Coordinating Minister Mahfud Says Indonesia Has No Record of Human Rights Violations at the UN since 2020
The Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs, Mahfud, was grateful that Indonesia did not have any records of human rights violations.
This was known when Mahfud attended the opening of the 50th session of the UN Human Rights Council session in Geneva, Switzerland.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said that there were 21 countries whose developments in the human rights situation were referred to.
"Indonesia is not included in it (referred to). It's been three years, since 2020, to be precise, the UN Human Rights Council has not mentioned Indonesia in the records of a country that has problems with human rights violations," Mahfud said when giving a virtual press statement quoted from the Ministry's YouTube. Polhukam, Thursday (16/6/2022).
According to him, this indicates that Indonesia has made progress and communicates proportionally regarding the protection and enforcement of human rights. Previously, Indonesia had always been in the spotlight regarding the enforcement of human rights, especially regarding the situation in Papua.
In February 2022, the UN Human Rights Council was said to have written to the Indonesian government requesting data and clarification regarding allegations of enforced disappearances, excessive use of force, torture, and forced displacement in Papua and West Papua in the 2021 period.
At a press conference this afternoon, Mahfud admitted that there were reports from a number of NGOs to the Special Procedure Mandate Holders (SPMH). Quoted from the official website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, SPMH is an expert or several independent experts appointed by the UN Human Rights Council to provide input and reports to the UN Human Rights Council regarding the implementation conditions of certain human rights themes.
Referring to the letter from SPMH to the Government of Indonesia, they asked for clarification regarding 11 points. Among these are the number of people who died including civilians in clashes between the OPM group and the military, the arrest of the Orang Asli Papua (OAP), information about the killing of Patianus Kogoya and his wife and brother, as well as explanations about access restrictions for Komnas HAM, the International Red Cross, and church workers.
"Indeed there were reports from NGOs to SPMH, but these reports were never discussed at the UN Human Rights Council Session. The reports were accommodated and submitted to our government. After being answered, the problem was resolved and did not go to the Human Rights Council," said Mahfud.
He also denied any information that said there was an agenda for a visit from the UN High Commission for Human Rights to Indonesia to conduct an investigation. "In fact, we invited them to Indonesia, but the schedule has not been set," he said. (Kemenko Polhukam, Antara)
