Komnas HAM Recommends Corruption Be Classified as a Human Rights Violation
The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) has recommended that the planned revision of Law Number 31 of 1999 in conjunction with Law Number 20 of 2001 concerning the Eradication of Criminal Acts of Corruption stipulate corruption as a form of human rights violation.
Commissioner for Assessment and Research at Komnas HAM, Uli Parulian Sihombing, stated that several complaints received by the institution show that corruption creates collective victims who require recovery efforts.
“International human rights law has also recognised corruption as a form of human rights violation,” Uli said during the launch of the study “Corruption and Recovery of Human Rights Violations: Encouraging a Human Rights-Based Approach in Corruption Eradication” on Tuesday, 21 July 2026.
He continued that the provisions in the Corruption Law have so far been limited by stating that corruption only impacts the state’s economy. Moreover, Article 2 of the Corruption Law only mentions that the state is the sole victim of corruption.
In reality, corruption also creates victims, ranging from the loss of access to education, environmental damage, to delays in access to and infrastructure of public services. Therefore, recovery efforts for the affected victims are necessary.
The problem, Uli said, is that the provisions of the Corruption Law have not yet touched on the aspect of corruption victims, causing collective victims to lack legal standing to demand accountability.
“Therefore, harmonisation of the Corruption Law, Human Rights Law, and the instruments of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) is necessary,” said the former Director of the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute.
Uli added that, referring to the results of Komnas HAM’s study, the provisions of Article 1 paragraph (6) of the Human Rights Law actually contain the elements to classify corruption as a form of human rights violation.
Since May 2026, Commission III of the House of Representatives (DPR) has opened limited discourse on revising the Corruption Law. However, the commission overseeing legal affairs has not yet explained which provisions will be amended.
Tempo has contacted Commission III members Nasir Djamil and Hasbiallah Ilyas regarding the Komnas HAM recommendation. However, up to the time this report was published, attempts to reach them via the WhatsApp messaging application had not received a response.