Kontras meets UN Commission on Human Rights
JAKARTA (JP): The Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) met with the United Nations (UN) Commission on Human Rights in the Swiss city of Geneva on Thursday to report on a series of human rights violations that have occurred here, including the abduction of political activists.
A member of the Kontras Advisory Board, Bambang Widjojanto, who led a three member delegation, told The Jakarta Post from Geneva on Friday that he had attended the 55th session of the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances.
"Their knowledge of the recent disappearances in Indonesia was very limited," Bambang, who is also chairman of the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation, said.
Bambang said the group admitted to only having reports of disappearances in East Timor in 1996.
"I told them that since the resignation of Soeharto, reports of disappearances had begun to emerge from Irian Jaya and Aceh," Bambang said.
Human rights groups here claim that hundreds of people were abducted in the three provinces during the 32-year rule of former president Soeharto, who resigned in the aftermath of deadly riots which hit the country in May.
The National Commission on Human Rights reported in August that at least 163 people are still listed as missing since a military operation to quash a separatist movement began in Aceh in 1989.
Bambang said it was still not clear what kind of measures the UN working group would take, adding that Kontras has been invited to attend a further meeting in November.
The working group was set up by the UN Commission on Human Rights in 1980. It receives reports on disappearances from all over the world and transmits them to the relevant governments in order to help families find their missing relatives.
Special rapporteurs have also been appointed to investigate reports of torture and summary or arbitrary executions, wherever they occur.
The rapporteurs receive reports from individuals and organizations and contact the relevant governments in an attempt to clarify the allegations and bring torture and summary or arbitrary executions to an end.
Intervence
If evidence of any of these practices is uncovered, the UN can intervene with the relevant governments when the minimum international standards of a fair trial and appeal appear not to have been met.
During the meeting, Bambang was accompanied by Utomo Rahardjo, the father of Bimo Petrus Anugrah -- a Driyarkara School of Philosophy student who vanished in Jakarta in March, and Mugiyanto, a kidnapped activist who has since been released.
The coordinator of Kontras, Munir, has said that at least 24 activists have gone missing within a period beginning in April last year. Nine resurfaced after an absence of several months, bringing with them revelations of abduction and torture whilst in detention. One was found dead in May and the rest remain unaccounted for.
Under heavy public pressure to find those still missing, the Armed Forces (ABRI) in July announced the Army's Special Force (Kopassus) were suspected of an involvement in the abductions.
ABRI Commander Gen. Wiranto then discharged Soeharto's son-in- law and former Kopassus commander Lt. Gen. (ret) Prabowo Subianto, and removed two senior Kopassus officers from active duties in August for their involvement in the abductions.
Eleven other soldiers from the elite unit are reportedly facing courts-martial for their alleged involvement in the kidnappings. (byg)