Human rights guidelines to be published by government<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): State Minister of Human Rights Affairs Hasballah
\nM. Saad said on Friday his office will issue 17 guidebooks on
\nhuman rights which can be used as guidelines for law enforcement
\ninstitutions and module books for students.<\/p>\n
\"This is part of the national campaign to disseminate and
\neducate people to raise their awareness on human rights,\" he told
\nThe Jakarta Post at the sidelines of a seminar on revising the
\nNational Action Plan for Human Rights held here.<\/p>\n
The manuscripts will be distributed to the military, police,
\njudges, prosecutors and lawyers, also to journalists and
\nuniversity students, he added.<\/p>\n
Hasballah said the module of human rights for junior high and
\nhigh school students will be integrated into the curriculum or be
\npart of students' extra-curricular activities.<\/p>\n
\"We don't want to load students with another curriculum.
\nHowever, the module will encourage them to understand and to
\npractice human rights,\" he said.<\/p>\n
A national workshop on human rights for journalists will be
\nheld next month in 10 major cities, including Jakarta, Bandung,
\nSurabaya and Medan in North Sumatra.<\/p>\n
Similar workshops are also planned by human rights study
\ncenters in 10 state-run universities which will educate
\nacademicians, law enforcement officials, legislators, state
\nofficials and local non-government organizations.<\/p>\n
The five-year national action plan, running from 1998 to 2003,
\nis aimed at establishing a better understanding and practice of
\nhuman rights in the country.<\/p>\n
The action plan has specific objectives: ratifying
\ninternational conventions and covenants on human rights,
\ndisseminating information, upholding human rights as the
\ncountry's priority, and establishing regulations as a follow-up
\nto international conventions.<\/p>\n
Hasballah explained that his office took the initiative to
\nrevise the action plan, primarily on its priority and to
\nstrengthen the commitment of the national committee.<\/p>\n
\"We found it necessary to expedite the ratification and the
\nmaking of regulations on the most fundamental rights of the
\npeople on economic, social and culture realms. Initially, we only
\nfocused on the people's civil and political rights. But, the
\nother rights should not be ignored for they really touch people's
\ndaily lives,\" he told the Post.<\/p>\n
Software<\/p>\n
Earlier during an NGO conference in Bogor, West Java,
\nHasballah also noted that Indonesia still lacks substantial
\nsoftware needed to minimize human rights violations.<\/p>\n
\"We do not have proper and updated laws to deal with rights
\nviolations, we don't have laws to protect witnesses and a good
\ninstitutional system,\" he said during Wednesday's conference.<\/p>\n
\"We are in the process of transition towards the
\ntransformation of human rights issues,\" he added.<\/p>\n
He cited South Korea as a country which had managed to
\nimplement human rights. \"Two of its former presidents had been
\njailed for (corruption and rights violations).\"<\/p>\n
\"Those (the successful trial of the two leaders) were made
\npossible by four supporting factors. First the reigning president
\nis not busy with his own problems, its armed forces are solid,
\nthe cooperation among political parties is also solid, and the
\npress, students and the public are united in South Korea,\" he
\nexplained.<\/p>\n
Implementation of human rights reflects the level of democracy
\nof a country, he said. \"The more democratic a country is, the
\nless human right violations the country will have.\"<\/p>\n
According to Hasballah, not many Indonesians are aware of
\nhuman rights. \"Many people speak about human rights yet they
\ndon't quite understand what they are. This circumstance has
\napparently led to conflicts and constraints among the people to
\nimplement human rights here.\"<\/p>\n
The four-day conference, opened by Minister for Maritime
\nExploration and Fishery Sarwono Kusumaatmadja on Tuesday,
\ninvolved at 123 organizations. The Indonesian NGOs Partnership
\nInitiative and the USAID organized the conference. (21\/sur\/bby)<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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