Evictees sue rights body for failing to act
Evictees sue rights body for failing to act
M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The National Commission for Human Rights (Komnas HAM) is being taken to court for allegedly failing to act to stop the city administration's recent string of evictions of Jakarta's poor.
The Jakarta Residents Forum (Fakta), representing eviction victims, filed legal action in the Central Jakarta District Court on Thursday, demanding Komnas HAM apologize for its failure.
Fakta accused Komnas HAM of condoning the violations of citizens' rights to shelter, when it should be upholding the rights of the people against the city administration.
More than 22,000 people lost their homes, two people died and a little girl raped by city officials during the evictions. A joint team of public order officers, police and thugs drove the squatters from private and government land.
Fakta demanded Komnas HAM apologize to the evictees in six national newspapers, six television channels and six radio stations. The forum did not demand financial compensation.
Fakta chairman Azas Tigor Nainggolan, before lodging the action, said that although the evictions constituted gross human rights violations, Komnas HAM had been blind to Governor Sutiyoso's policy.
"Komnas HAM should not be busy only handling rights violations that take place outside of the capital. It must also focus on the violations here," Tigor said.
When asked why the action was directed at Komnas HAM instead of Sutiyoso who launched the policy, Tigor said: "This is our first legal effort. Maybe next month we will file further action against Sutiyoso and the city council."
Last month, the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH Jakarta) and the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (PBHI) filed lawsuits in the Jakarta Administrative Court against decisions by North and West Jakarta municipalities to evict "illegal residents".
Many of the evictees are now living beneath makeshift tents close to their demolished homes. Some of them are currently taking refuge in the grounds of the Komnas HAM office in Central Jakarta.
Komnas HAM met Sutiyoso on Monday and the meeting resulted in the establishment of a team to devise a "more humane" method of carrying out evictions.
Later Thursday, dozens of evictees staged a protest in front of the court building, condemning the evictions. The protesters, consisting mostly of elderly women and children, called on the administration to have a moratorium on evictions.
"Eviction is inhumane and arbitrary," cried one of the protesters.