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UPR Media Briefing Note

Wednesday, 23 May 2012 (Morning)
For use of information media; not an official record

State under review

Indonesia
Represented by 21-member delegation headed by Mr. Marty M. NATALEGAWA, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia.

Documents

To access national report, compilation of UN information, and summary of stakeholders’ information, visit Indonesia page on UPR website.

Troika *

Guatemala, Kyrgyzstan, Botswana.

Opening statement by State under review

Key points from opening statement of State under review:

  • Indonesia has made considerable and important progress in the field of human rights since its last UPR in April 2008; 
  • The State has continued to strengthen legislative frameworks in the field of human rights and since 2008 a numbers of laws and regulations have been adopted to safeguard human rights, including in the areas of freedom of expression and trafficking in persons, among others;
  • The Government has recently ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Convention on the Rights of Migrant Workers; the State was also set to ratify the OP to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on forced disappearances;
  • The State has also recently established a national action plan for human rights for the period 2011 to 2014 which provided a solid platform at national and international level for the mainstreaming if human rights;  Moreover, Indonesia, as chair of ASEAN in 2011, played an important role in advancing human rights in the region specifically to promote dialogue among civilizations;
  • The State was cooperating with civil society and the media in advancing human rights in the country and had extended invitations to the Special Rapporteurs on the right to health, on adequate housing and freedom of expression;
  • In 2008 Indonesia launched a democracy forum and has instituted national dialogue with the aim of advancing the human rights agenda;
  • Indonesia also played a key role towards the establishment of the Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, which, among other things, promote religious tolerance.

 (See full statement on Indonesia page on UPR Extranet)

Participants

In total, 74 States participated in the discussion:  27 HRC members and 47 observers  (Statements available on Indonesia page on UPR Extranet).

Positive achievements

Positive achievements noted by delegations included, among others:

  • Efforts to establish the OIC’s Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission and the establishment of the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights;
  • Measures taken to address religious intolerance in the country;
  • Advances made in the area of the right to education and, in particular, human rights education in school curriculum;
  • Steps taken to advance to the right to health and to advance the rights of persons with disabilities;
  • Initiatives taken in the empowerment of women and the protection of children.

Issues and Questions

Main issues and questions raised by the Working Group:

  • Efforts taken to address religious intolerance in the country and to protect the rights of religious minorities;
  • Efforts to ratify the Optional Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and steps taken to address the challenges of street children;
  • Steps taken to fight illegal logging and illicit trade in forest products;
  • Government accountability for abuses by the military and the police and steps taken with regard to reports about the use of excessive force and torture by the security forces and widespread impunity;
  • The implementation of the 2001 special law to grant autonomy to West Papua and the situation  of human rights in Papua, in general.

Recommendations

In total, States participating in the discussion posed a series of recommendations to Indonesia. These included, among others: 

  • To strengthen efforts to ensure that any assaults against people from religious minorities were properly investigated and that those responsible were brought to justice; to seek possible ways to speed up the adoption of the religious harmony bill currently under discussion; to institute training and awareness campaigns for provincial and municipal officials with regard to the freedom of religion;
  • To further promote human rights education and training at all levels;
  • To ensure that all cases of human rights violations are credibly and impartially investigated and prosecuted in proportion with the crimes committed;
  • To officially declare a moratorium on the death penalty;
  • To effectively take steps to prevent torture and the establishment of a comprehensive system of independent monitoring and inspection of all places of detention; to continue to combat impunity; To ensure prompt, comprehensive and effective investigations into credible allegations of human rights violations by members of the security forces;
  • To raise the criminal age of responsibility to 16 and to guarantee the proper functioning of the juvenile justice system; to abolish all corporal punishment;
  • To strengthen its capacity in addressing the issues of violence against women;  To take further measures to enhance the participation of women in the legislature; To step up efforts to combat human trafficking;
  • To provide adequate protection to human rights defenders and to adopt a law in that regard;
  • To grant access to the delegates of the ICRC to the Papua provinces;
  • To release prisoners detained solely for peaceful political activities;
  • To ratify ILO Convention 189 pertaining to domestic workers, the Rome Statute on the ICC, then OPCAT and the Third OP on the CRC (communications);
  • To extend a standing invitation to all Special Procedures;
  • To further improve access to and quality of health services, particularly among vulnerable populations; to officially prohibit the practice of female genital mutilation;
  • To strengthen access for persons with disabilities in all areas particularly their participation in public life;
  • To ensure the rights of indigenous peoples and local forest dependent peoples and to schedule a discussion of the Draft Law on the Recognition and Protection of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples;
  • To continue efforts to combat poverty.

Adoption of report of Working Group

The adoption of the report of the UPR Working Group on Indonesia is scheduled to take place on Friday, 25 May 2012.

 The troikas are a group of three States selected through a drawing of lots who serve as rapporteurs and who are charged with preparing the report of the Working Group on the country review with the involvement of the State under review and assistance from the OHCHR.