Indonesia to ratify human rights pacts
Indonesia to ratify human rights pacts
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia will begin a five-year National Action
Plan on Human Rights later this month in an attempt to better its
much maligned international image on rights issues.
President B.J. Habibie will officially launch the program, to
include ratification of several United Nations' conventions, on
June 25 to coincide with the 1993 Vienna Action Plan Declaration.
"We hope that we can strongly impress the world with our
sincere and strong will to move forward and protect human
rights," Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas told journalists
after meeting with Habibie at Bina Graha presidential office here
yesterday.
During the campaign, the government will speed up its efforts
to promote human rights awareness both among citizens and
government officials.
"We will regularly ratify several conventions which we have
already signed but not ratified, including the antitorture one,"
Alatas said.
Indonesia has only ratified the 1948 Universal Declaration on
Human Rights. It has signed the UN Convention against Torture and
Other Cruel, Inhumane or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, but
its ratification is still pending.
Two other major conventions still to be signed by Indonesia
are the International Convenant on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights, and the International Convenant on Civil and Political
Rights.
Alatas also hinted that two East Timorese who have sought
refuge at the Austrian Embassy here would not be permitted to
leave for Portugal without first facing a police investigation.
Nuno Vicente Pereira Saldanha and Avelino Maria Coelho da
Silva are wanted for questioning and face possible charges in
relation to bomb-making in Demak, Central Java, last year.
Along with Avelino's wife and his two small children, the men
entered the Austrian Embassy last September and demanded asylum
in Portugal, the former colonial power in East Timor.
"Avelino and his friend, based on information and evidence we
have, were possibly involved in the manufacturing of bombs,"
Alatas said.
The Semarang District Court acquitted four Timorese youths
earlier this month who were facing the same charges because there
was no strong evidence they produced the bombs.
Alatas said Avelino and da Silva would be free to travel to
Portugal if the police investigation found them innocent.
Riots
Separately yesterday, dozens of activists from Volunteers for
Humanity and relatives of last month's riot victims visited the
National Commission on Human Rights here to urge increased
pressure for a probe into accusations the unrest was organized.
"There has not been any effort from the government to reveal
who was really behind the riots," Rita Serena Kolibonso said
before rights body members Clementino dos Reis Amaral and B.N.
Marbun.
Rita, who is also coordinator of a team of lawyers for justice
(TPHKI) and executive director of women's rights group Mitra
Perempuan, criticized the government for failing to express
sympathy to next of kin of those who died.
Most fatalities were people trapped in blazes in shopping
centers.
The government has quoted a "conservative" figure of about 500
deaths, but the Volunteers of Humanity in a detailed report
claims 1,200 people were killed.
Rita charged the government had summarily dismissed all those
who died as looters.
In a eight-page report, the group stated that many victims
were children who inadvertently became involved in the unrest.
"My little brother was only there to play," Bambang Wahyu, 24,
said of his 14-year-old brother who died inside a burning
shopping center in Klender, East Jakarta.
Catholic priest Sandyawan Sumardi alleged last week that
different reports supported a common pattern on how the riots
began.
He cited witnesses who said they saw gangs of people arrive in
trucks and buses to foment the rioting and looting before moving
on to other areas.
"This is not just an emotional conclusion but results of an
investigation which was based on information from witnesses,"
said Palupi from the Volunteers for Humanity. (prb/byg)