Social economic rights need more understanding<\/p>\n
Yanuar Nugroho, The Business Watch Indonesia, Surakarta,
\nCentral Java, yanuar-n@unisosdem.org<\/p>\n
Look at this time-series data on evictions in Jakarta,
\ncompiled and processed by the Jakarta Social Institute (ISJ) and
\nthe Jakarta Residents' Forum (Fakta). First, during 2001, the
\nJakarta municipality, in the name of law and order, evicted the
\nurban poor 99 times.<\/p>\n
We are raising this matter now, as an International Workshop
\non Indonesia's NGO Coalition for Human Rights is being held in
\nthis town on Thursday and Friday, ahead of World Human Rights Day
\non Dec. 10.<\/p>\n
Moreover, the brutal eviction wiped out at least 6,588 houses
\nand five schools, leaving 6,774 families, or over 34,000 people,
\nhomeless. ISJ and Fakta also say the evictions contributed to the
\ndeath of 19 people, injury to 67, depression of 1,000 and
\nunemployment of 4,252 people.<\/p>\n
At least 2,700 worksites were destroyed and the loss was
\naround Rp 540 million.<\/p>\n
Second, last year, 26 evictions were carried out in
\nresidential areas, with a further 20 evictions of street vendors,
\nin which 4,908 homes were demolished, 18,732 people became
\nhomeless, 15 were injured and 11 were arrested.<\/p>\n
Third, as of October, there were 15 evictions, resulting in
\nover 7,000 homeless families, the killing of one person, a 13-
\nyear-old allegedly raped by a public order official, 20 injured
\nand a further 26 arrested.<\/p>\n
At present, over 300 evicted families of fishermen in Muara
\nAngke, North Jakarta, are living on their boats with some 30
\ninfants -- heaven knows how much longer they will be able to do
\nso.<\/p>\n
In Surabaya and other big cities, the urban poor are
\nrepeatedly wiped out for the city's "development."<\/p>\n
While most of the capital's poor are evicted because they live
\nand do business on land categorized as "green, open space,"
\nbusiness interests in the past few years have converted 49,135
\nsquare meters of Jakarta's open land into 32 gas stations. Two-
\nthirds of the protected mangrove in North Jakarta was cleared for
\nthe construction of luxury estates.<\/p>\n
"Development" thus seems irrelevant because -- if anything --
\nit is simply an unintended consequence of individual profit-
\nseeking ventures carried out by businesses.<\/p>\n
The evictions usually involve the brazen seizure of urban land
\nby commercial and financial giants. The apparatus of the state
\nare simply the loyal servant of these economic oligarchs.<\/p>\n
Saying that only the state is responsible is to ignore the
\ncapacity and the influence of business power -- and this involves
\nthe deeper consequences on how we perceive democracy and human
\nrights.<\/p>\n
We are nearing the end of 2003, yet our notions and practice
\nof democracy and human rights remain stuck in the 1900s -- when
\nmovements advocating civil and political rights focused on making
\nthe state accountable.<\/p>\n
Nowadays the notion of human rights needs to be supplemented
\nby a concept that takes into account the current state of
\naffairs, i.e. the power of capital and business, which have
\nbecome so immense. In particular, there is an urgency to focus on
\nthe promotion of socioeconomic human rights.<\/p>\n
If civil-political rights are exercised in relation to the
\nworkings of state power, socioeconomic human rights concern the
\nworkings of business power, which determines employment (as well
\nas housing, food, water, health and other basic needs), upon
\nwhich the economic survival of more and more people depends.<\/p>\n
For instance, privatization of basic services, involving giant
\nbusiness interests, has deliberately been promoted as the best
\nway of providing public services.<\/p>\n
Often there are two typical reactions. First, the government
\nalone becomes the target of anger.<\/p>\n
Second, the controversy often focuses on technicalities:
\nFarthest is the question of whether the service is still
\naffordable to the poor. Rarely is the economic human rights
\nperspective used to confront the core problem -- the impact of
\nprivatization of essential services that cover almost all areas
\nof human life, and which should therefore not be controlled by
\nthe logic of pure profit accumulation.<\/p>\n
Thus, addressing the problem of economic human rights by
\nsimply targeting the state is to bark up the wrong tree.<\/p>\n
The need to raise awareness of social and economic rights in
\nthe country is therefore an urgent challenge if we realize that
\nit is not the state alone that wields the greatest influence on
\nour lives.<\/p>",
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