Indonesia's appointment to UN rights body welcomed

Indonesia's appointment to UN rights body welcomed

Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Several human rights campaigners welcomed on Tuesday the
appointment of Indonesia's Makarim Wibisono as a new chairman of
the UN Human Rights Commission and asked the government to soon
take action to improve the country's human rights record.

Coordinator for Indonesia's NGO Coalition for International
Human Rights Advocacy Rafendi Djamin said that Makarim's
appointment could be used as good momentum for Indonesia in
advancing human rights.

"Being appointed to chair such a top position, the government
needs to utilize this momentum to improve its human rights image
on the international level," Rafendi told participants of a
seminar on human rights issues.

He said that the new chairman had to explain Indonesia's
position on several international issues.

At home, said Rafendi, the government had to show its
commitment to resolving the "residual problems" on a number of
alleged human rights violations, such as the Tanjung Priok affair
and East Timor massacre and the death of prominent rights
campaigner Munir.

Makarim, the Indonesian ambassador to the United Nations in
Geneva, was appointed on Monday as chairman of the UN Rights
Commission. He succeeds Ambassador Mike Smith of Australia.

The job, which lasts for one year, traditionally rotates among
ambassadors of the five geographical groupings in the United
Nations.

Makarim had been proposed by the Asian group of UN members and
was appointed by consensus among the 53 commission member
nations, ranging from Argentina to Zimbabwe. Other current
members include Brazil, Britain, China, France, India, Pakistan
and the United States.

This year the annual session of the commission - the top UN
human rights watchdog - will open on March 14.

Loubna Freih, spokeswoman for the advocacy group Human Rights
Watch was quoted by the Associated Press as saying that she hoped
Makarim would "be as fair a chairman as possible."

Freih added that Indonesia's own record also need to be
scrutinized.

Campaigners have long cited rights abuses by Indonesia's
military in regions across the country, including the war against
the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in Aceh. They also point
to abuses by the military in West Papua and in East Timor.

Indonesian authorities have rejected claims of human rights
violations, saying that the security forces were obliged to take
action against separatists to protect the country's territorial
integrity.

Meanwhile, Executive Director of the Institute for Policy
Research and Advocacy Ifdhal Kasim expressed concern over the
efforts of several member countries to terminate the monitoring
function of the UN Human Rights Commission.

"One critical task for Pak Makarim is to reactivate the
monitoring team of the Commission as many member countries want
to terminate it," he said.