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House to restart deliberation of UN convention on involuntary disappearance
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Message sent: Activists of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), Amnesty International Indonesia and the National Association of Families of the Disappeared (IKOHI) stage a protest in front of the State Palace, on Oct. 5, 2020, demanding that President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo withdraw the appointment of two former members of Tim Mawar (Rose Team) of the Army’s Special Forces (Kopassus), who were implicated in the forced disappearance of activists in the late 1990s, to strategic posts in the Defense Ministry. (JP/Dhoni Setiawan)
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fter years of delay, the government is set to restart the deliberation process of a bill ratifying a United Nations convention against involuntary disappearance, with the aim of adopting the convention next year.
The House of Representatives previously deliberated the draft of the ratification bill in 2013, but it had been put on the back burner as several political parties voiced their opposition to adopting the convention, which is formally known as the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (ICPPED).
In August, the government had promised to restart the deliberation process of ratifying the convention and aimed to ratify it before World Human Rights Day, which is observed annually on Dec. 10, but the process was postponed.
Indonesia signed the ICPPED in September 2010, about three months before the convention went into force in December that year. More than 98 countries have signed the convention, with 64 countries ratifying it.
The ICPPED requires ratifying governments to pass a law criminalizing enforced disappearance and also requires the governments to ascertain the whereabouts of the disappeared persons.
The Law and Human Rights Ministry’s human rights instruments director, Timbul Sinaga, said on Monday that the government was currently aiming to submit the draft of the ratification bill to the House on Friday, in conjunction with this year’s World Human Rights Day.
“On Dec. 10, President [Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo], in his speech to commemorate [World Human Rights Day], could say that the government had sent a draft of the bill ratifying the convention against involuntary disappearance to the House,” said Timbul.
