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.