{"id":1017,"date":"2022-09-07T21:03:24","date_gmt":"2022-09-07T19:03:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mission-21.org\/projekte\/frauen-und-kinderhandel-sowie-haeusliche-gewalt-sind-in-indonesien-und-malaysia-stark-verbreitet-dazu-kommt-dass-hunderttausende-frauen-aus-indonesien-in-anderen-asiatischen-laendern-als-hausangest\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T11:56:58","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T10:56:58","slug":"help-for-violence-affected-women-in-asia","status":"publish","type":"projekte","link":"https:\/\/www.mission-21.org\/en\/projekte\/hilfe-fuer-gewaltbetroffene-frauen-in-asien\/","title":{"rendered":"Women affected by violence in Asia: strengthening through empowerment"},"content":{"rendered":"

Background information<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Mission 21 works with six partner organizations in Indonesia, Malaysia and Hong Kong and promotes projects to combat sexualized and gender-based violence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Women are particularly vulnerable in a generally patriarchal context, as in many Asian countries, as they are also subordinate to their husbands under civil law. The husband is considered the head of the family with far-reaching powers of control and domination. Indonesian and Malaysian law makes the spouse who leaves the parental home first guilty and thus discriminates against women who move away with their children because they have experienced domestic violence. Moreover, cultural norms characterized by poverty still lead to the marriage of underage girls in Indonesia and Malaysia, which can be seen as a structural form of violence. In Indonesia, around 1.2 million women are under the age of 18 when they get married each year, with marriages often being arranged by the heads of the family and the will of the young women concerned not being respected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In order to improve their economic situation, many Indonesians seek employment abroad, for example in Malaysia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea, Singapore or the Middle East. Others are even forced by their families to earn money as migrant workers. Quite a few experience violence through human trafficking. To prevent this and reduce the pressure to migrate, Mission 21 supports prevention measures in Indonesia. Over nine million Indonesians work abroad. 66 percent of them are women; very often they are employed as domestic workers and caregivers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Hong Kong project region, around 350,000 foreign domestic workers mostly work under very poor conditions. More than 40 percent of them come from Indonesia. The lack of education worsens the situation of migrant workers in particular. Only a few know their rights and can seek support in cases of sexualized and gender-specific violence or unhealthy situations in the workplace. Data from Hong Kong indicates an increase in sexualized violence by employers in 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Malaysia has become one of the most popular destination countries for uneducated migrant workers. A large number of them enter the country without papers. The province of Sabah, where Mission 21 is active, has the highest proportion of stateless people in Malaysia, which leads to complex problems. In Sabah, Mission 21 supports immigrants affected by violence, especially the children of undocumented migrant workers. As part of Mission 21's education project (project no. 256.1004), children of irregular immigrants in Malaysia are also supported in their school education. Mission 21 also carries out prevention and awareness-raising work at community level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Project goals<\/h2>\n\n\n\n