Rights watchdogs give bad marks to government

Rights watchdogs give bad marks to government

Urip Hudiono, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Human rights watchdogs gave the thumbs down to the government on
Tuesday, for policies they considered unfavorable and even
flagrant violations of human rights principles.

The Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy (Elsam) said
that people's socioeconomic rights worsened throughout 2003 due
to government policies, particularly those on military operations
in Aceh and the recent evictions in Jakarta.

The two policies did not only violate human rights directly
through their violent approaches but also indirectly through
their creation of "internally displaced people" (IDP), said Elsam
executive director Ifdhal Kasim.

"These refugees in their own country are in the end deprived
of their socioeconomic rights to shelter, education and
employment," said Ifdhal in a press conference, organized in
observance of Human Rights Day.

While the deprivation of the right to education might not seem
as apparent as the deprivation of the right to shelter, it is in
fact a virtual impossibility for children living in a refuge to
go to school, explained Ifdhal.

Meanwhile, their right to seek a means of livelihood and even
to live are negated as well, particularly in the case of evicted
fishermen of Muara Angke, North Jakarta, since their profession
requires them to live near the sea.

Elsam also warned of global economic trends pressuring the
government in setting up its economic policies, in particular the
trend toward privatization, which could deprive citizens of their
socioeconomic rights.

"A clear example of this is the water bill, which, if enacted,
will place water more as a commodity rather than a basic
necessity," said Ifdhal.

Meanwhile, another watchdog, Imparsial, noted four major human
rights violations throughout this year, which include martial law
in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam and the recent evictions by the
Jakarta government.

The two others were the shooting of farmers by police in
Bulukumba, South Sulawesi, and the amendment of the controversial
Law No. 15/2003 on acts of terror, which Imparsial considers
disappointing because it still poses a threat to human rights.

Imparsial also warned of possible maneuvers by the political
elite in the upcoming general election to win over naive voters
yearning for a sense of security in the country.

"They will campaign for the implementation of policies
emphasizing security but ignoring and even threatening human
rights," said Leonard Simanjuntak, research manager of Imparsial.

Meanwhile, the Indonesian Nationalist University Students
Movement (GMNI) criticized what it saw as the ignorance and
disregard of the political elite toward socioeconomic rights,
which can be seen in the violation of those rights in the recent
evictions in Jakarta.

GMNI also demanded a complete investigation into the 1965
abortive coup d'etat which was blamed on the Indonesian Communist
Party, the rehabilitation of civilians branded as communists
involved in the coup, and the trial of high-ranking military
officers involved in the 1984 Tanjung Priok shooting incident.

Dec. 10 is celebrated annually as Human Rights Day, in
commemoration of the signing of the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights on Dec. 10, 1948.

Indonesia itself has ratified the declaration, besides other
international human rights conventions such as the convention for
the protection of children and the conventions against torture,
against discrimination and against violence toward women.

Indonesia has also enacted Law No. 39/1999 on human rights,
and Law No. 26/2000 on human rights tribunal.