KontraS Asks for Revision of Human Rights Court Law

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (KontraS) has pushed the government and the House of Representatives (DPR) to revise the Law on Human Rights Courts.

“One of the actual efforts to end impunity for cases of serious human rights violations is to revise the Law on Human Rights Courts,” said KontraS advocacy staffer Tioria Pretty in a webinar on Monday, November 23, 2020.

Tioria reiterated there were a number of issues preventing the law from being fully implemented. In terms of investigations, investigators are lacking the authority to carry out coercive measures, such as summons, arrests, and detention by force.

There is also an ambiguous article regarding the sufficient initial evidence for a case. Article 1 notes that investigation is carried out to determine the seriousness of a violation case, while in Article 20, it is stipulated that the effort seeks to determine the perpetrators.

“This is inconsistent, and this stirs confusion between the investigation done by Komnas HAM and the Attorney General's Office (AGO),” she said.

Tioria thus suggested the revision of the Law on Human Rights Courts, which will give authorization for investigators to take action by force and affirm that two initial pieces of evidence are sufficient to determine whether a case is a serious human right violation incident.

The law, she went on, must also note the time limit for investigators to determine whether the examination file should be returned or corrected, as well as the scheme about the resolution of different opinions between the AGO and Komnas HAM.

Read: KontraS: No Hope of Talking About Human Rights in Jokowi's Era

FRISKI RIANA