House gets support on UN convention

JAKARTA (JP): The government has given its support to the House of Representatives' initiative to ratify the draft law on the UN Convention Against Torture as part of its action plan to improve the observance of human rights in the country.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas said the government's decision to ratify the UN convention had been taken out of respect for the right of all people to be free from the threat of torture.

"This can be achieved only by enforcing the law and upholding justice," he said in a hearing with House's Commission I on information and foreign affairs here yesterday.

He said that the convention was one of three international treaties which the government had given priority to ratify as part of its action plan on human rights.

President Habibie launched the action plan on June 25, 1998.

The other two treaties given priority for ratification are the UN Convention on Racial Discrimination and the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

The House recently, for the first time, used its right of initiative to propose the ratification of the convention which Indonesia actually signed in 1985.

The UN convention states that all state signatories must take effective legislative, administrative or other measures to prevent all kinds of torture in any territory under their jurisdiction, and ensure that all acts of torture are offenses under their criminal laws.

The convention also stipulates the need to establish a national commission against torture to which reports of violations can be reported.

The convention states that a commission comprised of six experts should be established within six months of ratification.

Alatas said that despite ratifying the convention, the Indonesian government would issue a declaration delineating the commission's tasks and a reservation about arbitration through the International Court of Justice.

"The reservation will be issued to assert Indonesia's sovereignty over its territory, including East Timor," he said.

Alatas also said that Indonesia would propose a reservation on the settlement of disputes with other countries over the implementation of Article 30 on arbitration of the International Court of Justice.

"We will forward a reservation because we do not accept automatic, compulsory jurisdiction," he said, citing that only 60 of 185 UN's member countries had accepted such terms. (rms)