RI's, Asia's rights record poor: U.S. State Department

RI's, Asia's rights record poor: U.S. State Department

Agence France-Presse, Washington

Indonesia continued to make progress in some areas of its
transition from a long-entrenched authoritarian regime to a more
pluralistic, representative democracy, but the government's human
rights record remains poor, the U.S. State Department said.

"Security forces were responsible for numerous instances of,
at times indiscriminate, shooting of civilians, torture, rape,
beatings and other abuse, and arbitrary detention in Aceh, West
Timor, Papua...and elsewhere in the country." it said in its
worldwide report for 2001 released on Monday.

The country reports on human rights practices, issued annually
by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, also charged
that Indonesian soldiers often responded with indiscriminate
violence after attacks on colleagues and conducted "sweeps" that
led to killings and property destruction.

Police and soldiers are battling separatist revolts in Aceh
and Papua.

The report also said separatist rebels killed dozens of civil
society leaders, academics, politicians and other residents in
Aceh, as well as civil servants, police and soldiers.

But the State Department says cross-border raids into East
Timor by pro-Jakarta militias resident in West Timor diminished
during 2001 as the Indonesian military withdrew its backing.

The government's failure to pursue accountability for human
rights violations "reinforces the impression that there would be
continued impunity for security force abuses."

The report also faults the legal system. "Despite initial
steps toward reform, the judiciary remains subordinate to the
executive, is corrupt and does not always ensure due process."

The government was also judged to be ineffective "in deterring
social, inter-ethnic and inter-religious violence that accounted
for the majority of deaths by violence during the year."

The report also gave a poor account of rights protection in
many Asian countries, with Cambodia, China, Myanmar and Vietnam
included in the long list.

The report said the Cambodian government generally respected
the human rights of its citizens. However it slammed the failure
of the government to prosecute political and non-political
killings by police and military forces.

The State Department charges that China failed to improve its
human rights record in 2001 and remains quick to suppress groups
seen as a threat to the government.

"Citizens who sought to express openly dissenting political
and religious views (in China) continued to live in an
environment filled with repression," it noted.

Severe restrictions on freedom of assembly and of the press,
and China's attitude toward its minority Tibetan Buddhists and
Muslim Uighurs were also criticized.

"They have chosen to label all those ... that advocate greater
freedom as terrorists, and we don't think that's correct," said
Lorne Craner, assistant secretary of state for human rights, on
releasing the survey.

The report then condemned what it said was Myanmar's
"extremely poor" rights record and severe repression of its
citizens.

It claimed that citizens do not have the right to change their
government, and are arbitrarily arrested for expressing
dissenting political views.

While acknowledging that Yangon had halted its campaign to
intimidate independent lawyers, the report still criticized the
government for allegedly continuing to infringe on citizens'
privacy rights, with security forces systematically monitoring
people's movements and communications.

For Vietnam, the report said "the government's poor human
rights record worsened in some respects and it continued to
commit numerous, serious abuses.

The State Department accused Hanoi of significantly
restricting freedom of speech, the press, and assembly, and with
little tolerance to most types of public dissent.