Moses Ompusunggu, Jakarta – Without a consensus at present over whether to use a judicial or a non-judicial measure to address past human rights violations, social inclusion appears to be the most viable way to, at the very least, improve the lives of victims and their families.
In the absence of such an effort from the state, several civil society organizations (CSOs) and regional heads in recent years have turned to social inclusion measures – widely used globally to better the lives of those who are often marginalized and neglected, such as people with disabilities and indigenous communities – to support survivors and families of victims of past rights abuses.
For many years the said communities have been unable to enjoy several rights they are entitled to, ranging from identity card and civil registry services to economic assistance, as a result of long-standing stigmatization, especially of the victims and their families of the 1965 communist purge.
"At a time when the process carried out by the central government [to resolve past rights abuses] has stagnated, there are many parties with good intentions to take care of the victims and their families using the social inclusion approach," said Kamala Chandrakirana, the coordinator of the Coalition for Justice and Revelation of Truth (KKPR), which houses 60 rights groups throughout the country.
Former mayor of Palu in Central Sulawesi, Rusdy Mastura, was widely considered a role model of a social inclusion measure taken by a regional head for the affirmative action he conducted when he was in office.
In 2013, Rusdy issued a mayoral regulation on a human rights action plan after finding out that a lot of the victims' families of the 1965 tragedy residing in Palu were living in poverty.
Prior to creating the regulation, Rusdy, who admitted he was one of the teenagers recruited to arrest people allegedly affiliated with the now defunct Indonesian Communist Party (PKI), issued an apology to the victims of the purge, becoming the first regional head to do so in the aftermath of the 1965 tragedy.
In 2014, the Women and Children Empowerment Agency (LAPPAN), a CSO based in Ambon, Maluku, helped four wives of political prisoners in Buru Island to receive their respective new marriage letters, which previously stated that both the women and their husbands were affiliated with the PKI.
In Solo, Central Java, marginalized elderly survivors of the purge could finally enjoy basic services such as routine medical check-ups and enrollment into the national health insurance (JKN) program, following efforts taken by Sekber 65 (65 Joint Secretariat), a CSO.
Sekber 65 gathered data concerning the names of hundreds of 1965 survivors and their families, which was then verified by the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM), so that the victims could access medical, psychological and psychosocial help provided by the Witness and Victim Protection Agency (LPSK).
Even the government failed to shed light on past rights cases, Kamala said, adding that activists within the KKPR received "political backing" from the Coordinating Human Development and Culture Ministry through its Program Peduli (Care Program).
Launched in 2015, Program Peduli was the ministry's pilot project revolved around social inclusion measures through which the ministry teamed up with CSOs to improve the lives of marginalized communities across the country.
"We welcome the involvement of civil society groups in the program because they know about the grassroots problems more than us," said I Nyoman Shuida, the ministry's deputy for the empowerment of society, villages and regions.
Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/10/28/social-inclusion-helps-human-rights-abuse-victims.html