KONTRAS: Torture Increased Drastically!

A Report on the Practice of Torture in Indonesia

PRESS RELEASE:
Commemorating the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture (June 26), the Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence (KontraS) released its annual report entitled, “Torture Increased Drastically!” This report is excerpted from the various incidents of torture that have raised the public attention (both nationally and internationally) from July 2011 to June 2012, particularly the elaboration of numerous reports on complaints of torture that were directly handled by KontraS. This report is KontraS evaluation of the situation of torture that continues to use the assessment framework used by the Committee against Torture and the mechanisms under the UN Human Rights Council (either by the Special Rapporteur Against Torture as well as through the Second Cycle of Universal Periodic Review session on May 23 2012).

KontraS notes that there are numerous state policies that facilitate the practice of torture. Although in fact, the State should be able to accommodate the policies preventing or reducing the occurrence of torture. These issues include:

– The absence of criminalization of crimes of torture and punishment for the perpetrators because there is a revision of the Criminal Code and Criminal Procedure Code has been entered in the program even though the national legislation (Prolegnas) 2010-2014

– Continue maintenance of the death penalty policy. Abolition of the death penalty in Indonesia should be done with the goal of doing a moratorium on executions that had been imposed de facto in the last 4 years. However, in the last year there were six new death row decided by the court

– Policy caning in Aceh. Caning is a form of cruel punishment (corporal punishment) is not in accordance with the Convention against Torture and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. In the period June 2011-June 2012 there were 47 people sentenced to caning in Aceh.

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