In 2022, Indonesia will go through the 4th cycle of Universal Periodic Review (UPR) for the United Nations (UN) Human Rights mechanism. This review aims to assess the Government of Indonesia’s commitment to fulfilling human rights in its country. In this mechanism, non-governmental organizations are allowed to submit reports on the human rights situation in Indonesia.
On this occasion, ICJR had sent 4 UPR reports to the United Nations, divided into two types of reports, namely an individual report conducted by ICJR and three joint submissions with other civil society coalitions.
First, the ICJR’s independent report is related to women’s access to justice. This report is taken from ICJR’s researches, including “The Overlooked: She in the Vortex of Death Penalty (2021),” which reports on the situation of women in Indonesia specifically in looking at the aspects of gender vulnerability in the death penalty, respect for the right to a fair trial, the influence of the call “War on Drugs” in prosecuting women facing the death penalty. The report is also discussing on access to justice for women who experience Online Gender-Based Violence.
Furthermore, three joint submissions of the civil society coalition include: first, with Rumah Cemara (RC) in the report on Police Violence and Criminal Procedure Law Issues; Second, with KontraS regarding the death penalty; and third, together with the CSOs Anti-Death Penalty Coalition (HATI) also regarding the death penalty.
In the report on Police Violence and Criminal Procedure Law Issues, we presented the situation of accountability in law enforcement weighing from the detention situation and control mechanisms, the right to a fair trial in terms of access to legal aid, and allegations of torture in detention, criminalization to drug users, the inadequacy of victim protection under the existing criminal procedure law, and other criminal procedure law situations. Some of the recommendations that ICJR and RC provide are for the Indonesian government to update the criminal procedure law (KUHAP) by assigning the Attorney General as dominus litis, strengthening the judicial scrutiny in the implementation of arrest/detention, to set a minimum standard for prisoners, enhancing the burden of proof, and ratifying the Optional Protocol of the Convention Against Torture (OPCAT).
Reports on the death penalty are sent with KontraS. ICJR and KontraS provide input on the general situation of the application of the death penalty in Indonesia with recommendations for the Indonesian government to conduct commutations for death row inmates who have been more than ten years the delay form a guideline for the application of fair trial principles for people facing the death penalty, revise Supreme Court Regulation No. 7 of 2014 so that death row inmates can file a Judicial Review more than once, Ratify the Second Optional Protocol of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, continue the process reform of the criminal code, and complete abolition of the death penalty. The report with the HATI Coalition also added that human rights training for judges and prosecutors prioritizes alternative use of imprisonment in criminal policy politics in Indonesia by looking at human rights standards and the implementation of Restorative Justice. The HATI coalition also called for medical and psychological services for the death row inmates.
To be reminded, previously on gender and women issues, in the 3rd cycle of UPR, Indonesia has committed to supporting as many as 23 UPR recommendations that discuss women empowerment. Some of them are about: strengthening the criminal procedure law for women, protecting women and children, gender equality, fighting gender discrimination and women’s access to justice, and supporting women’s rights. But women, when faced with the death penalty, still experience inequality in both forms of discrimination and stigma against them. This gender discrimination is rarely discussed in the death penalty discourse in Indonesia.
Indonesia has previously supported a recommendation from Austria, Namibia, and Italy to de jure moratorium on the death penalty and take steps for the total abolition of the death penalty. Unfortunately, in its implementation, prosecution and verdicts using the death penalty are still being delivered. As of 2021, there were 404 death row inmates in Indonesia. Sixty-three of them (15%) have been sitting in the delay for more than ten years.
For this reason, in addition to providing a situation report through the UPR, ICJR also provides recommendations in the form of strengthening the rights of people sentenced to death and providing a commutation for death row inmates in the delay of execution, changes to the Criminal Procedure Law (KUHAP) that ensures the principle of fair trial and due process of law in cases of the death penalty, ensuring the creation of legal unity and ensuring a high standard in the examination of cases with the death penalty, stop the imposition of the death penalty with the narrative of “war on drugs,” and to provide exceptional protection for victims of Online Gender-Based Violence.
It is hoped that the Working Group of the UN Universal Periodic Review (UPR) and the UN Human Rights Council can consider the recommendations given to re-encourage Indonesia’s commitment to the promises that have been delivered in the previous UPR cycles.
Jakarta, 04th April 2022
Sincerely,
ICJR
Individual Submission:
- ICJR, “Women’s Access to Justice” can be accessed in here.
Joint Submission:
- ICJR, RC, “Police Violence and Criminal Procedure Law Issues” can be accessed in here.
- Anti-Death Penalty Coalition (HATI): LBH Masyarakat, IMPARSIAL, HRWG, LBH Jakarta, YLBHI, Migrant Care, ICJR, ELSAM, Yayasan Satu Keadilan, SETARA, LBH Pers, IKOHI, KontraS, PBHI, and INFID,
“Joint Stakeholders’ Report on the 4th UPR of Indonesia on Issues Relating to the Death Penalty” can be accessed in here. - KontraS, ICJR, ECPM, CPJP, The World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, ADPAN: “Joint Stakeholder Report for the 41st Session of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review – Death Penalty” can be accessed in here.
