Mahfud appeals to public to help build trust in rights body

Jakarta (ANTARA) – Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Mahfud MD has appealed to citizens and the government to help build confidence in the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM).

The presence of Komnas HAM proves that the state protects human rights to the best of its ability, he said during the launch of the rights body’s annual report 2020 in Jakarta on Thursday.

Komnas HAM is the only institution that has special privilege and authority, in accordance with Law No. 26 of 2000, to conduct investigations in the field of human rights, Mahfud said.

Komnas HAM is an independent institution and is not under the government’s authority, he pointed out.

Komnas HAM has been designed as an autonomous institution since its establishment, he said. The government has never intervened and will never intervene in Komnas HAM, he remarked.

Hence, he expressed the hope that as an independent institution, Komnas HAM would cooperate with other institutions.

“Komnas HAM must work well to make it trustable. The people must also trust this institution. Constitutionally, if (any of us) has a problem which is part of Komnas HAM’s authority, please convey it to Komnas HAM. Thereafter, Komnas HAM will ask the government to follow up on it,” he said.

Law No. 26 of 2000 on human rights tribunal also adopts the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court dated July 17, 1998, which categorizes two kinds of gross human rights crimes –genocide and humanity crime, he noted.

“The two (types of crimes) are categorized as gross human rights crimes. For instance, if (a crime) is categorized as a gross human rights crime, then its structure must be looked at to see who has committed it and who has planned it,” he said.

 

Source: Antara News