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.