Rights body offers mediation for evicted residents

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

While several non-governmental organizations have demanded the establishment of a special team to investigate allegations of rights abuses in the eviction of residents, a member of one rights body has offered to arbitrate a settlement between evicted residents and the administration.

Zoemrotin K. Susilo of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) said evicted residents could file a complaint with the commission, which would mediate talks between them and the owners of the land or the administration.

"Whether an ad hoc inquiry team should be formed to handle such cases can be decided at a plenary session of the commission, but we can make use of two of the commission's four main functions: monitoring and arbitration," she told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

In its monitoring of evictions in Jakarta over the last three years, Zoemrotin said, the commission has underlined the use of force by the administration in vacating land as a violation of the people's basic rights.

"Even if the residents are illegally occupying the land, the administration should first hold a dialog with them and provide temporary shelter for evicted residents," she said.

However, in light of the commission's failure to make city officials keep their word not to evict residents of Teluk Gong, North Jakarta, in November 2001, Zoemrotin advised residents to bring their complaints to court.

"If the administration breaks an agreement made in arbitration, the residents, by themselves or represented by NGOs, should bring the case to court as recommendations by Komnas HAM are not legally binding," she said.

According to the Jakarta Residents Forum, the city administration had evicted over 34,000 people in 2001 and another 4,792 in 2002.

Fakta and other non-governmental organizations such as the Urban Poor Consortium have criticized the use of public order officers to evict people from private property.

The latest eviction involved about 10,000 illegal occupants of private land in Jembatan Besi, Tambora, West Jakarta. Public order officers, backed by the police and military, forcibly evicted the illegal occupants.

The residents, including many children, are now camping in nearby open areas. They are hoping the administration or the owner of the land, PT Cakra Wira Bumi Mandala, will give them some compensation so they are able to rent houses or return to their hometowns.

Many of the residents acknowledged they were on the land illegally, but said they could not afford any other place in the city.