Human Rights News, November 10, 2004
Safeguard Rights in Indonesia
Letter to Recently Elected Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
November 10, 2004
Dear President Yudhoyono:
We write to congratulate you on your electoral victory and recent inauguration as the
first president ever to be chosen directly by the Indonesian people. We wish you every
success in the complex and important undertaking ahead of you.
We also wish to take this opportunity to outline what we believe are the central human
rights challenges facing your administration.
As our recent reporting has made clear, Human Rights Watch is particularly
concerned with the human rights consequences of renewed armed conflict in Aceh.
We urge that, as one of your first acts, you take decisive steps to end torture,
enforced disappearances, and other egregious violations by security forces. While we
are aware that GAM rebels as well as government forces have committed abuses, it is
a settled principle of international humanitarian law that violations by one side do not
give a green light to abuses by the other.
International experience has demonstrated that abusive actions by soldiers and
military units end only when commanders are routinely and promptly held criminally
liable for their actions. Establishing accountability for crimes committed by security
forces in Aceh will also give your administration added legitimacy when it addresses
conflicts and security issues in other provinces and communities.
Human Rights Watch believes that the Indonesian military cannot become the
professional force it aspires to be so long as it continues to be locally entrenched
through an antiquated territorial structure, controls and is responsible for most of its
own budget (creating multiple conflicts of interest and undermining civilian fiscal
oversight), and is not directly answerable to the civilian ministry of defense. In
numerous cases in recent years in which there has been an urgent need for security
forces to be an important part of the solution-controlling the drug trade in Binjai, ethnic
strife in Central Kalimantan, communal violence in Maluku, internal war in Aceh,
mass public grievance in Papua, to name some of the most prominent
examples-conflicts of interest and local self-dealings have at times led the TNI (and
police as well) to be part of the problem.
We also share the concern of many Indonesian and international observers that
endemic corruption and an ineffective judiciary are undermining economic recovery
and the rule of law in Indonesia. Human Rights Watch urges your government to make
a public commitment to judicial independence and ensure that no government officials
attempt to improperly influence the judiciary.
Finally, we urge you, as an important step toward improved respect for human rights,
to publicly announce Indonesia's commitment to signing and ratifying major
international human rights treaties including the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights.
Improving human rights practices is a difficult task that requires political will and the
dedication necessary to reform often entrenched institutional arrangements and
patterns of privilege. We urge you to use your mandate from the Indonesian people at
the outset of your administration to make human rights progress a priority. We have
summarized below the issues that we believe you should take on in your first months
in office:
1. Military Operations in Aceh
Substantial evidence from several reliable sources, including Indonesia's own National
Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM), establishes that Indonesian security
forces have engaged in extra-judicial executions, forced disappearances, torture,
beatings, arbitrary arrests and detentions, and drastic limits on freedom of movement
in Aceh. The past eighteen months of fighting have also caused massive internal
displacement. Tens of thousands of civilians have fled their homes or been forcibly
relocated by the military for operational reasons. The cumulative strain of long-term
conflict on the civilian population has been significant, with serious effects on the
mental health of the population.
Human Rights Watch urges you to take the following steps:
Immediately revoke Presidential decree No. 43/2003, which places
unnecessary restrictions on access for the United Nations, international
agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), journalists, and foreigners
in Aceh. Human rights organizations and journalists should have unfettered
access to the province.
Publicly condemn torture and other forms of mistreatment in detention and
instruct other senior public officials to do the same. Commanders and senior
officials should issue orders to all security personnel to immediately end all
mistreatment of detainees, whether for the purpose of extracting a confession,
to exact retribution for real or alleged support of GAM, or for any other reason.
Official statements condemning torturing and other ill-treatment must be
disseminated widely within the Indonesian armed forces and police service and
in public media.
Investigate fully allegations of violations of international human rights and
humanitarian law and prosecute or discipline as appropriate all officials,
soldiers, and police personnel implicated in abuses.
Immediately remove-from any role relating to the conflict in Aceh-all Indonesian
military personnel who have been convicted or indicted for serious violations of
human rights or humanitarian law or for whom there is evidence of such abuse.
Indicted personnel should be removed from active duty until the completion of
their trial process. Officers who are convicted of serious offenses should begin
to serve their sentences immediately and be subject to administrative
discharge from the armed forces.
Invite United Nations thematic mechanisms to visit Aceh. Priority should be
given to the Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary
Executions and representatives from the Working Group on Enforced or
Involuntary Disappearances. Indonesia should invite the United Nations Special
Rapporteur on Torture and Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment, and the Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and
Lawyers to investigate and report on these allegations and make relevant
recommendations. Without delay, Indonesia should also implement the
recommendations made by the United Nations Committee against Torture in
November 2001 to address torture in Indonesia.
2. Papua
The Indonesian military continues to respond to low level attacks by the Free Papua
Movement (Organisasi Papua Merdeka, OPM) with disproportionate reprisals against
civilians and suspected separatists. Arbitrary detention, torture, disappearances, and
arson are widespread in this region of Indonesia. Recent moves to split the province
into more than one province have undermined the intent and the implementation of the
special autonomy bill for Papua, leading to widespread discontent in the region.
Human Rights Watch urges you to:
- Take all steps necessary to ensure that Indonesian military and police forces
operating in Papua act in full accordance with international human rights and
humanitarian law.
- Discipline and/or prosecute as appropriate all officials, armed forces, and
police personnel implicated in abuses.
- *Follow recommendations by Indonesia's National Commission on Human
Rights (Komnas HAM) for prosecutions following their investigation into
security forces abuses in Wamena and Wasior. Provide the Attorney-General's
office with all resources necessary to ensure swift and credible prosecutions of
perpetrators of these abuses.
3. Impunity and Past Abuses
Your appointment of Abdul Rahman Saleh as Indonesia's new attorney general,
because of his reputation for integrity and independence, has sent a positive signal
that your administration will take justice issues seriously. The resolve of the attorney
general is particularly important as past failures of justice in Indonesia have stemmed
in part from poor performance by prosecutors, reflecting lack of political will to move
aggressively against politically well-connected suspects. We urge you to give the
attorney general all resources necessary to fulfill his considerable responsibilities.
Indonesian military and police officers implicated in human rights violations have
frequently been promoted rather than prosecuted. We urge you to review these
promotions and to initiate transparent and credible prosecutions of officers with
histories of human rights abuses. Cases meriting priority attention include: Retired
General Hendropriyono, named National Intelligence Chief under President Megawati
despite serious allegations that he was responsible for atrocities in Lampung in 1989
and played a role in funding militias responsible for killings of civilians in East Timor;
Major-General Sjafrie Syamsoeddin, named to the key post of military spokesman in
2002 despite evidence that while serving as Jakarta military commander in May 1998,
troops under his command committed serious abuses when up to a thousand people
were killed in days of demonstrations and rioting; and Major-General Mahidin
Simbolon, promoted in 2001 to Regional Commander for Papua despite a notorious
record in East Timor of helping create and directing militias responsible for multiple
attacks on civilians.
Despite considerable domestic and international support, the ad hoc courts for East
Timor and Tanjung Priok have failed to provide accountability for the gross violations
they were created to address. As a result, domestic confidence in the judiciary and
international support for reform have suffered.
Human Rights Watch urges you to:
- Provide all needed support and resources to Komnas HAM to document and
investigate past abuses.
- Support the initiative of the U.N Secretary-General to establish a Commission
of Experts to assess the justice mechanisms in Jakarta and Dili for crimes
committed in East Timor in 1999.
- Ensure that all files already handed to the Attorney General's office are
pursued immediately.
- Give support to investigations and prosecutions into the killings of students at
Semanggi, Trisakti I, and Trisakti II in 1998 and 1999 before and after the fall of
former President Soeharto.
- Investigate and prosecute the gravest crimes committed during the Soeharto
era, including atrocities in Aceh and Papua during previous military operations
in the two provinces, and the massacres of 1965-67, in which an estimated one
million civilians were killed in anti-communist purges.
4. Freedom of Expression
Human Rights Watch is concerned about growing restrictions on the press and free
expression in Indonesia. In particular we are concerned at the use of the judiciary to
silence dissent and penalize the media for critical reporting.
After the fall of Soeharto, Indonesia for a time was considered a center of media
freedom in Southeast Asia. Critical reporting and commentary emerged on a scale
unimaginable in the Soeharto era. However, the trend more recently has been toward
a more restrictive environment, symbolized in 2004 by continuing far-reaching
restrictions on and intimidation of journalists in Aceh and by the one-year prison
sentence imposed on Bambang Harymurti, editor of the prominent independent
weekly newsmagazine Tempo, for an article alleged to have defamed well-connected
businessman Tomy Winata. In addition, private business interests and military officers
increasingly file lawsuits and rely on a corrupt judiciary to influence coverage and in
some cases impose potentially crippling monetary judgments on independent news
providers.
Censored coverage of the conflict in Aceh has exemplified re-emerging practices of
political pressure on editors, intimidation of journalists, and self-censorship.
Over the last five years the government has also imprisoned at least forty-six people
for peaceful expression of their views-thirty-nine of them since your predecessor,
Megawati Sukarnoputri, became president in July 2001.
We urge you to:
- Immediately and unconditionally release all persons detained or imprisoned for
the peaceful expression of their political views.
- Drop any outstanding charges against individuals awaiting trial for their
non-violent political activities, and make a public commitment to ensuring that
there will be no further arrests of individuals engaged in the peaceful expression
of their beliefs.
- Propose the repeal of articles 134, 136, and 137 of the criminal code
criminalizing insulting the president or vice-president and anyone who
"disseminates, demonstrates openly or puts up a writing or portrait containing
an insult against the president or vice-president," as well as articles 154, 155,
and 156 criminalizing "public expression of feelings of hostility, hatred or
contempt toward the government" and prohibiting "the expression of such
feelings or views through the public media."
- Remove immediately and unconditionally the prohibition on direct news
gathering and reporting from Aceh by the Indonesian and foreign media.
- Conduct a complete review of defamation laws with a view to repealing criminal
defamation altogether, and to bringing the civil defamation laws into line with
international standards of respect for freedom of expression.
- Ensure that the special rapporteur of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights
on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and
expression, to whom Indonesian authorities have already extended an
invitation, is able to carry out his visit promptly.
5. Protection of Migrant Workers
Human Rights Watch is increasingly concerned about the plight of migrant workers
worldwide. In recent months, we have conducted studies of conditions for such
workers in Saudi Arabia and Malaysia. What we found is appalling, with the situation
of female domestic workers-many of whom are effectively prisoners in their employers'
homes-particularly troubling.
Migrant workers, critical to Indonesia's economy, continue to endure abuses by labor
agents and to confront corruption at every stage of the migration cycle. Recent
measures have failed to implement protections necessary to prevent workers from
falling into human trafficking networks, getting locked in overcrowded pre-departure
"training" centers for months, or if abused while abroad, from obtaining adequate
support services from Indonesian diplomatic missions. In both Indonesian training
centers and in Malaysian workplaces, women migrant domestic workers often suffer
severe restrictions on their freedom of movement; psychological and physical abuse,
including sexual abuse; and prohibitions on practicing their religion. Pervasive labor
rights abuses in the workplace include extremely long hours of work without overtime
pay, no rest days, and incomplete and irregular payment of wages.
To avoid a human rights tragedy like the deaths of dozens of migrant workers in
Nunukan in 2002, Indonesia must provide logistical support and human rights
protections to the hundreds of thousands of Indonesian migrant workers who will soon
be expelled from Malaysia. These workers should be screened to identify trafficking
victims and workers who have suffered abuse. In its diplomacy with Malaysia,
Indonesia should strongly advocate for Malaysia to respect migrants' human rights
during the expulsions
Human Rights Watch urges you to:
- Amend recent legislation on the recruitment and protection of Indonesian
migrant workers so that it provides full human rights protections in compliance
with Indonesia's international obligations as a party to the International Labor
Organization's core labor conventions.
- Establish mechanisms for regular and independent monitoring of labor
agencies and streamline recruitment practices to avoid opportunities for
corruption and deception.
- Adopt improved regulations for pre-departure training centers to clearly
delineate minimum health and safety conditions, protect women workers'
freedom of movement, and create enforcement mechanisms that include
substantial penalties on agents who abuse workers or otherwise violate the
guidelines.
- Provide a range of expanded and higher-quality services for returning migrants
and trafficking victims, including health care, legal aid, counseling, and
reintegration programs. Indonesian embassies and consulates should ensure
these services are available in foreign countries for Indonesian migrants who
have suffered abuse.
- Ensure that the Memorandum of Understanding on domestic workers currently
being negotiated with Malaysia contains a standard contract with provisions on
their hours of work, rest days, and pay; systems for monitoring training centers
and places of employment; and plans on cooperation to provide services to
survivors of abuse. This agreement should also protect domestic workers'
rights to freedom of movement and freedom of association.
Human Rights Watch wishes you success as president. We urge that you make
meaningful human rights reform a central objective of your new administration.
Yours Sincerely,
Brad Adams
Executive Director, Asia Division
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch
350 Fifth Avenue, 34th Floor
New York, NY 10118-3299
USA
© Copyright 2004, Human Rights Watch
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