Local journalists unaware of War Law: Press group

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Wed, 05/07/2008 9:38 AM  |  National

Most Indonesian journalists are unaware of their civilian rights when working in conflict areas, according to the Alliance of Independent Journalists.

Abdul Manan, secretary-general of the alliance, said an example of journalists' ignorance of their rights was the case of reporters assigned to cover the military operation in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam in 2003.

"We must start to strengthen our safety awareness to avoid terrible or unfortunate events like that experienced by the late Ersa Siregar," Abdul said.

Ersa, a cameraman for RCTI television, died while covering the 2003 operation in Aceh.

"We did not think rights issues were relevant because we were covering a conflict, not a war. But we were wrong," said Abdul, a journalist for Tempo magazine.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said the International Humanitarian Law, also known as the War Law, contained all rules concerning wars and conflicts, including the rights of civilians to be protected during such events.

Rina Rusman, a legal advisor for the ICRC, said wars were categorized as either international or noninternational.

"An international war is a war between two army forces from opposing nations. A noninternational war is chaos or conflict between parties within a country," she said.

"Conflicts in some regions in Indonesia are considered noninternational wars, which means the War Law is valid."

Rina said the War Law, which was created in line with the Geneva Convention and Den Haag Convention, cited the dos and don'ts of warfare.

"First, we must understand the violence of war is only for combatants, not civilians. Public areas, such as school buildings, are not considered legitimate targets. However, this will depend on how such places are being used during the conflict," she said, citing the example of a school compound being used as a military base camp.

Rina said all civilians, especially journalists, should understand the rules of war to avoid violence.

Wahyu Dyatmika, a senior journalist from Tempo magazine who was assigned to cover Aceh, said he and other reporters inadvertently endangered themselves a number of times.

"I was assigned to Aceh without my office giving me the proper information about my rights as a civilian and the risks I might face in the conflict area. All my boss said was 'cover both sides, don't write stories that may offend any party and don't jeopardize yourself'," he said, adding most of his colleagues received similar advice from their employers.

"In Aceh we experienced things we thought were usual, but were actually dangerous for us. For example, being asked to give a lift to a couple of TNI (Indonesian Military) personnel during a trip to some random regions there."

Abdul, also assigned to cover Aceh, said he was embedded with a military group from the outset of his assignment.

"We did our job safely because the military made us wear head-to-toe protection. But some journalists opted not to wear the 15-kilo shields provided," he said.

"Perhaps they thought they had nine lives." (nkn)

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