Rights body reviews UN pact on civil rights<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The National Human Rights Commission is
\ncurrently studying the 1966 International Covenant on Civilian
\nand Political Rights before calling for ratification by the
\ngovernment.<\/p>\n
"Miriam Budiardjo is studying the covenant," commission member
\nNurcholish Madjid said yesterday. "We will then propose it to the
\nMinistry of Foreign Affairs for ratification," he said after
\nspeaking at a discussion on human rights.<\/p>\n
Another Commission member who addressed the one-day forum,
\nB.N. Marbun, said Indonesia's human rights record is often
\ncriticized because it has not yet ratified a number of
\ninternational conventions.<\/p>\n
"Charges from Indonesian and foreign human rights activists
\nare raised because Indonesia seems to have shut itself off from
\ninternational human rights development due to the several
\nconventions which we have not ratified," Marbun said.<\/p>\n
The discussion entitled "Indonesia and the West: An
\nInternational Dialog on Human Rights" was organized by the
\nAssociation of Indonesian Moslem Intellectuals (ICMI), the Goethe
\nInstitut and the World Trade Center.<\/p>\n
A participant from Australia asked why Indonesia has not
\nratified the 1966 covenant, a revision of the 1948 Declaration of
\nHuman Rights. The covenant dropped a paragraph on the contentious
\nright of changing religions.<\/p>\n
Nurcholish said the covenant is "good" and denied that there
\nmay be concerns that ratification would lead to the impression
\nthat Indonesia is adopting a western framework of human rights.<\/p>\n
"We believe that human rights is universal, and there is still
\nroom for interpretation in cultural relativism," he said.<\/p>\n
The human rights commission, he said, aims for the
\nratification of international conventions "as much as possible".<\/p>\n
The Commission, set up in 1993, has a sub-commission to study
\ninternational conventions which Indonesia has not ratified.<\/p>\n
Marbun and two German scholars said in their papers that human
\nrights is universal, but implementation needs to take into
\naccount local religious and cultural factors.<\/p>\n
One reason why the human rights commission has proved
\nacceptable to many parties is its "appeal to humanism" in
\napproaching conflicting parties. "We do not seek scapegoats, but
\naim to find a way out and prioritize deliberation towards
\nconsensus," he said.<\/p>\n
Winfried Brugger, who teaches philosophy of law at the
\nUniversity of Heidelberg, said because culture is a person's
\nsecond nature, "... cultural relativism ... entails a degree of
\ntruth. There should be room both for a variety of regional human
\nrights instruments, and for different ways of balancing
\nindividual rights against legitimate interests of the community."<\/p>\n
Universalism of human rights can be preserved by referring to
\nwhat he called the "five elements of the image of the person".<\/p>\n
Juliane Kokott of the University of Dusseldorf said "the
\nimplementation of universal human rights in Islamic or Asian
\ncountries needs to consider the different economic and cultural
\nconditions".<\/p>\n
"That Islamic countries have a comparably low record as to
\nratification of universal human rights instruments must not be
\nattributed exclusively to Islam," Kokott said.<\/p>\n
"Rather, poverty and underdevelopment, which prevail in many
\nIslamic countries, render compliance with human rights
\nparticularly difficult," she said.<\/p>\n
Nurcholish said because human rights is rooted in Islam, "it
\nis a challenge for Moslems to practice their religion; don't let
\noutsiders think Islam is anti-human rights." (anr)<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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