Human rights defenders call for protection

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Human rights groups urged the government on Wednesday to recognize and honor their work to help the groups to continue to promote basic human rights in the face of terror.

Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association (PBHI) member Johnson Panjaitan said individuals committed to human rights -- who mainly comprised lawyers and journalists -- were frequently subjected to suspicion, terror, repression and even death threats.

"Such terror, intimidation, violence and other attempts to hamper the rights defenders in promoting the people's rights cannot be tolerated and are against the law. Such terror cannot stop us...we're not afraid," he said.

Panjaitan, who was nearly killed by gunfire during his work defending the Acehnese, made the remarks in a joint declaration at the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute Foundation.

In their declaration, the rights activists called for support and urged the United Nations to send special observers to monitor the violence, intimidation and terror designed to hamper human rights work in Indonesia.

National Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) co-founder Munir said that the government had not only failed to protect the people's civil, political and economic rights, but had also failed to protect the rights defenders by rejecting cooperation in the disclosure or prosecution of the rights abuse perpetrators.

"It's not that we ask for privileges. The government should be accountable for any form of rights abuses to all the people without exception and to honor the rights defenders for their work. Instead of being honored, the rights defenders are frequently accused of being a threat to the government," Munir said.

A bomb was planted at Munir's residence in Malang, East Java last August.

National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) secretary general Asmara Nababan joined the chorus, saying that although the country had signed the 1999 Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, none of the existing laws gave the defenders protection from lawsuits connected with their work.