VIVAnews - The future of human rights advocacy in 2009 will probably be as meager as it was in 2008. The Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) predicted that the government will marginalize human rights issues in 2009.
"[The issues] will not be raised, seeing as how the Elections are soon to be held on April 9," YLBHI Director of Publication and Public Education Agustinus Edy Kristianto told reporters on Tuesday, Jan 6.
According to Kristianto, the feeble upholding of human rights is worsened by the views of state institutions, which are considered as against human rights advocacy. YLBHI noted that there are seven state institutions whose works hamper human rights upholding: the Department of Justice and Human Rights, the Attorney General's Office (AGO), the Department of Public Works, the Department of Health, the House of Representatives (DPR), justice institutions under the Supreme Court, and the Department of Foreign Affairs.
With regard to the Department of Justice and Human Rights, said Kristianto, its portfolio of human rights enforcing shows failure. In addition, the Department seems to falter when it came to encouraging the enactment of the Law on Legal Advocacy.
"AGO's performance can be observed from the handling of Munir's case, attorney Urip's bribery case and delayed investigation on past violations on human rights," said Kristianto.
The Department of Public Works, he said, is considered to have failed in dealing with the Sidoarjo mudflow case.
In addition, the Department of Health is seen as being slow in handling malnutrition and people's wellbeing.
"DPR's weaknesses are implied in its policies which are against human rights such as the Law on Pornography," said Kristianto.
Meanwhile, the Department of Foreign Affairs is deemed to have failed in ratifying the Rome Statute and Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture (OPCAT).
The Indonesian Military and Indonesian Police, he said, have the higest reports of violating human rights. "In 2008, there were 35 reports on alleged human rights violations by two institutions submitted to YLBHI," said Kristianto.
Translated by: Bonardo Maulana Wahono
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