House backs UN convention approval

House backs UN convention approval

JAKARTA (JP): The House of Representatives for the first time
used its right of initiative yesterday to set forth a motion for
the ratification of the United Nations Convention Against Torture
signed by the government a decade ago.

All four House factions in a plenary session chaired by Lt.
Gen. Hari Sabarno fully endorsed plans to ratify the convention.

Golkar legislator Abu Hasan Sazili said after the session that
the House used its right of initiative because the government had
yet to propose the ratification of the convention.

The ratification is urgent because of rampant abuse of human
rights in the country, he said.

"It is no secret that many people have been arbitrarily
mistreated, forced to lie on ice blocks and, even worse, raped in
interrogation rooms by those who actually should protect them.
Many others have been abducted for having different opinions and
political views."

Stories of electrical shocks and being forced to sleep atop
ice blocks were recently recounted by activists who were
kidnapped by a well-organized group.

The UN Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or
Degrading Treatment or Punishment was ratified in 1948 by the UN
General Assembly as a protocol of the Declaration of Universal
Human Rights.

Sazili conceded that the use of the House's right of
initiative was long overdue, particularly since the government
signed it on Oct. 23, 1985.

"Late it may be, but it is better than doing nothing," he
remarked.

He said the House would now ask the government to appoint a
team, expected from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to discuss
the convention with the House.

"The discussion is expected to begin before the end of this
month," he said, adding that "the House hopes the convention can
be ratified next month".

President B.J. Habibie last month kicked off a five-year
National Action Plan on Human Rights in an attempt to better
Indonesia's much maligned international image on rights issues.

During the campaign, the government will speed up its efforts
to promote human rights awareness both among citizens and
government officials.

Two other major conventions yet to be signed by the government
are the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights. (rms)