Republic of Indonesia asked to Investigate Religious Intolerance

Indonesia is also expected as soon as possible to apply the Act for Religious Harmony

Source: http://dunia.vivanews.com/news/read/316606-ri-diminta-selidiki-intoleransi-relijius

VIVAnews - A session of the UN Human Rights Council meeting requested the Government of Indonesia to investigate properly the attacks on minorities and those responsible should be prosecuted. The session was also suggested that Indonesia actively promote the education and training on respect for human rights at all levels.



United Nations Information Centre (UNIC) in Jakarta revealed several important results regarding the response to regular reports on the development of Indonesia Human Rights (Universal Periodic Review), which was announced by Minister of Foreign Affairs Marty Natalegawa in Geneva, Switzerland, May 23, 2012 local time.



A public hearing on the UPR review of Indonesia was attended by delegations from 74 countries, the UN Human Rights Council 24 members and 47 observers. A number of state delegates were given the task to give a top view of Indonesia's presentation. They are the delegation of Guatemala, Kyrgyzstan, and Botswana.



About the protection of minorities, UPR session noted several positive developments achieved Indonesia. One of them had been there a number of steps to address the intolerance of religious minorities in the country. In addition, Indonesia also supports the establishment of the Permanent Human Rights Commission as mandated by the Independent Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC).



However, the UPR Working Group session on Indonesia noted a number of things to watch. One is to question some of the measures taken to address the religious intolerance in Indonesia and in protecting the rights of religious minorities.



Issues related to the above, the delegates of countries participating in the UPR session of Indonesia's then gives a number of recommendations. This includes the need to strengthen efforts to ensure that any attack on the people of religious minorities are properly investigated and those responsible should be tried.



The delegates also recommended that Indonesia "as soon as possible to implement the Act for Religious Harmony is still under discussion [in parliament]," the statement from UNIC. In addition, the delegation also called on Indonesia to hold a training and awareness campaigns about freedom of religion for the bureaucrats at the provincial and regional level two.



However, in a press statement, UNIC stated that the above statement, though already published for the media, not to be the official stance of the UN Human Rights Council session. Related follow-up sessions Indonesia UPR review will take place on May 25, 2012.



Explanation of Foreign



UPR session in Geneva on Wednesday, Foreign Minister Natalegawa acknowledged that there are groups that had expressed the view that hard and tend to be extreme, so contrary to the principles of democracy. It's a challenge for Indonesia in maintaining democracy in this country.



However, Natalegawa warned that since the report of Indonesia in the same forum in 2008, there were quite rapid progress, and important in the field of human rights. "The various institutions of democracy and human rights has been and continues to be built in order to realize the commitment to the promotion and protection of human rights," said Natalegawa.



Previously, a number of nongovernmental human rights enforcement at the national and international level highlight the intolerance of certain groups which carried out the minorities in Indonesia, such as the issue of establishment of several churches, the persecution of the Ahmadiyya, and banning a book discussion. NGOs deplore the government and the Indonesian security forces of intolerance let that happen.