Amir Tejo, Surabaya – The National Commission on Human Rights has accused police in Mojokerto, East Java, of gross human rights abuses in their treatment of suspected rioters arrested d

Dicky Christanto, Jakarta – The Justice and Human Rights Ministry plans to take action on reports alleging the torture of Ambonese and Papuan prisoners arrested by the National Police's

The Indonesian government has told the global rights watchdog group, Human Rights Watch, that it plans to address the mistreatment of political prisoners in Papua.

Sunanda Creagh – Indonesian jails hold at least 100 political prisoners from the Papua and Moluccas regions, including some who were tortured, Human Rights Watch said in a report publis

Papua – Filep Karma has served five years behind bars on a 15-year treason sentence for raising a banned flag in Indonesia's easternmost Papua province.

Phil Robertson – On June 29, 2007, a village teacher led more than 20 young men into an Ambon stadium in an unauthorized performance of the cakalele, the traditional Maluku dance, in fr

Sylvia Escobar
Ambassador at Large for Human Rights
Spanish Presidency of the European Union

Jakarta – The newly enacted information access law is exposing two worrying conditions – that Indonesia's excessive bureaucracy is an instrument of secrecy, and that the public is large

Jakarta – Witnesses and whistle-blowers are not sufficiently protected by the law, which is open to abuse and does not stipulate the need for risk analyses, experts say.

Arghea Desafti Hapsari, Jakarta – The Constitutional Court has acknowledged that the deliberation process of the 2009 Supreme Court Law bore procedural flaws, but it decided to keep the

Jakarta – The Indonesian Press Council is eager for the establishment of a regional human rights court so that Indonesia can achieve greater freedom of speech and better protect journal

Adam Gartrell – An Australian woman cleared of plotting to assassinate East Timor's top political leaders intends to sue the country's president for defamation.

Dicky Christanto, Jakarta – The law championing access to public information was implemented a month ago is almost impossible to enforce because the government has not made available mu

Bagus BT Saragih, Jakarta – Representatives of nongovernmental organizations grouped under the Solidarity for Riau Farmers held an art performance outside the National Police Headquarte

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) has confirmed the April 26 riot in Mandailing Natal regency, North Sumatra, was violent and has recommended

Jakarta – Lawmakers have acknowledged there are numerous problematic articles in the intelligence bill that require further deliberation.

Hans David Tampubolon, Jakarta – The House of Representatives' Commission III on law and human rights has proposed a revision of a law that will give more power to the Witness Protectio

Armando Siahaan – A Protestant congregation in Bogor, which has been forced to hold services on the street after its half-finished church was sealed by the city administration in April,

Jakarta – Both Indonesian and international activists are pressuring the Indonesian government to ratify the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Dis

Ismira Lutfia – A cabinet minister has promised to sign and ratify an international convention to protect people from enforced disappearance, but critics say it will be meaningless with

A project to create a large agricultural estate in Merauke in Indonesia's Papua province may still to go ahead despite the President announcing a two-year moratorium on new logging conc

Jakarta – Indonesia's minority and religious groups remain vulnerable to violence and discrimination, says an Amnesty International report released Wednesday in Indonesia.

Dina Indrasafitri, Jakarta – Can a nation protect its own children if so many of them are unaware of their own rights?

Dessy Sagita & Zaky Pawas – As the National Commission on Human Rights on Wednesday told police to investigate hard-liners from the Islamic Defenders Front for raiding and forcefull

Nurfika Osman – Calling on the government to listen to the cries of children across the country, a coalition of nongovernmental organizations on Tuesday detailed horror stories ranging

Jakarta – After 12 years of reform following the fall of Soeharto in 1998, Indonesia still faces many barriers in its efforts to uphold human rights, observers say.

Ulma Haryanto – The National Commission on Human Rights on Friday blasted the Bogor Police and administration for failing to protect the rights of the GKI Yasmin congregation to practic

Radot Gurning & M Irham, Papua – Indonesia is often hailed as the country with the greatest freedom of speech in Asia.

Jakarta – After 12 years of reform following the fall of authoritarian ruler Soeharto in 1998, Indonesia still faces many barriers in its efforts toward better human rights enforcement.

Jakarta – The government should upgrade its ratification of the Convention of Rights of the Child (CRC) from a presidential decree to a law in order to better protect children, says a r

Dianing Sari, Jakarta – Without an amendment to the Criminal Code, it is impossible for female victims of May 1998 to get justice.

Ulma Haryanto – The May 1998 riots that devastated the capital during the fall of former President Suharto, leaving more than 1,500 people dead and widespread reports of gang rapes, hav

Jakarta – Twelve years have passed, but Karsiah, 47, and Hiratetty Yoga, 59, still do not know who shot their son to death on the day of the Trisakti shootings on May 12, 1998.

Hans David Tampubolon, Jakarta – The government's compensation for the victims of the 1998 May riots is useless without a concrete settlement of the tragedy, a human rights group says.

Jakarta – Some say time and distance will heal any wound, but not, it would seem, the trauma of watching thousands of enraged people bearing down on you and your family with destruction

Ulma Haryanto & Zaky Pawas – The National Commission on Human Rights will conduct a special investigation into the recent spate of vandalism targeting places of religious activities

Heru Andriyanto – It appears that no one knows for sure when a criminal trial should end.

Jakarta – Three days after the unruly Islam Defenders Front (FPI) stormed a human rights training workshop for transgender individuals in Depok, West Java, police seem reluctant to purs

Purwokerto – In a country were illegal logging and forest conversion is rife, a central Java teenager is facing the prospects of 10 years behind bars after he was arrested for allegedly

Dessy Sagita – An Indonesian transsexual organization has criticized the Depok public order agency for failing to prevent dozens of hard-line Islamic activists from charging into a civi

Irawaty Wardany, Jakarta – Police have not arrested any members of a hardline Islamic group who stormed a human rights training session for transgender individuals, but instead plan to

Erwida Maulia and Hans David Tampubolon, Jakarta – The historic freedom of information law comes into force today with most state institutions, mired in a decades-long culture of secrec

Enraged members of the militant Islamic Defenders Front raided a human rights workshop for ladyboys in Depok on Friday in the mistaken belief there was a lingerie contest taking place.

Ronna Nirmala – In the latest outburst by the Islamic Defenders Front, dozens of hard-liners charged into a civil rights training session for transsexuals held by the National Commissio

Dicky Christanto, Jakarta – Experts have argued that certain exemptions contained within the new freedom of information law, particularly those on state defense and strategies, will hin

Jakarta – The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) is calling for the establishment of a truth and reconciliation commission to resolve the lingering problems over past gross

Taufik Darusman – Sometime in mid-1998, in the aftermath of the fall of the Suharto regime, a number of kidnapped antigovernment activists suddenly found themselves freed as they were d

Markus Junianto Sihaloho & Nurfika Osman – Amid human rights activists' demands for it to face justice, the Army's elite force marked its 58th anniversary on Friday by calling for t