Rights campaigner Nasution elected as member of ICJ
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)