Aceh peace talks must prioritize civilian protection: Amnesty

LONDON (Agencies): Peace talks on Aceh, which are to resume in Geneva next week must prioritize human rights protection, Amnesty International said on Tuesday.

"Despite a succession of previous agreements, violence has escalated over the past year and civilians continue to suffer grave human rights abuses at the hands of both the Indonesian security forces and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM)," Amnesty International said in a statement, a copy of which was made available to The Jakarta Post.

It said the recent torture and killing of three high school students is a stark reminder of why human rights protection must be firmly on the agenda. Lukman, 18, Azhari Iskandar, 18, and Tarmizi, 16, were shot dead on June 18 after they and 13 other schoolchildren, a teacher and the school head were detained by members of the Indonesian Police Mobile Brigade (Brimob).

The children had been attending a ceremony to collect their graduation certificates when Brimob raided the school in Caleng, West Aceh after one of their members had been killed in an armed clash with GAM.

Quoting media reports, Amnesty said that after failing to find the GAM members responsible, Brimob took the students and their teachers to Krueng Sabee police sector where they were interrogated, beaten and the three students shot dead. Brimob refused to release their bodies without payment from their families.

"The peace talks won't bring back the three school students or hundreds of other innocent civilians who have been killed in Aceh, but if human rights protection is prioritized the dialogue could prevent more unnecessary deaths," the statement said.

The killings came just days after the announcement that talks between the Indonesian government and GAM would be resumed.

Previous talks have focussed on reducing the level of violence to allow humanitarian aid to be delivered and more recently have made tentative steps toward exploring political solutions to the conflict.

"All efforts to resolve the situation in Aceh through dialogue rather than force are welcome, however, too often human rights are sacrificed in the search for peace and security. Sidelining human rights will not lead to a durable and just solution to any conflict," the organization added.

The Indonesian government has responded to the deteriorating situation by sending more troops to the province.

Amnesty claimed that human rights monitors and humanitarian workers are prevented from carrying out their legitimate work because of personal security fears.

In late March human rights worker Tengku Al-Kamal, his lawyer and driver were shot dead in South Aceh. Al-Kamal was returning from being questioned by the police about his role in assisting a group of women who alleged that they had been raped by Brimob last year.

Rather than investigate the rape or the killing of Al-Kamal, the Indonesian police have accused human rights activists, who tried to help the women, of defamation and kidnapping.

"While the dialogue is in progress, immediate steps must be taken on the ground to prevent further violations and to bring to justice those guilty of committing these crimes. Human rights defenders must be able to carry out their work without intimidation, including spurious criminal charges and both sides must abide by international human rights and humanitarian law. Immediate orders should be issued to troops to respect these rights, including the right to life," Amnesty said.