Rights campaigner Nasution elected as member of ICJ

JAKARTA (JP): Prominent human rights campaigner Adnan Buyung Nasution has been chosen by the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) to sit as the newest member of the Geneva-based organization.

Adnan, 62, is well known here for his activities both as a legal practitioner and for being a strong advocate of human rights through the establishment of the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI).

He is also known as a vocal critic of government policies.

Adnan Buyung has acted as legal counsel in a number of high- profile political and human rights cases, such as defending sacked legislator Sri Bintang Pamungkas against defamation charges towards President Soeharto and the suit filed by former employees of the banned Tempo magazine against the Ministry of Information.

His selection was announced yesterday by the ICJ along with that of the other three new members: Elisabeth Odio Benito from Costa Rica, Yozo Yokota from Japan and Pedro Nikken of Venezuela.

Since 1994, Benito has sat as a judge at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. Yokota is a law professor at the University of Tokyo and United Nations Special Rapporteur on Myanmar, while Nikken is a former judge of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.

The ICJ was founded in 1952 as a non-governmental organization with the aim of working towards the full observance of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights and to defend the Rule of Law throughout the world.

It is in consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Council (UNESCO) along with other international organizations such as the Organization of African Unity and the Council of Europe.

The ICJ has a maximum of 45 international jurists and composed of 78 national sections and affiliated organizations.

Adnan Buyung's admission into the Commission was conducted under secret ballot by all members of the Commission. The Commission is the directive authority of ICJ.

He had previously sat as an alternate member at the ICJ in 1980.

He began his legal career at the Attorney General's office in the 1950s before holding down a seat at the provisional People's Consultative Assembly between 1966 to 1968.

In 1992 Adnan Buyung completed his doctorate thesis on "The Aspirations for the Constitutional Government: A Sociological Study of the Indonesian Konstituante 1956-1959". (mds)