The Minister of Law and Human Rights, Mr. H.E. Hamid Awaluddin, in his statement at the 4th Session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva on 12th Mach 2007 indicated that Indonesia is ready to sign the International Convention for the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearance. In fact, it is the people of Indonesia, who in their millions without bowing to intense military pressure during the time of Soeharto’s dictatorship have so far continued their struggle to find justice for the hundreds upon thousands that were abducted, tortured and in most instances, murdered. It is this life long struggle of the victims, their families, concerned persons and organisations that has compelled the state to take this decision. It is a victory of the people. Though no time frame has been indicated for the signing of the convention, it is hoped that it will be done as soon possible given its urgency and relevancy.
The Asian Human Rights Commission would like to take this occasion to felicitate, together with all the members of the humanitarian community, the Indonesian government on this momentous decision, which will certainly bring a ray of hope to thousands,?if not millions of Indonesians for whom justice has so far remained a far cry.
This historic decision when seen against the backdrop of the series of massacres starting from 1965, will no doubt be a major challenge to the Indonesian government. The victims of the massacres of 1965, Semangi I and II, Trisakthi, Tanjung Priok, Talangsari, 98/99 activists, May riots of 1998, East Timor, Papua and Aceh have not given up hope for justice. The question is whether the Indonesian government will live up to its obligations without failing the Indonesian people and the international community. The Indonesian government will be judged not on its promises but on what it actually delivers.
Judging from past performance, the State has failed, and it has failed miserably. The creation of the Ad-Hoc Human Rights Tribunal was designed to hear all cases deemed gross violations of human rights?committed both in East Timor and Indonesia, but failed to prosecute any of the responsible agents of human rights violations. Similarly the domestic law against torture passed at the occasion of the ratification of the UN Convention Against Torture has been so inadequate that within the last 13 years not a single prosecution has been taken, nor have the endless victims of human rights violations been awarded compensation and/or restitution. This promise of signing the Convention Against Enforced Disappearances, coming in the heels of the previous ineffective laws and the lack of their enforcement, is not going to generate much credibility, unless the Indonesian state starts investigating and prosecuting the perpetrators of the gross?human right violations committed earlier. The National Human Rights Commission, Komnas HAM, which conducted independent investigations into the massacres in Trisakthi and Semangi I and II, activist disappeared in 1997-98, May riots of 1998 has, and with good reason declared them to be gross human rights violations? These findings were dismissed by the House of Representatives and Attorney General on the basis of petty technicalities; once again providing impunity to the perpetrators at the expense of their victims. It is nothing less than the commitment of the Indonesian state to proceed with the prosecution of these cases of gross human rights violations, that the confidence of the millions of Indonesians can be won.
Any Government that is party to UN Convention is under strict obligation to pass corresponding domestic legislation. It is this domestic legislation that guarantees the benefit of the rights incorporated in the Convention. The long-suffering Indonesian people who are too familiar with military abductions, enforced disappearances, torture and extra-judicial killings deserve not only the promise of prosecution in future for cases of enforced disappearances but also of an effective, transparent, accountable and easily accessible mechanism for redress: for compensation, restitution, rehabilitation and punishment of the perpetrators. Nothing less will convince the people of Indonesia and of the world of the genuineness of the government in signing the International Convention for the Protection of all Persons from
Enforced Disappearance.
