels;
- To strengthen whistle blower, witness support and protection programs;
- To strengthen women movement at  grass-root level and community movements as strategic groups in the fight against corruption;
- To enhance justice and gender equality at all levels as part of effort in the fight against corruption;
- To develop and enhance local, national, regional and global cooperation in the fight against corruptionÂ
The action plan and the women’s resolution in the fight against corruption is conducted in accordance with the policies, rules and regulations applicable in each country.
The action plan together with the resolution will be discussed further in the upcoming UN’s high-level panel (HLP) in Bali that will discuss the development framework after MDG is completed in 2015.
It is assessed that the action and resolution should be carried out in fighting corruption. Corruption is a serious matter, not only for Indonesian but also for other countries, particularly the countries in Southeast Asia. Corruption is an extraordinary crime which is systemic and rooted in the political system dominated by the elites, committed collectively by public officials in the executive – legislative – judicative , corporation and also public actors, and therefore it is a denial to civilization.
Political system is dominated by the elites who maintain economical, political, oligarchic power designing the individuals to commit corruption, weakening supervision and marginalizing the poor people even more. Corruption is the enemy for the efforts in eliminating poverty, implementation of human rights and state administration based on good governance principles, namely transparency, democracy, accountability and creating social justice.
Corruption eradication is the responsibility of each individual in the society, government and corporation. We hope that the action plan and resolution will be a joint working agenda of civil society, government (legislative, executive, judicative) and corporation for the sake of rebuilding the civilization denied by corruption practices and the permissive views and stance against corruption due to various reasons.
Jakarta, 19 March 2013
Supporters of Action Plan and Resolution
