Govt's human rights record scrutinized

Dicky Christanto ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Mon, 06/22/2009 11:29 AM  |  National

While the government appears to uphold human rights at the policy making level, it fails to actually implement the laws it makes, a study has found.

The study, conducted by the Setara Institute, an NGO concerned with human rights issues, records that seven laws concerned with upholding human rights have been passed by the current government, including the Aceh Administration Law, the Citizenship Law, the Witness and Victims Protection Law, the Anti Human Trafficking Law, the Ombudsman Law and the Anti Racial Discrimination Law.

The study also shows that the government has ratified two UN covenants dealing with human rights: The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

"Even though this is still a half-done study, as the complete version of the study is expected to be finished in September, we've found that the government, along with the parliament, has passed a number of laws and regulations that uphold the values of human rights," Bonar Tigor Naipospos of the institute told a press conference last Monday.

However, Tigor said, the study discusses five laws that are not conducive to human rights: The Information and Electronic Transactions Law, the Pornography Law, the Charcoal and Mineral Law, the Educational Legal Body Law and the Investment Law.

"The Pornography Law, for example, accommodates a single perspective of pluralism. Therefore, this kind of law should be replaced."

He said the study also reveals that just 56 of the government's 103 working programs made in line with the human rights national action plan have actually been implemented.

"Thus we have estimated that the government has implemented 57.68 percent of its programs dealing with human rights. This is not bad but is still far from good," he said.

Another issue that needs to be addressed, he said, is the fact that past human rights tragedies, including the Semanggi clashes I and II, the Trisakti killing, the East Timor riots and the abduction of activists, have never been properly investigated.

After the meeting, Nursyahbani Katjasungkana, a member of the Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono-Boediono campaign team, said the government had done what it could to uphold human rights, even if the reality is far from the ideal.

"This could mean that current government pays serious attention to the human rights issues regardless of the weaknesses," she said.

Eva Kusuma Sundari of the Megawati-Prabowo campaign team, who also attended the meeting, used the opportunity to point out that the current government's weakness was in the implementation of the laws.

"For example, all state institutions have recognized the need to uphold human rights and have included provisions for this is their budget proposals. But what comes to their minds when they are talking about human rights is merely organizing workshops and seminars about human rights. The further implementation of human rights is never discussed," she said.

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