House gets support on UN convention

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)