NGOs join move to promote peace

Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

In an attempt to boost civilian participation in the peace process in Aceh, several local and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have set up an independent team to ensure the government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) allow room for democratization in the province.

Called the Independent Civilian Peace Monitoring Team for Aceh (ICPMTA), the group will recruit some 250 locals as volunteers to collect data and report human rights conditions in the province since the signing of the peace agreement in Geneva on Dec. 9 last year.

The volunteers will be deployed in all eight regencies in Aceh and are expected to file reports to the ICPMTA, which will be based in Jakarta.

The NGOs involved in the effort include the Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy (Elsam), the National Commission for Missing Person and Victims of Violence (Kontras) and the Foundation of the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute (YLBHI).

"The establishment of the ICPMTA is in line with Article 2, Line F, and Article 3, Line G of the peace agreement, which stipulates the participation of civil society," Amiruddin of Elsam said in Jakarta on Monday.

Article 2 (f) of the peace deal says both parties will allow civil society to express without hindrance their democratic rights.

Article 3 (g) says that a Joint Security Commission (JSC) and monitoring team(s) will be established and be operational within one month of the signing of the agreement to monitor its implementation in the province. Civil society has the right to provide input to the JSC.

"We have yet to secure approval from both the government and the JSC, but if they refer to the peace agreement, they have to accommodate us -- as representatives of civil society -- in the peace process in Aceh," Amiruddin said.

The peace agreement outlines several political goals, such as holding a democratic, all-inclusive dialog involving all elements of Acehnese society. The dialog is to be facilitated by the Henry Dunant Centre in Aceh.

Amiruddin also said that in Aceh, the ICPMTA would be directly monitored by the local Legal Aid Institute, while at the international level the NGOs would set up a network in Bangkok, Manila and Kuala Lumpur through the Asia Forum.

The ICPMTA will make its assessments available to both the government and the JSC, to help them make policies, to offer advocacy should violations take place and to propose resolutions to problems in Aceh.