Komnas HAM reveals rights abuses under martial law

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) found human rights and humanitarian law violations in its preliminary inquiry into the imposition of martial law in conflict-ridden Aceh.

Chairman of the rights body's Ad Hoc team for Aceh M.M. Billah said here on Tuesday that his team had found six types of violations committed by the martial law administration in the province.

The violations are rampant burning of school buildings, summary killings, arbitrary arrests, torture of unarmed civilians, sexual harassment and forced displacement.

As martial law enters its fourth week, more than 160 rebels have been killed, more than 22,000 Acehnese have been forcibly displaced and almost 500 school buildings have been burned down.

The commission has yet to make any formal conclusion over the results of the preliminary inquiry, Billah said, adding that his team did not know who were behind the torching of the school buildings.

Billah led the six-member team in a three-day preliminary inquiry in Banda Aceh, Bireuen regency and Lhokseumawe which was completed on Monday and said the rights body would send a fact- finding team to further investigate the rights abuses.

Billah said that during the preliminary investigation, the team interviewed eyewitnesses and victims of violence in a bid to confirm earlier reports of alleged rights violations under martial law.

"According to a number of eyewitnesses, there has been indication of rights and humanitarian law violations in the province," he told reporters on Tuesday.

The team obtained information that there have been (pro- Jakarta) militia supporting the military offensive against the Free Aceh Movement (GAM).

He said that according to witnesses' accounts, the Indonesian Military (TNI) have recruited non-Acehnese civilians and trained them in basic military skills.

The existence of the militia group was evident for the first time when a group of militiamen burned down the office of the Joint Security Council (JSC) in Takengon, Central Aceh, in March in protest over JSC's delayed action against rebels violating the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement, which was signed by the government and GAM in Geneva, Switzerland, on Dec. 9, last year.

The TNI employed a similar tactic in East Timor in the 1970s and in 1999 to crush groups deemed to be a threat to security in Indonesia's former territory.

Billah said that his team had yet to verify the findings with the Aceh military administration and this task would be done by the right body's next fact-finding team who was set to depart to Aceh on Wednesday.

Billah claimed that both the TNI and GAM respected the inquiry and they had not faced any problems in carrying out their investigation in Aceh.

"We are able to go anywhere safely, even in trouble spots. We just placed Komnas HAM banners on our rented cars," he said.

Komnas HAM is expected to set up a center in Lhokseumawe and Bireuen to monitor day-to-day developments in the war and receive reports on human rights violations from the people.