NGOs join move to promote peace

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.