The rights approach

UNSFIR, Jakarta

The government in Indonesia has in the past organized public services with a centralized command structure that distributed national resources according to central priorities.

The national 2004 Human Development Report argues for a different, "rights-based" approach that would empower people across the country to demand the services to which they are entitled and to join in decisions on how and where these should be delivered.

Indonesia has now held two successful elections since the end of the New Order regime -- a clear sign of how much Indonesians value their right to express their opinions and to choose their own leaders. But a functioning electoral system is only one aspect of freedom.

Indonesia's 2004 National Human Development Report argues that in a democracy people should have a more comprehensive set of rights, not just to select their political leaders but also to live full and healthy lives, and to acquire the knowledge and skills to maximize their capacities.

The report is a joint publication of the national planning agency, BAPPENAS, the statistical agency, BPS, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). It says: "Democracy in Indonesia should be seen not as an end it itself but rather as a vehicle that carries the country to a new era of opportunities. Indeed if it does not do so there is a danger that many people will become disillusioned with democracy and hanker for the false security of autocratic rule".

The report argues that the responsibility has to be shared very broadly. But Indonesians can also look for strong support from the state. Indeed they have a right to expect such support since they employ thousands of public servants and elect thousands more political representatives, at both central and local levels, who should be working on their behalf.

Though this sounds like a new idea the basic principles are well established.

Indonesia has ratified both the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Indeed in 1993 Indonesia even endorsed the principles of an overall Right to Development which establishes that people have not just political rights but also social and economic rights.

Much of its responsibility is simply to create the conditions in which the rights can be fulfilled, by upholding the rule of law, for example, and building the kind of infrastructure that is essential to development in a market economy.

However the government will also have to make direct provision for essential items such as basic education and health care as well as physical security that many people would not be able to get from the market.

To a significant extent the Indonesian government already does this. It does after all provide public schools and hospitals, and during the economic crisis stepped in to construct a social safety net for the poorest. What is different about looking at this same activity from the perspective of rights? The report points to a number of key elements.

One is the central principle of equality. Human rights are possessed equally by everyone, from the occupant of the presidential palace, to inhabitants the most remote village in Papua. This means achieving the same standards of service delivery across the country which demands constant efforts to meet the rights of those who have been marginalized and excluded.

Another crucial component of the rights approach is participation. The rights approach pays close attention not just to the fulfillment of rights but also to the way in which they are fulfilled. People should be able to participate fully in determining rights and setting priorities. This also implies empowerment.

The rights approach also implies performance standards -- setting targets and monitoring their achievement. This is the philosophy behind the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), for example, which set targets on issues like poverty reduction, on school enrollment and on gender equality. Indonesia has produced its own report on the MDGs which shows that the country should be on course to meet many of these goals by the year 2015.

It might be argued, however, that despite Indonesia's commitment to the rights-based approach this is not the most appropriate time to try to deliver on it -- given that the country is still recovering from one of the worst economic crises in its history, is undergoing a systemic transition and faces tight budgetary constraints.

Meanwhile it also faces the hugely complex process of decentralizing much of its public administration to hundreds of districts across a vast archipelago.

In fact these are precisely the circumstances when the rights approach is particularly appropriate because it offers a new impulse for human development.

For seven years Indonesia has been focusing largely on survival, and on moving from a corrupt autocracy to a more modern and democratic, rules-based society. The rights approach offers a route to the future -- carrying with it aspirations and a sense of entitlement. This is not just rhetorical; it is also a process of imagining -- of enabling people to envisage the future.