The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Indonesia's human rights record comes under international
\nscrutiny this week as the United Nations Committee against
\nTorture in Geneva begins a review of a report filed by Jakarta
\nconcerning its commitment to abiding by international standards.<\/p>\n
Going through the long list of probing questions presented by
\nthe committee at the weekend, it was obviously far from being
\nimpressed by the report and Indonesia's overall performance.<\/p>\n
The United Nations Human Rights Commission said at the weekend
\nthat Felice Gaer, the committee's special rapporteur on the
\nsituation in Indonesia, found that the Indonesian report \"was
\nlimited\" and \"told little about practical implementation.\"<\/p>\n
Gaer nevertheless acknowledged that Indonesia had taken a
\nnumber of positive formal steps, including separating the police
\nfrom the military, holding democratic elections, and disbanding
\ncertain internal security organizations.<\/p>\n
The panel of 10 independent experts also noted that many
\nallegations had been received of ill-treatment in areas of
\nIndonesia where conflicts were ongoing, including Aceh, Irian
\nJaya and Maluku, but that the report failed to address the
\nproblems in these areas.<\/p>\n
The committee, which opened its 27th annual session last week,
\nis scheduled on Monday to begin a hearing to review the
\nIndonesian report, which was introduced on Friday by Lucia H.
\nRustam, Minister Counselor of the Permanent Mission of Indonesia
\nto the United Nations Office in Geneva. Also representing
\nIndonesia was Mohammad Anshor of the Directorate for
\nInternational Organizations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.<\/p>\n
Indonesia, as one of the 126 states that are party to the
\nConvention against Torture, is required to present periodic
\nsummations to the committee of national efforts to put the
\nconvention's provisions into effect.<\/p>\n
Indonesia's record has been far from rosy.<\/p>\n
Even after East Timor seceded from Indonesia, questions are
\nstill being raised about Jakarta's failure to prosecute those
\nresponsible for allowing East Timor to degenerate into a state of
\nlawlessness in the aftermath of a UN-sponsored self-determination
\nvote in August 1999.<\/p>\n
The United Nations has its own reasons for questioning
\nIndonesia. Three of its staffers were killed by a mob while
\nworking in an Indonesian refugee camp for East Timorese. The
\nUnited Nations has since criticized the 10 to 20-month jail terms
\nmeted out to the six men found guilty of the September 2000
\nkillings.<\/p>\n
Among the questions already posed by the committee which
\nIndonesia must answer on Monday are allegations<\/p>\n
* that detainees are often denied legal counsel and medical
\nattention;<\/p>\n
* that sexual violence is frequently used as a form of
\ncoercion and that ill-treatment of women by soldiers and police
\nofficers is rife in conflict areas;<\/p>\n
* that demonstrations are frequently quelled using deadly
\nforce.<\/p>\n
Rustam, in her introduction to the report on Friday,
\nhighlighted some of the things that Indonesia had carried out,
\nincluding:<\/p>\n
* the establishment of a National Human Rights Commission and
\na National Plan of Action for Human Rights;<\/p>\n
* the setting up of Human Rights Courts was underway;<\/p>\n
* a number of soldiers, army officers, and former government
\nministers had been sentenced for human rights offenses;<\/p>\n
She said that her government faced obstacles in its efforts to
\npromote human rights, including a lack of financial resources,
\nthe vast geographical extent of the archipelago, which rendered
\nlaw enforcement difficult, and a lack of human resources.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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