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Aceh reconciliation commission for past human rights abuses seeks legal certainty
The commission was formed to probe and settle human rights violations during armed conflicts between 1976 and 2005.
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Indonesian Military (TNI) personnel are on patrol in Jeunieb district, Bireun regency, Aceh while people pass on the road. (JP/Hotli Simanjuntak)
T
he Truth and Reconciliation Commission (KKR) has urged the government to follow up on its “15-year-old debt” to settle alleged human rights violations during prolonged conflict in the country’s westernmost province amid legal uncertainty.
The commission demanded that President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo issue a regulation in lieu of law (Perppu) or a presidential regulation (Perpres) regarding the establishment of the commission.
“We are in legal limbo. There is no law that regulates the KKR since the Constitutional Court scrapped the law on the KKR,” Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) secretary-general Ady Irfan said on Thursday.
Initially, the government and the House of Representatives passed a law on the KKR in 2004 but it was revoked by the Constitutional Court in 2006 on the grounds that such a commission would not be able to provide legal certainty and settle human rights abuses.
However, the Aceh Legislative Council passed a bylaw in 2013 and established a KKR in 2016, on the basis of the Helsinki agreement that was signed in 2005 between the government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) to end the decades’ long insurgency.
The commission was formed to probe the human rights violations during the armed conflicts between 1976 and 2005. Over time, it had handed over several recommendations to find the truth and worked on reconciliation and reparations regarding the past abuses.
“The KKR was promised in the Helsinki peace agreement. The promise resulted in GAM fighters giving up their weapons and willingly integrating themselves back into society, and it’s a hard thing to do,” KKR Aceh head Afridal Darmi said.
