Human rights tribunal fails to uphold justice
Human rights tribunal fails to uphold justice
M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
A human rights watchdog on Tuesday denounced the government
for poorly handling the ad hoc tribunal for human rights
violations in East Timor, saying that the trials were a complete
failure.
The executive director of the Institute for Policy Research
and Advocacy (ELSAM), Ifdhal Kasim, said that the tribunal was
defective from the outset, hence it came as no surprise that it
failed to bring the perpetrators of crimes against humanity to
justice.
He also proposed that the government amend Law No. 26/2000 on
the human rights court and provide the law with a separate
criminal code procedure, to ensure that human rights violations
would not take place in the future.
"The presidential decree on the establishment of the tribunal
stipulates that the court try only human rights violations that
took place in Liquica, Dili and Suai from April to September
1999. This means that human rights violations in other areas were
untouched," Ifdhal said.
He also said that during the trial, the presiding judges and
prosecutors did not make any serious effort to ensure that
justice was upheld and meted out.
"The judges and prosecutors do not have enough understanding
on the concept of human rights, as many of them came from
administrative and civil law backgrounds," he explained during a
discussion evaluating the human rights tribunal.
The tribunal has thus far handed down verdicts to 15
defendants for human rights abuses committed after the people of
East Timor voted for independence from Indonesia in a UN-
sponsored ballot in 1999.
Most of the 15 were either acquitted or remained free.
"The court's decision to let them free sets a bad precedent
for the recurrence of future human rights violations," Ifdhal
remarked.
Asmara Nababan, formerly a member of the now defunct
Commission of Inquiry into Human Rights Violations (KPP-HAM) in
East Timor, said that the lack of political will from the
government had contributed to the poor performance of the human
rights tribunal.
"The fact that the convicts are not yet behind bars is a
strong indication that the government has no intention to punish
the human rights violators," he emphasized.
Asmara feared that if the government did not take the human
rights tribunal seriously, the international community, as well
as the families of the East Timorese victims, could bring the
cases to the International Court of Justice at The Hague.
Aware of the fact that most cases of violations in East Timor
were committed by military personnel, the watchdog body urged the
government to provide protection for all judges and prosecutors
involved in the trials, in addition to improving their knowledge
and capabilities in dealing with human rights issues.