Rights body finds gross human rights violations in Aceh
Rights body finds gross human rights violations in Aceh
Muninggar Sri Saraswati
The Jakarta Post
Jakarta
The National Commission on Human Rights' (Komnas HAM) ad hoc team
for Aceh has found indications of gross human rights violations
in Aceh, most of which were committed by military members.
According to the team's report to the Komnas HAM plenary
meeting, a copy of which was made available to The Jakarta Post,
indications include accusations of "attacks against unarmed
civilians, including victims who were murdered, tortured,
sexually abused or raped, or others who the court had not yet
proved were rebels."
Other indications were widespread attacks, either committed by
the Indonesia Military or the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), in the
form of extrajudicial killings, torture, kidnapping, sexual
abuse, rape, child abuse, arson and robbery.
"The attacks were systematic. They (the perpetrators) had
political or ideological goals and used public and private
budgets," the report said. The military operation in Aceh was
financed by the state budget.
Komnas HAM's team also found that TNI or police personnel had
collected levies from local residents. GAM also collected tax
from the local people, which is known as Nanggroe tax.
"The attacks involved high ranking political and military
authorities," the report said.
The military operation in Aceh was launched in mid-May 2003
after President Megawati Soekarnoputri imposed martial law on the
province, where Acehnese rebels have been fighting for
independence since 1976. Over 10,000 people have been killed
since then, mostly civilians.
The ad hoc team found that there had been a series of attacks
with a specific pattern -- First, the victim would be accused of
being a GAM member or protecting a GAM member, or a member of his
family would be accused. Then, the victim would be shot dead or
kidnapped by two or more armed people. Those who were kidnapped
were also murdered -- the report said.
"The ad hoc team had found strong indications of rights
violations, humanitarian law violations, as well as abuses of
power and authority since the imposition of martial law," the
report said.
M.M. Billah, who led the team, refused to provide a summary of
the team's report on Tuesday, saying that the Komnas HAM plenary
meeting had not given its approval.
"I know that Komnas HAM always disseminates the reports of its
ad hoc teams previously, but not this time," he said, adding that
the team was only able to reveal its findings from monitoring
during the first six months of martial law in the province.
Last year, the ad hoc team irked the military and the
government after it announced that it had uncovered mass graves
in Aceh and indicated the involvement of the military, which
later exhumed the graves without approval from court.
The team, comprising more than 20 members, was tasked to
monitor the implementation of martial law in Aceh from May 19 to
Nov. 19 of last year.
Muninggar Sri Saraswati
The Jakarta Post
Jakarta
The National Commission on Human Rights' (Komnas HAM) ad hoc team
for Aceh has found indications of gross human rights violations
in Aceh, most of which were committed by military members.
According to the team's report to the Komnas HAM plenary
meeting, a copy of which was made available to The Jakarta Post,
indications include accusations of "attacks against unarmed
civilians, including victims who were murdered, tortured,
sexually abused or raped, or others who the court had not yet
proved were rebels."
Other indications were widespread attacks, either committed by
the Indonesia Military or the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), in the
form of extrajudicial killings, torture, kidnapping, sexual
abuse, rape, child abuse, arson and robbery.
"The attacks were systematic. They (the perpetrators) had
political or ideological goals and used public and private
budgets," the report said. The military operation in Aceh was
financed by the state budget.
Komnas HAM's team also found that TNI or police personnel had
collected levies from local residents. GAM also collected tax
from the local people, which is known as Nanggroe tax.
"The attacks involved high ranking political and military
authorities," the report said.
The military operation in Aceh was launched in mid-May 2003
after President Megawati Soekarnoputri imposed martial law on the
province, where Acehnese rebels have been fighting for
independence since 1976. Over 10,000 people have been killed
since then, mostly civilians.
The ad hoc team found that there had been a series of attacks
with a specific pattern -- First, the victim would be accused of
being a GAM member or protecting a GAM member, or a member of his
family would be accused. Then, the victim would be shot dead or
kidnapped by two or more armed people. Those who were kidnapped
were also murdered -- the report said.
"The ad hoc team had found strong indications of rights
violations, humanitarian law violations, as well as abuses of
power and authority since the imposition of martial law," the
report said.
M.M. Billah, who led the team, refused to provide a summary of
the team's report on Tuesday, saying that the Komnas HAM plenary
meeting had not given its approval.
"I know that Komnas HAM always disseminates the reports of its
ad hoc teams previously, but not this time," he said, adding that
the team was only able to reveal its findings from monitoring
during the first six months of martial law in the province.
Last year, the ad hoc team irked the military and the
government after it announced that it had uncovered mass graves
in Aceh and indicated the involvement of the military, which
later exhumed the graves without approval from court.
The team, comprising more than 20 members, was tasked to
monitor the implementation of martial law in Aceh from May 19 to
Nov. 19 of last year.