Human rights still poor in 2004: PBHI<\/p>\n
M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The country's human rights record remained poor in 2004, with
\nstate-sponsored violence and the cycle of impunity still
\npersisting, a rights group says.<\/p>\n
The Indonesian Legal Aid Institute Foundation (PBHI) said in
\nits annual report released on Tuesday that in most human rights
\nabuse cases, the state could be blamed for abetting if not
\nactually committing the crimes, and for failing to take enough
\naction to prevent them.<\/p>\n
In the report, the PBHI found that human rights abuses
\ncommitted against civilians by state institutions were widespread
\nin conflict zones.<\/p>\n
\"In 2004, we found 111 cases of human rights abuses in
\nNanggroe Aceh Darussalam (NAD), ranging from arbitrary arrest and
\nseizure to torture and kidnapping,\" the report said.<\/p>\n
It registered four incidences of rights abuses in Papua, where
\nthe Free Papua Organization (OPM) had been seeking independence
\nfrom Indonesia since the late 1960s.<\/p>\n
The rights group based its figures on cases of human rights
\nviolations in which the PBHI was involved in providing advocacy
\nand legal aid on behalf of the victims.<\/p>\n
The report also highlighted the fact that despite the
\nestablishment of a high-profile human rights tribunal, almost all
\nof the defendants walked free.<\/p>\n
\"The state has not done enough to seek legal redress against
\nthe perpetrators of human rights violations and this has resulted
\nin impunity. It is very strange that there are so many victims of
\nrights abuses but no one is held accountable for them,\" the
\nreport said.<\/p>\n
The report highlighted the fact that most of the military
\npersonnel who were implicated in human rights abuses during the
\nmayhem that followed a United Nations-sponsored ballot in East
\nTimor in 1999 were acquitted by an the rights tribunal.<\/p>\n
The PBHI said that these acquittals were the result of
\npolitical intervention involving high-profile state officials.<\/p>\n
Besides being responsible for human rights abuses, the PBHI
\nalso found that the state was guilty of violating the basic
\neconomic rights of its citizens.<\/p>\n
It said that the use of eviction by administrations as a tool
\nto achieve quick and arbitrary solutions to land disputes was
\nwidespread in 2004.<\/p>\n
\"The eviction of the students of SMP 56 in South Jakarta is
\none among many immediate examples of the widespread use of
\neviction. This case shows us that the government backed business
\ninterests at the expense of the public interest,\" the report
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
PBHI executive director Johnson Panjaitan also criticized the
\ncountry's current leadership.<\/p>\n
\"Respect for human rights was the main campaign theme of
\nPresident Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Vice President Jusuf
\nKalla, but after almost three months in office we can see that
\nnothing has been done,\" Johnson said, adding that both figures
\nwere partly responsible for human rights in the previous
\nadministration. Susilo was coordinating minister for security and
\npolitical affairs while Kalla was involved in handling communal
\nconflicts around the country.<\/p>\n
He said that neither Susilo nor Kalla had achieved anything of
\nnote in their previous posts, and that nothing much in the way of
\nimprovement could be expected from them.<\/p>",
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