PERMANENT MISSION OF THE REPUBLIC OF INDONESIA
TO THE UNITED NATIONS
NEW YORK

COMMITMENTS AND VOLUNTARY PLEDGES OF INDONESIA
IN THE FIELD OF HUMAN RIGHTS

As a reflection of its strong commitment to the promotion and protection of human rights, the Government of the Republic of Indonesia decided to present its candidature for membership of the Human Rights Council. The elections will be held by the General Assembly on 9 May 2006.

Indonesia is the third largest democracy and has the world’s largest Moslem population which forms part of a mosaic state firmly rooted on the principle of religious freedom and tolerance.

Indonesia was a member of the UN Commission of Human Rights during the period of 1991-2002 and has been re-elected to its current membership in 2004. Indonesia has played an important and constructive role in the work of the Commission. In 2005, Indonesia has further rendered its contribution through its chairmanship of the 61~ Session of the Human Rights Commission. It also plays an active role in the discussions, dialogues and cooperation in the field of human rights in other regional and global fora.

Indonesia is a State Party to all principal human rights instruments, namely the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women; the Convention of the Rights of the Child; the Convention Against Torture; the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination; the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. It has acceded to or ratified all the ILO core conventions on human rights.

Indonesia has a robust National Commission on Human Rights since 1993 and has established other human rights-related national commissions such as on the Rights of the Child and on Women’s Rights. Indonesia is currently implementing nation-wide human rights mainstreaming programmes.

Indonesia is proud of its vibrant human rights civil society organizations and its
free and dynamic press as important pillars of democracy.

Indonesia has incorporated detailed provisions on human rights in its State constitution and in other national legislations. It has national blue prints for the promotion and protection of human rights since 1998, and is now implementing its second national human rights action plan for the period of 2004-2309. In order to ensure an effective and coordinated implementation of the national human rights action plan throughout Indonesia, in addition to the existing National Committee as the coordinating agency in the capital, regional committees were already put in place at the province and district levels in 30 out of the 33 provinces of the country.

At the regional and international levels, Indonesia has supported many important human rights initiatives and plays an instrumental role in working towards the establishment of a regional human rights mechanism, including in ASEAN. Indonesia also actively promotes bilateral and plulilateral dialogues on human rights with various countries, as well as interfaith dialogue and cooperation at regional, inter-regional and global levels.

Pledges at international level

• Indonesia will continue to do its utmost to ensure the effective promotion and protection of human rights at the international level through genuine dialogue and cooperation, based on the principles of non-selectivity and impartiality, as well as on the universality, indivisibility and inter-relatedness of all human rights.
  
• Indonesia will continue its efforts to respect and support the international human rights instruments through the signing, accession or ratification of those instruments outlined in its national plan of action of 2004-2009, namely: Convention for the Suppression of Trafficking in Persons; Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families; Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Children on the Sale of Children, Child Pornography and Child Prostitution; Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women; Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflicts; Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide; Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment; Rome Statute on the International Criminal Court; Convention on the Status of Refugees; Protocol to the Convention on the Status of Refugees.
  
• Indonesia will constructively engage in the work of Human Rights Council including in the process of reviewing mandates, functions and mechanisms it inherits from the Human Rights Commission as well as in elaborating the modality of the universal periodic review mechanism. In addition, Indonesia will fully cooperate with the Human Rights Council in the universal periodic review mechanism.
  
• Indonesia will work to ensure that all human rights, civil, political, economic, social, cultural rights and the rights to development are given equal emphasis in the work of the Human Rights Council.
  
• Indonesia will work to ensure that cultural and religious values of all states and communities are taken into account in the deliberation on human rights issues, in the context of promoting tolerance, respect for and freedom of religion and belief.
  
• Indonesia will continue to work and fully cooperate with relevant treaty monitoring bodies, through the timely submission of its national reports and implementation of their recommendations.
  
• Indonesia will continue to lend its support to the work of the Office of the Nigh Commissioner for Human Rights.
  
• Indonesia will continue to actively promote dialogues on interfaith cooperation at the regional, interregional, and global level.
  
• Indonesia will continue its efforts in the strengthening the role of civil society in the promotion and protection of human rights at the regional and international level.

Pledges at national level