The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A rights watchdog group and victims of the conflict in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam lodged a complaint against the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) on Monday for the slow progress in handling human rights violations from Aceh’s long and bloody separatist conflict.

"There still hasn’t been any concerted effort to view case by case the human rights violations in Aceh from 1985 to 2005," said Haris Azhar, the impunity division head for the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), at a meeting with Komnas HAM member Johny Nelson Simanjuntak.

Kontras, alongside the Human Rights Violation Victims’ Brotherhood Solidarity Aceh, Relatives of Human Rights Violation Victims in Aceh Besar (KPP HAM) and the Human Rights Abuse Victims’ Community of North Aceh, has called on Komnas HAM and its Aceh chapter to step up efforts to resolve rights violation cases.

"Two years have passed since the signing of the Helsinki peace treaty, which states a truth commission and a human rights court are to be established, but neither has been set up," Rukaiyah, chairwoman of KPP HAM Aceh Besar, told The Jakarta Post.

"We are pushing for the establishment of a human rights court in Aceh. Komnas HAM should help advocate this but so far it has been silent."

Haris said the commission should serve as a bridge between family members of the abused on one hand and the course of justice on the other.

"Several surviving family members have begun digging up graves en masse with the intention of giving their deceased relatives proper Islamic burial rites, as well as seeking closure," he said.

"This could compromise evidence for fact-finding missions and possible legal actions, and nobody is stopping them."

Murtala, a victim of a 1999 military shooting at Simpang KKA in North Aceh, said locals have become increasingly skeptical of justice ever being served.

"We fear if the Acehnese seeking justice for their deceased continue to be neglected by the government then another conflict could well brew," he said.

Johny said the new commission members would still need to carefully review the work of the previous commission and other prior recommendations before making any concrete progress.

"Human rights violations in Aceh is not a small affair. Its political scope and repercussions are vast especially when factoring in the military, so we must act as prudently as possible," Johny told the Post.

He said Komnas HAM has been advocating for the establishment of a truth commission and would not shy away from making recommendations for a human rights court, once proof of gross human rights violation was established.

Johny declined to comment on the reports of the recent burial exhumation. (amr)