The Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence (KontraS) submitted two information request letters, where one was sent to the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) on Tuesday 4th June 2024, followed up by sending the letter to the Indonesian National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) on Friday 7th June 2024 in the subject to urge and follow up recommendations given through the Human Rights Committee Concluding Observation.
To recall, the UN's Human Rights Committee provided notes as well as recommendations to the recent human rights condition in Indonesia in March 2024. Several notes included Indonesia’s stagnant progress in ratifying several international conventions which was crucial to the advancement of human rights such as the Covenant Against Enforced Disappearances (ICPPED) as well as the Optional Protocol to the Anti-Torture Covenant (OP-CAT). It was also further noted that impunity was one of the main concerns of the committees. Specifically, the committee mentioned: the pattern of violence frequently used by security forces through enforced disappearances, torture, and extrajudicial killings; the failure to provide effective remedies to victims and their families for past gross human rights violations; the lack of transparency and public access to information from the investigation results of Munir Said Thalib's case conducted by Komnas HAM; the push for judicial resolution of past gross human rights violations; the premeditated killing of civilians, such as the mutilation case of four indigenous people in Timika and extrajudicial killings of people in Paniai; and the cases of enforced disappearances of protesters in 1997-1998.
Unfortunately, progression to commit to noted concerns and strong recommendations were nowhere to be seen. Although it was elaborated through Article 3 of Presidential Regulation Number 10 of 2021 that the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has a central role in signing and ratifying international agreements, both mentioned conventions have yet been successfully placed as the state’s legislative priority in the President and Indonesian House of Representatives agenda. Similar to Komnas HAM, the commission’s role is crucial to the resolution to the completion of past and recurring gross human rights violations as well as the disclosure of Munir Said Thalib’s investigation result. Although, none of the ideal goals were nearing resolution.
Therefore, KontraS submitted two information request letters to urge for explanations to the progress of the mentioned unresolved issues. This request is a part of civil society's form of access to information held by Public Bodies as regulated in Law Number 14 of 2008 concerning Openness of Public Information (KIP), in which Komnas HAM and the Indonesian MOFA are also part of the mentioned public bodies.
Jakarta, 6th June 2024
Dimas Bagus Arya
Coordinator of KontraS
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