Indonesia examines options for detention monitoring

Assessing the pros and cons of different approaches for independently monitoring places of detention was the focus of a recent one-day conference in Jakarta, involving around 50 representatives from Indonesia’s human rights commission, civil society organisations, government agencies and law enforcement bodies.

The conference, which looked at a number of practical issues related to the ratification of the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture (OPCAT), was followed by a practical two-day training workshop on undertaking visits to detention centres.

The Government of Indonesia has included the ratification of OPCAT in its National Human Rights Action Plan for 2004-2009 and, during the country’s Universal Periodic Review before the UN Human Rights Council earlier this year, reaffirmed its intention to ratify the treaty by 2009.

A key topic for the one-day conference was identifying possible models for a National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) that would be appropriate for Indonesia.

A central requirement of OPCAT is that independent national or international bodies are given responsibility to monitor prisons and other detention facilities to check for and investigate allegations of torture and ill treatment of detainees.

Participants examined the merits and challenges of two different models of NPMs established by other countries in the Asia Pacific region: 

• New Zealand’s ‘multi-agency model’, which is coordinated by the New Zealand Human Rights Commission as the lead NPM agency 
• The Maldives ‘single entity model’, where the Maldives Human Rights Commission is designated as the sole NPM.

The conference also discussed the 2007 report of the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, which called for greater transparency of places of detention in Indonesia and the development of an independent oversight mechanism with a nationwide coverage; the APF's Advisory Council of Jurists recommendations on torture prevention and their proposed Minimum Interrogation Standards; and the need for torture to be specifically criminalised under Indonesian penal law.

The two-day detention monitoring workshop paid particular attention to issues involved in monitoring the situation of children deprived of their liberty.

It brought together staff from the national human rights commission (Komnas HAM), the National Commission on Violence against Women (Komnas Perempuan) and other visiting bodies such as the Ombudsman's Office, the National Commission on Child Protection and NGOs with experience in detention monitoring.

The three day program, which ran from 17-19 November, was organised jointly by Komnas HAM, Komnas Perempuan and the Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy (ELSAM), in partnership with the Association for the Prevention of Torture, the APF and OHCHR.

Two representatives from the Timor-Leste national human rights commission also participated in the three-day program.