Dealing with the Past: UNDP Indonesia supports Multi-Stakeholder Consultations on the Draft National Law to Establish a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in Indonesia

Transitional Justice for the Special Province of Aceh, Indonesia

Jakarta, 22 December 2009 – One of the key challenges in building a sustainable foundation for peace after conflict is to ensure effective reconciliation among concerned communities and to provide special assistance to conflict-affected victims.  In Indonesia, UNDP has been working to support national efforts towards the establishment of a transitional justice mechanism in the Special Province of Aceh.  Aceh, known world-wide for the destruction caused by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, suffered from nearly 30 years of conflict and rampant human rights abuses. In view of the need to establish the truth of the past human rights violations and to prevent recurrences of violence and abuses, the Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of Indonesia and Free Aceh Movement (GAM) (the “MOU”), which concluded the armed conflict in 2005, stipulated that a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and a Human Rights Court (HRC) for Aceh are to be established.

According to the Director-General of Human Rights Protection in Ministry of Law and Human Rights, Professor Harkristuti Harkrisnowo, “Dealing with the past violations of human rights and establishing national reconciliation through TRC ensures a thriving democracy and prevention of future human rights abuses in Indonesia.” In this context, UNDP Indonesia has been working to support background research and multi-stakeholder consultations for transitional justice through the Aceh Justice Project (AJP) which is funded by European Commission’s Aceh Peace Process Support (APPS).

With guidance from the Human Rights Adviser to the Office of the Resident Coordinator, the project created a TRC information dissemination strategy at the end of 2008, and undertook various awareness-raising and consensus-building activities in Aceh. This included translating core UN documents on TRC issues, organising consultation workshops, and publishing newspaper articles on TRC in Aceh.

In 2009, UNDP liaised with the Ministry of Law and Human Rights regarding its draft of a national law to establish the TRC and created a partnership with the Director-General Office in the Ministry. In order to disseminate the information about this draft law and to facilitate the exchange of views between the national and local actors, UNDP through AJP then organized two consultation meetings with the Ministry’s legal drafting team and Aceh stakeholders in Aceh. Out of these consultation meetings, the Aceh Governor’s office endorsed a TRC working group, which then devised a recommendation paper on the revision of the national draft law. This paper was formally submitted to the Ministry in September, and the Ministry since then has taken some of the recommendations in their revision of the draft law. This line of support from UNDP has been instrumental in building bridges between the national and provincial actors, between the Government and Civil Society.

The new TRC draft law, once finalised, needs to be debated and enacted by the House of Representatives in order to actually establish the TRC. In this context, UNDP Indonesia recognised that the process of enactment will benefit from ensuring that the draft is effectively introduced to and discussed by the new members of the House of Representatives and that there is concerted dialogue and collaboration between the parliamentarians and all stakeholders including those from Aceh.

Therefore, UNDP supported the Director-General Office in the Ministry of Law and Human Rights to convene a multi-stakeholder consultation meeting on the Draft National Law on Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Jakarta on 22 December 2009. Attended by 49 participants, this consultation meeting involved newly elected members of Parliamentary Committee III on Human Rights and the Parliamentary Committee on Legal Drafting, the Vice Governor of Aceh, members of Aceh House of Representatives (DPRA), members of the national Senate from Aceh, Partai Aceh, national human rights institutions, as well as scholars and human rights activists. 

Prof. Harkristuti Harkrisnowo introduced the latest version of the draft law and emphasized that the TRC is intended to foster reconciliation and benefits for the entire nation. The Vice Governor of Aceh, Mr. Muhammad Nazar, communicated the aspirations of the Acehnese people for the TRC and urged the Parliament to quickly enact the law. Mr. Faisal Hadi, academic and human rights activist from Aceh, provided an overview of the Aceh civil society work on TRC. In response, the participating members of the national parliament, the Senate, and Aceh provincial parliament raised various questions and commented on specific provisions of the draft law. The key themes of the lively debate and Q & A included: the scope and definition of ‘the family of the victim’, mechanism of summoning the witness or suspect, possible referral of perpetrators to the Court for prosecution, implementation of the TRC’s recommendations, inclusion of local (Islamic) values, arrangements for the regional office of TRC in Aceh, funding sources, as well as protection of and reparations for the victims. Nevertheless, the common view was maintained that the TRC law needs to be soon enacted, so that Indonesia and Aceh in particular overcome the legacy of past human rights violations and clear the path for sustainable peace and democracy.

As experienced by South Africa, Sierra Leone, and Timor-Leste, dealing with the past through TRC is no easy task. It is politically sensitive and requires a careful multi-stakeholder approach. UNDP Indonesia’s strategic role as a neutral actor and honest broker, partnership with the national and Aceh government, as well as field presence in Aceh have all made this engagement possible and successful.

For further information, please contact:

Ah-Jung Lee at ahjung.lee@undp.org