Jakarta – Amnesty International urged Indonesia to repeal laws in Aceh that allow the use of caning as a punishment as it violates international human rights law, just after Indonesia was re-elected into the UN Human Rights Council.

"Victims of caning experience pain, fear and humiliation, and it caning can cause long-term or permanent injuries," Amnesty International's Asia-Pacific director Sam Zarifi said.

Caning is a product of Aceh's implementation of the sharia law and is handed down as punishment for violating certain bylaws. It was introduced as a punishment carried out by Islamic courts for offences that include adultery, consumption of alcohol, unmarried adult couples meeting alone in isolation (khalwat) and for Muslims eating, drinking or selling food during daylight hours in the fasting month of Ramadan.

Amnesty reported that as of May 12, 21 people were publicly caned for violating an Aceh bylaw (qanun) prohibiting gambling and were given six lashes each as hundreds of people looked on. In 2010, reports said at least 16 men and women were also caned.

"It seems that Aceh's authorities are increasingly resorting to public caning in violation of international law," Zarifi said. "The Indonesian government must act to stop these punishments, which constitute cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and often amount to torture."

He said the special autonomy granted to Aceh in 2001 was misused as it led to the issuance of a series of bylaws governing the implementation of sharia (Islamic jurisprudence).

"Indonesia's decentralization process and regional autonomy were supposed to be about empowering local populations and should not come at the expense of their human rights," Zarifi said.

The calls for human rights attention in Aceh coincides with Indonesia's third election into the UN Human Rights Council on Friday (Saturday in Jakarta).

National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) chief Ifdhal Kasim concurred with Amnesty, saying regional laws should still comply with national laws.

"Caning is a deviation from the national legal system. Criminal law in Indonesia applies nationally and we do not recognize corporal punishment," Kasim said.

"The Home Ministry must highlight regional laws that are not in line with the Constitution, and the Law and Human Rights Ministry must align existing regional laws with national laws as well as international conventions," Kasim said.

He added that caning violates the UN Convention Against Torture, which Indonesia ratified in 1998.

However, Aceh cleric Imam Suja said caning did not violate human rights as it was permitted by sharia. "Religion is a rule, and human rights only interferes with it." (awd)