Erwida Maulia, Jakarta – The National Commission on Human Rights urged the government to immediately ratify the 1998 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Ifdhal Kasim, the Commission's chairman, on Thursday said ratification of the statute would provide victims of rights abuse the opportunity to appeal to the ICC if local courts failed to protect them, and could also prevent people in power from committing crimes against humanity.
"If rights abuse cases in Indonesia meet a dead end, or if rights courts here fail to settle cases, then victims can demand justice through the ICC," he said at a discussion organized by the Coalition of Civilians for ICC and local radio station KBR68H as part of commemorations for World Day for International Justice on July 17.
"The ICC will be ready to put leaders on trial if they commit crimes against humanity."
The ICC was established in 2002 as a permanent tribunal to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression, although it currently has no jurisdiction over the latter. The court can only prosecute crimes committed on or after July 1, 2002 – the date of its inception.
As of July 2008, 106 states are members of the court. Forty other countries have signed but not ratified the Rome Statute, while several other nations – including China, India and the United States – have refused to recognize the court.
Harkristuti Harkrisnowo, director general for human rights at the Justice and Human Rights Ministry, said the Indonesian government had in 2004 planned to ratify the Rome Statute by 2008. The plan, however, will likely be delayed because the government has only recently begun the process of drafting a bill on the ratification.
"Joining the ICC is part of our national human rights action plan in 2008. But, we still have a lot of work to do," Harkristuti said. "We need to ratify some other international documents. Hopefully the draft on the Rome Statute ratification will be submitted to the House of Representatives this year."
She said an inter-ministerial meeting to discuss the issue would be held next week. She added Indonesia had adopted parts of the statute by endorsing the 2000 law on human rights courts, which deals with on genocide and crimes against humanity.
Harkristuti said because past crimes could not be tried by the ICC, the government was not averse to ratifying the statute. Ifdhal said past rights abuses should be settled under existing national laws.
Agung Yudhawiranata of the Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy (ELSAM) and a member of the local ICC coalition, said the ratification of the statute would mean rights criminals would no longer be able to "hide behind the bureaucracy and their influence over the nation".
The ICC, whose official seat is in the Hague, the Netherlands, in currently investigating four cases in Africa.