Human Rights Ministry Prepares Assessment Team to Determine Activist Status
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Ministry of Human Rights is preparing an assessment team to ensure that legal protection is provided only to those who genuinely perform the function of human rights defenders.
“There will be a team, an assessment team. The assessment team will determine whether this person is an activist or not,” said Human Rights Minister Natalius Pigai in an exclusive interview with ANTARA in Jakarta on Wednesday.
He stated that this mechanism is designed to filter activist claims and prevent the misuse of status in legal processes.
He explained that the assessment will be based on strict criteria that evaluate the context of a person’s actions at the time of the incident, not merely their status or self-identification.
“So, it is possible that a human rights activist, at a certain time, the assessment team finds that they are working, even though their status is as a human rights activist, if they are working for payment at that time, they cannot be considered a human rights activist,” he said.
“If they are defending the unjustly treated, the little people, the weak who are fighting for justice, then they happen to be a human rights activist, they will be designated as a human rights activist,” he added.
Pigai explained that the assessment team will work to evaluate the context of the incident directly, so decisions are not general but specific to the situation faced by the individual.
To maintain objectivity, he said, the assessment team will consist of cross-sectoral elements, from government, civil society, to law enforcement officials.
“The Ministry of Human Rights will appoint people including national activist figures, professional figures, top scientists, like Mr Makarim Wibisono, former Chair of the UN Human Rights Commission. People of their calibre are not subjective. They are done. The assessment team will certainly be objective with criteria,” he stated.
“Then select from various elements. There will be from the ‘civil society’ community, from the government namely the Ministry of Human Rights, from Komnas HAM itself, Komnas Anak, Komnas Perempuan, Komnas Disabilitas. We will also ask law enforcement officials to be members of the assessment team, so they can see that this is genuine,” said Pigai.
This mechanism, he added, is expected to serve as the main filter in ensuring that human rights protections are targeted appropriately and not misused.