TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Violations of religious freedom increase in 2016: Komnas HAM
Change Size
About 100 parishioners of GKI Yasmin and HKBP Filadelfia sit together outside the west gate of the National Monument (Monas) to hold a Sunday service as a reminder of their fight for religious freedom.
(JP/wnd)
T
he National Commission for Human Rights (Komnas HAM) has recorded a steady increase of violations of religious freedom in the last three years.
Komnas HAM’s faith freedom desk coordinator Jayadi Damanik revealed that throughout 2016, his commission had received 97 reports related to violations of religious freedom. The figure is higher than in 2014 and 2015, in which the desk received 74 and 87 reports, respectively.
“The number, of course, doesn’t necessarily reflect the actual circumstance because there were cases that went unreported,” Jayadi said at his office in Jakarta on Tuesday during Komnas HAM's year-end report on religious freedom.
According to the report, the two provinces with the highest number of cases were West Java with 21 and Jakarta with 19, which also topped the list last year. North Sulawesi comes as a surprise for assuming third rank with 11 reports. In 2015, Komnas HAM only received one complaint from that province.
Of the total numbers, prohibition and vandalism against houses of worship topped the list with 44 reports, followed by prohibiting religious followers to practice their religions with 19 reports.
“Threatening and intimidating religious groups was the third most frequent report in 2016 with 12 cases. This indicates that threats and intimidation have increased. In 2015, we only received seven reports,” Jayadi said. (dmr)
