National Human Rights Commission: Disaster Mitigation to Prevent Recurrence Must Be a Priority

The National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) of Indonesia assesses that mitigation to identify the root causes of the ecological incident in Aceh must become a priority for the government in order to prevent the recurrence of the natural disaster at the end of November 2024. “It is important for the Aceh government, as well as the central government, to find the root causes that led to that disaster,” said Komnas HAM Commissioner Atnike Nova Sigiro in Banda Aceh on Wednesday. The statement was made by Atnike Nova Sigiro to the media after attending a discussion on accelerating rehabilitation and reconstruction in Aceh post-ecological disaster from a human rights perspective, in Banda Aceh. Atnike conveyed that under the principle of non-recurrence of disasters, in addition to recovery efforts for affected communities—such as loss of homes, illness, access to education, economy, infrastructure, and others—it is also necessary to identify the root causes through thorough investigation. She explained that while weather conditions cannot be avoided, if the root cause of this disaster is human actions, policies, or individual conduct, then improvements or enhanced supervision should certainly be carried out. “Weather cannot be controlled, but governance can. Governance of rivers, forests, housing. Hopefully, this can serve as a lesson,” she said. “The policies might be good, but supervision may have been negligent. What needs to be improved going forward so that we do not experience similar disasters,” Atnike continued. “Komnas HAM certainly wants to hear what efforts it can support as an independent state institution,” she stated. With numerous inputs from various parties involved in post-disaster recovery, she added, Komnas HAM can then convey evaluation steps to ministries and institutions at the centre. “Because we are not talking about just one ministry, but possibly also the Ministry of Housing, Public Works, Ministry of Health, education, and others. Thus, the evaluation can be conveyed,” concluded Atnike Nova Sigiro.