HRW: New Aceh Law Imposes Torture; Violates Basic Rights, Fails to
Protect Vict
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Tapol
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Oct 12, 2009 00:26 PDT
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From Joyo
The Human Rights Watch
October 11, 2009
Indonesia: New Aceh Law Imposes Torture
Law Violates Basic Rights, Fails to Protect Victims of Sexual
Violence
(New York) - A new criminal bylaw passed by the provincial
parliament of Aceh imposes torture, violates basic rights to
privacy, and fails to protect victims of sexual violence, Human
Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch urged the Indonesian
government to review and reject all provisions relating to the
death penalty, stoning, and flogging, and called on the Ministry
of Home Affairs to overturn the law immediately.
The new law calls for married adulterers to be stoned to death
and punishes consensual sexual conduct with flogging - 100
lashes each for homosexual conduct and for adulterous conduct
between unmarried partners. The law (Law No. 11/2006 of the
Government of Aceh) passed on September 14, 2009, and although
Aceh's governor, Irwandi Yusuf, has said he will not sign the
law, it will take effect in mid-October unless national
authorities intervene.
"Stoning and flogging constitute torture in any circumstances,"
said Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch.
"Imposing these draconian punishments on private, consensual
conduct means the government can dictate people's intimate
lives."
In addition to criminalizing all sex outside of marriage, the
new law fails to criminalize marital rape and introduces
discriminatory and unjust evidentiary requirements to prove
rape. In doing so, the law places sexual assault victims at risk
of being punished for engaging in illegal sexual conduct,
instead of providing victims of violence or abuse with clear
channels for redress.
Aceh has long enjoyed relative autonomy from the central
government as a Special Administrative Region (Daerah Istimewa),
including a semi-independent legal system, and Acehnese
authorities have previously introduced certain sharia
provisions, including dress codes and mandatory prayers. Aceh
gained added autonomy as part of a 2005 peace agreement that
ended a 30-year insurgency in the province. While the Acehnese
have the power to enact their own laws, all laws governing
citizens and residents of Indonesia must be consistent with the
Indonesian constitution.
"The new Aceh law flies in the face of the Indonesian
Constitution, which confers an irrevocable right to freedom from
torture," Pearson said. "Further, Indonesian national law does
not criminalize consensual homosexual conduct or recognize
stoning as punishment for any crime."
The law violates fundamental principles of international human
rights, including the rights to life and freedom from torture or
cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment, protected
in articles 6 and 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights (ICCPR). The UN Committee Against Torture,
which monitors the implementation of the Convention Against
Torture, has unconditionally recognized stoning and flogging as
torture. Indonesia ratified the Convention Against Torture in
1998 and acceded to the convention in 2006. Aceh's Islamic
Criminal Code directly contravenes Indonesia's obligations under
these conventions.
In its landmark decision in the 1994 case of Toonen v.
Australia, the United Nations Human Rights Committee, charged
with authoritatively interpreting the convention and monitoring
states' compliance with it, found that criminalizing consensual
homosexual conduct violates the rights to privacy and to
nondiscrimination reflected in that treaty. The criminalization
of adultery also violates internationally recognized protections
for private life. Article 17 of the convention specifically
protects against arbitrary interference with individuals'
privacy.
Human Rights Watch also called on the national government and
the new Acehnese parliament to reject the proposed
criminalization of consensual sexual conduct among adults,
including homosexual, premarital, and extramarital sexual
conduct.
"It is incumbent upon the Indonesian government to stand up for
the rights of all its people and reject these measures," Pearson
said.
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