Rights body asks for access to monitor Aceh

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

With the war in Aceh entering its second week, the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) plans to dispatch an ad hoc team to monitor the military operation in the province, as reports on human rights violations are rife.

"The team will focus on suspected rights abuses during the implementation of the military offensive in the province," M.M. Billah, chairman of the ad hoc monitoring team for peace in Aceh, said on Monday.

The team will comprise eight workers, four from Aceh, with the rest from Jakarta, who will depart for the war-torn province.

It remains unclear whether the team will receive a go-ahead from the administrator in Aceh under martial law, said Billah, a Komnas HAM member.

"Before starting work there, we will talk first to both the Indonesian Military (TNI) and GAM, urging both parties to comply with the Geneva convention," he added.

The convention stipulates that warring parties should exempt noncombatants and related institutions, such as children, women, refugees, humanitarian workers and public facilities, including school buildings, hospitals and houses of worship, from being targeted.

A combatant who has surrendered is also categorized as a noncombatant.

Referring to the reported killing of eight people at a shrimp farm at Peusangan, Bireuen, Billah pointed out that monitoring and evaluation should be carried out on the imposition of martial law, so as not to allow any abuse of people's right to move around unchecked.

Human rights workers in Aceh have complained about the limited scope for obtaining information, which was available only from the TNI media center.

Within the first week of martial law in Aceh, 328 school buildings, 26 houses, five government offices, seven bridges and a post of the Indonesian Military (TNI) were burned down or destroyed.