Govt To Consider Human Rights In Policy Making

Experts Urge Govt To Consider Human Rights In Policy Making

The Jakarta Post , Jakarta

Experts urged the government to consider human rights when making policies to avoid rights violations, and to establish better social conditions in the country.

The Indonesian Institute of Sciences' (LIPI) deputy for social sciences and the humanities, Dewi Fortuna Anwar, said Tuesday that human rights enforcement should begin at the government level to ensure the policy-making process did not violate the constitution and international conventions.

She said consideration for human rights would get better when government officials and legislators acknowledged its importance.

"Legislators need to be educated on human rights to ensure they don't violate laws during the policy-making process," she said during a two- day workshop focusing on the implementation of human rights in Indonesia from a social and human sciences perspective.

The workshop was jointly held by LIPI and UNESCO.

The workshop will be followed by an award ceremony Wednesday recognizing young scientists whose studies could provide solutions to human rights problems in the country.

Umar Anggara Jennie, the head of LIPI, said the MOST (Management of Social Transformation) award would be given to encourage and promote respect for human rights and policies for sustainable development.

Dewi urged the National Education Ministry include human rights in school and university curricula.

"People of all ages should know their rights," she said.

Indonesia has ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. These are enforced domestically through the 1999 Human Rights Law and the 2000 Human Rights Court Law.

Taufik Basari, chairman of the Community Legal Aid Foundation, told the conference the implementation of human rights principles faced issues such as regulations derived from some laws that did not support human rights principles.

"There are many bylaws violating human rights principles," he said.

Dewi said the Home Ministry should have guidelines providing clear mechanisms and requirements for drafting bylaws.

The ministry has 60 days in which it has the power revoke the drafts of such bylaws before regional administrations endorsed them.

Anies Baswedan, rector of Paramadina University, said the ministry rarely canceled drafts before their endorsement, even if the bylaws clearly violated human rights principles. (nia)

ENDS

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