Megawati issues decree on national human rights committee

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta

President Megawati Soekarnoputri has issued a decree establishing a national committee that will coordinate human rights activity across the country.

Chaired by the minister of justice and human rights, the committee will be responsible directly to the president, with members comprising representatives of both the government and national human rights institutions.

According to the decree signed on May 11, 2004, the committee's tasks will include establishing and strengthening institutions enforcing the National Action Plan on Human Rights (RANHAM), preparing the ratification of international human rights instruments, disseminating human rights information and monitoring, evaluating and submitting human rights reports to the president.

To facilitate its work, the committee will need to set up a national secretariat under the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights.

The minister of justice and human rights, as chairman of the national committee, along with governors across the country, will form the provincial RANHAM committees, which will be accountable to governors and the national committee.

Members of provincial committees will comprise government representatives, experts and public figures.

Similar committees will also be set up at regental/municipal levels across the country.

The decree was signed to replace the 1998 to 2003 National Action Plan on Human Rights, which ended in December last year. The new presidential decree is valid for the next five years until 2009.

Local authorities are required to allocate funds to finance these new offices, while the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights will finance the national secretariat.

The national committee will be required to submit reports to the president at least once a year, while offices at provincial or regental/municipal levels will have to submit reports to governors or regents/mayors annually.

Member of the government-sanctioned National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) Zoemrotin K. Susilo welcomed the committee, saying that the two agencies might be able to work together in educating and disseminating human rights information to the public.

"However, only Komnas HAM has the authority to investigate or mediate in instances where gross violations of human rights are alleged to have occurred," Zoemrotin told the Post.

She said the committee was set up to improve the country's human rights record in the future.

"But we shall work in separate fields; only in a few areas such as education and information dissemination could we work together," Zoemrotin added.

When asked whether the national committee would be effective in improving the country's track record, she said, "This is something that we should determine after the committees have been established across the country".

She said clear parameters had to be established to appraise the performance of the committee in order to assess the effectiveness of the offices.