Human rights guidelines to be published by government
Human rights guidelines to be published by government
JAKARTA (JP): State Minister of Human Rights Affairs Hasballah
M. Saad said on Friday his office will issue 17 guidebooks on
human rights which can be used as guidelines for law enforcement
institutions and module books for students.
"This is part of the national campaign to disseminate and
educate people to raise their awareness on human rights," he told
The Jakarta Post at the sidelines of a seminar on revising the
National Action Plan for Human Rights held here.
The manuscripts will be distributed to the military, police,
judges, prosecutors and lawyers, also to journalists and
university students, he added.
Hasballah said the module of human rights for junior high and
high school students will be integrated into the curriculum or be
part of students' extra-curricular activities.
"We don't want to load students with another curriculum.
However, the module will encourage them to understand and to
practice human rights," he said.
A national workshop on human rights for journalists will be
held next month in 10 major cities, including Jakarta, Bandung,
Surabaya and Medan in North Sumatra.
Similar workshops are also planned by human rights study
centers in 10 state-run universities which will educate
academicians, law enforcement officials, legislators, state
officials and local non-government organizations.
The five-year national action plan, running from 1998 to 2003,
is aimed at establishing a better understanding and practice of
human rights in the country.
The action plan has specific objectives: ratifying
international conventions and covenants on human rights,
disseminating information, upholding human rights as the
country's priority, and establishing regulations as a follow-up
to international conventions.
Hasballah explained that his office took the initiative to
revise the action plan, primarily on its priority and to
strengthen the commitment of the national committee.
"We found it necessary to expedite the ratification and the
making of regulations on the most fundamental rights of the
people on economic, social and culture realms. Initially, we only
focused on the people's civil and political rights. But, the
other rights should not be ignored for they really touch people's
daily lives," he told the Post.
Software
Earlier during an NGO conference in Bogor, West Java,
Hasballah also noted that Indonesia still lacks substantial
software needed to minimize human rights violations.
"We do not have proper and updated laws to deal with rights
violations, we don't have laws to protect witnesses and a good
institutional system," he said during Wednesday's conference.
"We are in the process of transition towards the
transformation of human rights issues," he added.
He cited South Korea as a country which had managed to
implement human rights. "Two of its former presidents had been
jailed for (corruption and rights violations)."
"Those (the successful trial of the two leaders) were made
possible by four supporting factors. First the reigning president
is not busy with his own problems, its armed forces are solid,
the cooperation among political parties is also solid, and the
press, students and the public are united in South Korea," he
explained.
Implementation of human rights reflects the level of democracy
of a country, he said. "The more democratic a country is, the
less human right violations the country will have."
According to Hasballah, not many Indonesians are aware of
human rights. "Many people speak about human rights yet they
don't quite understand what they are. This circumstance has
apparently led to conflicts and constraints among the people to
implement human rights here."
The four-day conference, opened by Minister for Maritime
Exploration and Fishery Sarwono Kusumaatmadja on Tuesday,
involved at 123 organizations. The Indonesian NGOs Partnership
Initiative and the USAID organized the conference. (21/sur/bby)