September 2006, 134 prisoners in Indonesia are waiting for the executions of the death
penalty. 37 of this number are foreign citizens and 97 are Indonesian. The majority of the
prisoners were found guilty of crimes related to drugs (narcotics). The Commission
underlined that the right to life is non-derogable right at any condition and by anyone as
governed in the 1945 Indonesian Constitution as well as the Act No. 39/1999 on Human
Rights. It should be noted that many countries in the world have banned death penalty in
their legal system, or have limited death penalty only for particular cases such as war and
other state emergency.
17. The regional governments’ authority to govern their own territory is part of the
implementation of regional autonomy. However, this authority had produced regional
regulations related to particular religion and discriminative in nature on particular groups,
which are violating human rights. There were at least 22 cities and districts implementing
regulations based on Islamic law, among others, “anti pornography” regulation, obligation to
wear veil for students and prohibition of women to travel alone at the evening. The
Commission considered that the regulations should be withdrawn because they caused
misuse of power and authority of the state apparatus and violated human rights, such as,
freedom of movement and right to work.
18. With regard to the Government’s Human Rights National Plan of Action, the Commission
acknowledged there are more than 400 committees that have already established to
implement the Plan all over the regions. The Commission, however, noted that the two
National Plan of Action (1999-2004 and the second/2004-2009), are too centralizedoriented. Consequently, the problems of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the
local levels are not adequately addressed. Thus, the Commission recommended that local
authorities and local communities/NGOs should be involved in the process of development
and implementation. The Commission also recalled to the Government to implement the
action plan, especially the ratification of international human rights instruments as
scheduled, i.e. Optional Protocol of the Convention against Torture, The Rome Statute,
Convention on the Protection of the Rights of Migrant Workers and their families, etc.
19. The Commission appreciated to Indonesian Government that achieved a progress with
regard to the United Nations mechanism, namely special procedures by issuing invitations
to the United Nations Special Rapporteur /Special Representatives. Nevertheless, the
Commission considered that the State shall issue standing invitation for all thematic special
procedure. This will give a guarantee the continuous access for the special representative or
other UN body to monitor the human rights situation in Indonesia.
Jakarta, 20 November 2007
The Indonesian National Human Rights Commission
Chairperson
Ifdhal Kasim
Annex:
1. Act No. 39/1999 on Human Rights
2. Act No. 26/2000 on Human Rights Court
3. International Coordinating Committee
4. Annual Report of the Commission Year 2005 and 2006