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UN Committee deeply concerned by routine and widespread use of torture in Indonesia

The United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG) – May 16, 2008

The Committee against Torture today concluded its fortieth session after adopting its annual report to the General Assembly and issuing its concluding observations and recommendations on reports from Australia, Sweden, Algeria, Costa Rica, Indonesia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Zambia and Iceland, which it reviewed during the session.

Summary

Concerning the second periodic report of Indonesia, the Committee noted with appreciation that Indonesia had responded positively to the recommendation of the Committee to receive the Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and that a visit to the State party [Indonesia] had taken place in November 2007.

The Committee recommended that the State party [Indonesia] should not establish nor engage in any reconciliation mechanism that promoted amnesties for perpetrators of acts of torture, war crimes or crimes against humanity.

Indonesia

Regarding the second periodic report of Indonesia, the Committee welcomed the continuing effort of the State party to strengthen its institutions and legislation to safeguard universal human rights protection, including the establishment of the Constitutional Court, the National Law Commission, the Judiciary Commission, the Ombudsman Commission, the Prosecutorial Commission, the Police Commission, and the Eradication of Corruption Commission.

The Committee also welcomed Indonesia’s accession to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in 2006. The Committee further noted with appreciation that Indonesia had responded positively to the recommendation of the Committee to receive the Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and that a visit to the State party [Indonesia] had taken place in November 2007 and that Government had also received other Special Rapporteurs of the Human Rights Council, including the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on the situation of human rights defenders, and the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers.

The Committee was deeply concerned about the numerous ongoing credible and consistent allegations, corroborated by the report of the Special Rapporteur on Torture and other sources, concerning routine and widespread use of torture and ill-treatment of suspects in police custody, especially to extract confessions or information to be used in criminal proceedings, as well as by members of the security and police forces, including by members of the armed forces, mobile police units, and paramilitary groups, during military and “sweep” operations, especially in Papua, Aceh and in other provinces where there had been armed conflicts.

The Committee was also concerned that the current investigation system in the State party [Indonesia] relied on confessions as a common form of evidence for prosecution, thus creating conditions that might facilitate the use of torture and ill-treatment of suspects.

While noting the State party’s [Indonesia] intention to raise the criminal responsibility to twelve years of age, the Committee was further deeply concerned that it remained established at eight years of age, that detained children were not fully segregated from adults, that a large number of children were sentenced to jail terms for minor offences and that corporal punishment was lawful and frequently used in juvenile prisons.

While concerned at the situation of refugees and internally displaced persons as a consequence of the armed conflict, especially children living in refugee camps, the Committee recommended that the State party [Indonesia] should take effective measures to prevent violence affecting refugees and internally displaced persons, especially children, registering them at birth and preventing them from being used in armed conflict.

The State party [Indonesia] should also strengthen the measures taken to ensure safe repatriation of all displaced persons, in cooperation with the UN.

Concerned about the absence of an effective independent monitoring mechanism on the situation of detainees, including unannounced visits to all places of detention or custody, the Committee recommended that the State party [Indonesia] should establish consistent and comprehensive standards for independent monitoring mechanism of all places of detention, ensuring that any body established, at the local or national level, had a strong and impartial mandate and adequate resources.

Concerned with the State party’s [Indonesia] lack of international judicial cooperation in investigating, prosecuting or extraditing perpetrators of acts of gross human rights violations, especially with regard to acts that occurred in East Timor in 1999, the Committee was deeply troubled at evidence that alleged perpetrators of war crimes wanted by Interpol, such as Colonel Siagian Burhanddhin, for whom Interpol had raised a red notice, were currently serving in the Indonesian military forces. [Col. Siagian is Commander of the Indonesian Military (TNI) in Jayapura, the capital of West Papua.]

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