{
    "success": true,
    "data": {
        "id": 1715750,
        "msgid": "if-the-state-assesses-the-status-of-human-rights-activists-1777863156",
        "date": "2026-05-04 09:00:00",
        "title": "If the State Assesses the Status of Human Rights Activists",
        "author": "Ferril Dennys",
        "source": "KOMPAS",
        "tags": "",
        "topic": "Politics",
        "summary": "The Indonesian Ministry of Human Rights plans to form an advisory team to evaluate who qualifies as a legitimate human rights activist, aiming to provide protection but raising concerns about potential state control over activism. The article highlights the vulnerability of activists, particularly those in environmental and indigenous rights sectors, with data showing hundreds facing criminalisation through legal instruments like defamation charges and SLAPP suits between 2014 and 2023. This initiative touches on the core tension in democratic relations between the state and citizens, underscoring the moral and critical nature of human rights advocacy amid ongoing threats, including suspicious deaths and arbitrary arrests.",
        "content": "<p>Amid the ongoing trials of democracy, a discourse emerges that\ninvites serious reflection: the state, through the Ministry of Human\nRights, plans to form an advisory team to assess who qualifies as a\nhuman rights activist. This idea, linked to statements by Minister of\nHuman Rights Natalius Pigai, is intended as an effort to ensure\nprotection is given to \u201clegitimate human rights defenders.\u201d However, it\nis precisely at this point that a fundamental issue arises: who has the\nright to determine who is a human rights defender? In a democratic\nstate, this question is not merely administrative but touches the core\nof the relationship between the state and citizens. Human rights\nactivism, by its nature, arises from citizens\u2019 critical awareness of\npower. It is not a product of certification but a moral calling.\nTherefore, when the state seeks to establish activist status, concerns\narise: is the state attempting to protect, or rather to control? These\nconcerns do not arise in a vacuum. Empirical data in Indonesia shows\nthat the position of activists\u2014especially in the environmental and\nindigenous peoples\u2019 rights sectors\u2014remains highly vulnerable. From this\nnumber, hundreds of cases even proceed to criminal processes, placing\nactivists as defendants rather than defenders of public interest.\nFurthermore, this trend shows no signs of abating. Data from Auriga\nNusantara records at least 133 instances of threats and lawsuits (SLAPP)\nagainst environmental defenders in the period 2014\u20132023. Meanwhile,\ncivil society reports indicate that criminalisation is often carried out\nthrough articles such as defamation or incitement\u2014not through direct\nviolence, but through legal instruments. Concrete cases illustrate this\npattern. Environmental activist Daniel Frits Maurits Tangkilisan was\nonce imprisoned for criticism of environmental damage, before being\nacquitted at the appeal level (Mongabay.co.id, 22 May 2024). On the\nother hand, threats to activists do not always stop at legal processes.\nData shows that since 2018, at least 12 environmental defenders have\ndied in suspicious circumstances suspected to be related to their\nadvocacy activities. Even in a broader context, Amnesty International\nIndonesia records that throughout 2025, there were 5,538 people\nexperiencing arbitrary arrests and violence while expressing opinions in\npublic (Amnesty.id, 29 December 2025).<\/p>",
        "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/if-the-state-assesses-the-status-of-human-rights-activists-1777863156",
        "image": ""
    },
    "sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
    "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}