Human Rights must be made official policy of RI govt<\/p>\n
Indonesia is preparing for its first truth and reconciliation
\ncommission. Last week, an international conference on the subject
\nincluded a speaker from Argentina, renowned for its \"Nunca Mas\"
\n(Never Again) human rights movement. The following is an excerpt
\nfrom an interview with Federico Villegas Beltran, the Director of
\nHuman Rights under Argentina's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who
\ntalked to The Jakarta Post and Suara Pembaruan daily.<\/p>\n
Question: Speakers in the conference warned against high
\nexpectations of a truth and reconciliation commission. What's a
\nfeasible target for the commission?<\/p>\n
Answer: Each country has its own way of dealing with its
\nhistory, including past violations of human rights. The moment
\nthat Indonesia has now is an important democratic movement with a
\ngovernment that is willing to establish a truth commission. It's
\na momentum that needs to be considered a great dimension in
\nIndonesia's history.<\/p>\n
And it will be very important that civil society and the
\ngovernment work together in order to make the most out of the
\ntruth commission. One of the main things is to elect 21 members
\nwho are fully respected; by society and by the victims. So that
\nwhatever comes out of the report of the commission is credible
\nand has a sound base, for learning about the history in order not
\nto repeat it in the future.<\/p>\n
How important is solving the past for a country?<\/p>\n
I think it is essential. A famous thinker, Winston Churchill,
\nsaid \"The further you look in the past, the more you can see in
\nthe future.\"<\/p>\n
That is probably easy to say, but there is no country that can
\nbuild up the future without knowing where it is coming from. And
\nthat has been the case at least in Argentina. (Indonesia is) a
\nvery important country, the fourth most populous in the world;
\none of the main countries in Southeast Asia, with great cultural
\nand religious diversity. So the meaning of Indonesia's process of
\ndemocracy and human rights is something that will have an impact
\nin the world in general.<\/p>\n
What is Argentina's contribution to the human rights
\nmovement?<\/p>\n
I think Argentina is a unique case because in the past,
\nunfortunately, we were a country that was internationally famous
\nand known for human rights but for bad reasons. Because under the
\nlast dictatorship the forced disappearances was the
\ncharacteristic for which we were known. Actually, the working
\ngroup of United Nations for disappearances was based on the
\nArgentine case. After democracy was restored, the civil society
\nwas able to found the human rights movement with the judiciary
\nand many politicians, that allowed us now to be well known in the
\nworld because of the good reason of human rights.<\/p>\n
For example, the right to the truth, which is a separate human
\nright, is now recognized internationally; it started with the
\nwork of the judges in Argentina trying to find out the truth.<\/p>\n
How would you prevent such a thing from happening again?<\/p>\n
There are three things; first, the example of the truth and
\nreconciliation commission. Its work must be good, transparent,
\nand it must be independent, in order to set an example. Second,
\nthe dissemination of its conclusion. If the work is good, and its
\npeople are respected, dissemination is important and each
\nIndonesian should have that report at home.<\/p>\n
Today, the report of the truth and reconciliation commission
\nof Argentina is still regularly published and sold in bookstores,
\neven though it was first published 20 years ago.<\/p>\n
The third is education. Because the basis of systematic and
\nmassive violations of human rights is discrimination -- people
\nviolate others' rights because they decide there is something
\nthey don't like about the others. So the basic thing is how to
\npromote the fight against discrimination for any reason, and
\nagainst intolerance.<\/p>\n
Argentina established its commission two years after the fall
\nof its dictatorship; Indonesia will do it seven years after the
\nend of the New Order. Have we lost the momentum?<\/p>\n
If it took too long it was because the situation was complex
\nand not that easy to establish. In Argentina, after we had
\ndemocracy, the people were tired and ashamed of having a bad
\nworld image. After the commission was formed it published its
\nreport nine months later.<\/p>\n
The impact from our bad image was a promotion to respect human
\nrights, which then became a trademark of our country, thanks to
\nthe human rights movement and families of victims, who for 20
\nyears pressured governments to respect human rights as a state
\npolicy -- which became one of the few policies in Argentina that
\nhave overcome all crises, either political or economic. What is
\nmost important is that governments may change, but they all know
\nthere is a solid basis that they must respect.<\/p>\n
This is what you must realize in Indonesia, that with the
\ncommission you will have built a foundation and pillar for a
\nhuman rights movement that will last long enough to make it a
\nstate policy. At least for Argentina that was most important.<\/p>\n
And now you have good momentum in Indonesia. In practical
\nterms, all obstacles will have to be resolved.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/human-rights-must-be-made-official-policy-of-ri-govt-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}