Amnesty International slams Aceh reparations

In a report released today, Human rights organisation, Amnesty International, called on Indonsian authorities to seek justice for the victims of the Aceh conflict that ended eight years ago. Amnesty International and other human rights groups have documented a range of crimes committed by members of the security forces and their auxiliaries against the civilian population, including unlawful killings, enforced disappearances and torture. Human rights abuses by GAM included hostage taking and the targeted killings of those suspected of ties to the government. Indonesia has an obligation under international law to investigate these crimes. “Victims and family members are still waiting for the Indonesian authorities to provide them with truth, justice and full reparation,” Amnesty said. The report, Time to Face the Past, documents the failure of local and central authorities to establish the truth of what happened during the years of violence which left between 10,000 and 30,000 people dead, many of them civilians. The Aceh conflict between the armed pro-independence movement, Free Aceh Movement (Gerakan Aceh Merdeka, GAM) and the Indonesian government dated back to 1976, and peaked during military operations from 1989 until a peace deal was signed in 2005. It took a devastating toll on the population in Aceh, a region on the northern part of Indonesia’s Sumatra Island, and many family members still do not know what has happened to disappeared loved ones, while those responsible walk free. Amnesty added that the situation is breeding resentment that could sow the seeds of a future return to violence. “The Indonesian government’s failure to provide genuine truth, justice and reparation for victims and their families is causing immense suffering for people in Aceh today,” Isabelle Arradon, Amnesty International’s Deputy Asia Pacific Director, said. Amnesty stated that “hardly any of those responsible for serious human rights abuses have been brought to justice, while attempts to provide reparation to victims have been inadequate.” The 2005 peace agreement called for the establishment of both a Human Rights Court and a Truth and Reconciliation Commission for Aceh, neither of which exist today. There have been limited attempts by the Indonesia government and the National Human Rights Commission to investigate what happened in Aceh, the results have not been made available to the public. Attempts to establish a truth commission at the national level have also failed. The Constitutional Court in 2006 struck down a deeply flawed law attempting to establish such a commission, because it provided that victims could only receive reparation if those suspected of the abuses had been granted an amnesty. Parliament is due to take up the debate on a national truth commission again before 2014, but it is unclear if there is political will to establish one. As time passes, there is a risk that valuable information is being lost, making the establishment of an effective truth commission even more urgent. “The failure to prosecute those responsible is having grave consequences on the rule of law today. There is currently no adequate vetting mechanism in the security forces to identify those accused of rights violations and to ensure they are not placed in a position where they can simply carry on past practices,” Arradon said. “This is true across Indonesia, where we are continuing to document serious human rights violations by security forces.” Financial compensation has so far been aimed at the Acehnese population at large instead of individual victims of human rights abuses. There has yet to be a comprehensive reparation programme that includes measures such as a formal apology, and commemoration programmes for victims. Some groups, like many women survivors of sexual violence during the conflict, have been unable to access the existing programmes. “By addressing the situation in Aceh, the Indonesian authorities could not only heal open wounds but also help to strengthen the rule of law and secure the peace process in the long-term,” Arradon said. ”It would also send a strong signal to other victims of human rights abuses and their families in Indonesia, who are waiting for measures of truth, justice and reparation to address crimes committed in other situations.”