Margareth S. Aritonang, Jakarta – Press Council chairman Yosep Stanley Adi Prasetyo has encouraged state institutions to provide quality data to comprehensively examine the performance of the government in protecting and upholding human rights in the country.
Yosep said the lack of quality data from state institutions in charge of human rights-driven public services had led to questionable reports presented by the government in international forums.
"[Related] state institutions mostly build their data through a quantity-based approach instead of a quality-based one," he told a seminar in Jakarta on Wednesday.
The Law and Human Rights Ministry, the National Police, the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM), the Indonesian Ombudsman and the Witness and Victims Protection Agency (LPSK) have failed to capture the real situation in society by focusing on mere numbers, he added.
The former Komnas HAM commissioner referred to a lack of appropriate information obtained by state institutions related to ongoing discrimination against marginalized groups in the country, including, among others, minority faith groups, people with disabilities, children and women and the LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender] community.
"The government needs to consult findings by human rights groups as well as the media to get comprehensive data," Stanley emphasized. (dmr)