Government submits bill on human rights court

JAKARTA (JP): The government proposed a new bill to the House of Representatives on Monday that would be used to establish a national court of human rights.

Minister of Law and Legislation Yusril Ihza Mahendra said that the bill would be used to try human right abuses, such as genocide, mass rapes, arbitrary killings, kidnappings and ethnic cleansing.

"The bill would have no time limit (on its jurisdiction). It could be used to try human rights abuses that occurred in the past," Yusril told the House's plenary session.

But he said that human rights abuses that had occurred before the bill becomes effective should be handled by an ad hoc investigator and an ad hoc court.

He said the establishment of an ad hoc human rights court would be decided upon by a presidential decree, which would be based on a proposal from the House.

The bill, if it is endorsed, could also be used to try Indonesian citizens who conduct human rights abuses outside Indonesian territory, Yusril said.

The bill requires that an investigation into human rights abuses be conducted by the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM), he said.

"Within seven days, Komnas HAM should present their results to prosecutors," he explained.

The bill is designed to replace government regulation in lieu of statute No. 1/1999, which was rejected earlier by the House since it did not have "a retroactive" clause, and, hence could not prosecute past human rights abuses.

The government regulation was proposed by the government under former President B.J. Habibie.

But it was criticized since it could not be used to bring human right abusers in East Tumor to the court.

Several high-ranking military and police officers as well as civilians have been named responsible for human rights abuses that occurred in East Timor after the referendum. (jun)