YLBHI: Government Has No Right to Determine the Status of Human Rights Activists!

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - The General Chairman of YLBHI, Muhamad Isnur, has emphasised that the government is not authorised to determine the validity of an individual’s status as a human rights activist. According to Isnur, such authority lies with independent institutions like the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM), in accordance with applicable regulations. “Therefore, the government has no right and no authority to grant or do this. This is the authority of independent institutions like Komnas HAM,” Isnur told Kompas.com on Thursday (30/4/2026). He also assessed that if the government wishes to regulate, it must refer to international standards regarding human rights defenders. For that reason, he questioned the relevance of the government in determining the status of human rights defenders. “So be careful, the government instead, this has the potential to violate human rights even more in the future and become a tool to hinder the work of human rights defenders,” he stressed. According to Isnur, the intention to protect human rights activists can indeed be viewed positively. However, referring to the United Nations (UN) framework, the mechanism built by the state should function as protection, not a tool to grant or revoke legitimacy to someone as a human rights activist. He emphasised that a more appropriate formulation is to assess the level of risk, threats, and protection needs faced by human rights defenders, not to determine whether someone is an “authentic or fake” activist. Therefore, there is no narrow definition of who can be called a human rights defender. “What is seen is the action, not the formal title/status,” he stressed. He also dismissed the notion that someone who receives payment automatically cannot be called a human rights activist. According to him, international standards do not require human rights defenders to work without pay.