Ministry of Human Rights Expands Press Protection in Human Rights Law Revision

Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Ministry of Human Rights is expanding protection efforts in the revision of Law No. 39/1999 by opening space for the press as part of human rights defenders who need protection from the risk of criminalisation.

Human Rights Minister Natalius Pigai stated that this initiative arose from field dynamics, including direct requests from the press community, which is considered to face similar vulnerabilities to human rights activists.

“One more thing, the Press Council asked us to protect them too, because the press is also vulnerable,” he said in an exclusive interview with ANTARA in Jakarta on Wednesday.

He acknowledged that in the current draft revision, protection for the press is not yet explicitly regulated, but the government is preparing further steps through cross-sectoral collaboration.

“I said the press is also a defender, but sorry, it’s not in this law. In the future, we will collaborate so that the press cannot be criminalised,” he said.

“Conventional media is print and electronic. Non-conventional is social media and others. In the future, the relationship between human rights and digital media will also enter the human rights domain. So not only press protection, but also entering the broader human rights realm,” he stated.

In addition, he highlighted the weaknesses in the current system for overseeing law enforcement processes against the press, which is deemed to lack adequate control mechanisms.

“The press is vulnerable. There is a law and code of ethics, but there is no justice system. How the law enforcement process against journalists or media is controlled for quality to be impartial, that doesn’t exist yet,” he said.

According to him, the absence of such a monitoring system causes a lack of balance in legal processes involving the press.

The effort to include the press in the human rights protection framework is part of the government’s broader strategy to strengthen the protection of human rights defenders through the law revision, which also includes mechanisms such as advisory teams and protection from the early stages of legal processes.

With this approach, the government hopes to form a more comprehensive and adaptive protection system to developments in the times, while ensuring that journalists carrying out social control functions are not easily ensnared by criminalisation.