American scholar defends NGOs' rights roles

American scholar defends NGOs' rights roles

JAKARTA (JP): An American academic exalted yesterday the role
of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and defended the right
to criticize governments which violated human rights.

Theodore S. Orlin, a professor of political science and
criminal justice at Syracuse University, New York, said NGOs were
important for the protection and promotion of rights, as a public
means of ensuring that governments observed civil and political
rights.

"This is not anti-state, this is pro-state," Orlin said of the
activities of rights groups, adding that a true patriot was
someone who insisted that the state obey the law just like an
ordinary citizen.

Apart from being co-director of the Human Rights Advocacy
Project at Utica College, Syracuse, Orlin has worked extensively
counseling NGOs in Eastern European countries, such as Rumania
and Albania.

In 1993, he worked as an advisor to Cameroon's Commission on
Human Rights.

Orlin is currently on a tour of several Asian countries to
gather information and share experiences regarding the role of
NGOs.

Speaking here at the United States Commercial and Information
Center yesterday, Orlin said that the number of NGOs in a country
was "a test of the diversity, plurality of any system."

There are between 7,000 and 8,000 NGOs in Indonesia, concerned
with a wide range of issues. This compares with an estimated 1.14
million NGOs in the U.S.

Orlin said the current number of Indonesian NGOs represented
only the beginning.

The government has, in the past, been antagonistic to the
existence of several NGOs, often suspending or prohibiting their
meetings.

At a gathering of Indonesian ambassadors here last year,
Coordinating Minister for Political Affairs and Security Soesilo
Soedarman said that the activities of many NGO were inconsistent
with the achievement of an integrated society and a unified
nation.

Soesilo argued that, because of their dependence on foreign
sponsorship, NGOs were inclined to forsake the concerns of a
harmonious state.

Recently, however, the government has seemed to indicate a
shift in attitude, with Jakarta military commander Maj. Gen
Wiranto describing NGOs as good partners of the government,
rather than "trouble-makers".

Orlin said yesterday that it was up to the NGOs to make
respect for human rights a reality.

He said governments which signed international rights
treaties, such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and
the United Nations Charter, were legally committed to adhering to
human rights principles.

Indonesia is a signatory to both treaties.

Orlin said that if a state violated its commitments under
international rights treaties, NGOs had a right to remind them of
the fact.

"What good is a state that doesn't live up to its contracts?"
he asked, adding that "you can't have democracy without human
rights."

In their efforts to uphold human rights, Orlin said NGOs
should use the international rights treaties to cajole
governments into respecting human rights.

"The more treaties, the easier the job is for human rights
groups and human rights commissions," he said.

With the world's increasingly sophisticated communications
network, he said, it was becoming increasingly difficult for
governments to conceal their neglect of human rights.

The advent of facsimile machines and computer communication
networks, originally developed for business purposes, made it
easy for people to draw global attention to domestic issues, he
said.

"If you're going to do business, people are going to know
about your civil society," he remarked.

Regarding the soon-to-be-announced UN decade of human rights
education, Orlin said it was the public, through the various
NGOs, who would be in the forefront of the campaign.

If a democracy is going to exist, the public must be aware of
their rights," he said. (mds)