Jakarta – The Indonesian Military (TNI) has pledged to embrace international humanitarian law to prevent human rights violations from occurring during its operations.
"We don't want to repeat our past mistakes. Every TNI soldier sent into conflict areas in Indonesia or anywhere in the world is taught proper conduct during war before being deployed to the field," First Admiral Marsetio said at a joint seminar organized by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and TNI here Tuesday.
The first of its kind to be held in the Asia-Pacific region, the seminar on the use of force in internal security and counterinsurgency operations was attended by senior military and police officers from Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.
Over the past few decades, TNI has been accused of violating international law during its counterinsurgency operations. For instance, TNI reportedly used the Red Cross emblem for cover in a dramatic hostage rescue in Papua in 1996, in which many Papuans – both insurgents and civilians – were killed.
"TNI is committed to involving the ICRC in every action it takes in conflict areas. TNI used to execute military operations on its own. However, since 2003, we have followed guidelines formulated in cooperation with the ICRC about applying the law in conflict situations," Marsetio, who is Vice Operations Assistant to the TNI Chief Commander, said.
"In the future, TNI soldiers will be more professional in their actions by adhering to the present law."
The international humanitarian law on warfare, is derived from the 1949 Geneva Convention which stipulates principles of behavior for disputing parties in armed conflict, particularly in connection with settling humanitarian problems emerging from armed conflicts.
The law was meant to protect people not directly involved in fighting: civilians, medical personnel, injured combatants as well as prisoners of war. "Since we have ratified the Convention, we must base every military operation on the regulations the Convention mandates,"Marsetio added.
The head of the ICRC delegation in Indonesia, Vincent Nicod, said the ICRC and TNI had been cooperating for a long time. Since Indonesia was an important country in the region, it was an excellent location for a regional gathering to talk about security operations in light of current international humanitarian law.
"Our choice to organize this here is also due to Indonesia's important role as peacekeeper in UN efforts in many regions in the world. We find Indonesian troops are almost everywhere where there are difficult situations in terms of security, conflicts as well as humanitarian operations,"Nicod said.
"We have to study the effects of armed conflicts and the way military troops respond to them while respecting the law. We have to exchange experiences on the realities in the field today," he added. (pmf)