Ismira Lutfia – The Human Rights Working Group has lamented Indonesia's refusal to accept specific recommendations to give foreign journalists access to Papua and to invite the UN's Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief into the country as advocated during the Universal Periodic Review.
Indonesia refused to accommodate 30 out of 180 recommendations made during the UPR and made its rejection known at the UN Human Rights Council meeting on Wednesday in Geneva.
M. Choirul Anam, vice director of the HRWG, said on Thursday that the group had already predicted that Indonesia would decline certain suggestions.
Indonesia also refused to reevaluate Law No. 1/PNPS/1965 on the Prevention of Religious Abuse and Blasphemy, a product of the New Order era.
"We deeply regret the government's decision to reject the recommendations, especially to revise Law No. 1/1965, [since] the Constitutional Court mandated a revision to this law," said Anam.
"The Indonesian government should have accepted the proposal to invite the UN's Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief to Indonesia," stated Anam, adding that it would serve as a good opportunity to prove to the international community Indonesia's acceptance of religious plurality. "Rejecting it means something isn't right," he said.
Indonesia also received general counsel that it needs to follow up on fighting any form of discrimination against followers of minority religions, punishing people who commit violence on the pretext of religion and to fight impunity practices in which these recommendations have also been mandated by the constitution.
Anam added that Indonesia's failure to implement the recommendations will indicate the government's weak commitment to such causes.
However, the HRWG welcomed the government's decision to accept several suggestions, including accelerating the deliberation of the criminal code bill, criminalizing torturers according to the UN Convention Against Torture and ratifying the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention Against Torture.
The HRWG also asked the government to encourage civilians to actively participate in implementing the recommendations.
One of the proposals that the government accepted was to ratify the ILO convention No. 189 on domestic helpers and to pass into law the bill on domestic helpers that was already included in the National Legislation Program.
The National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan) deplored the government's refusal to revoke the Health Ministry's regulation on female circumcision as recommended by the UNHRC.
"The government must also socialize the danger of female circumcision as seen from the aspect of violence and discrimination against women," said Andy Yentriyani, the commission's head of public participation.