Dec. 9
INDONESIA:
Jokowi's human rights promotion disappoints: Survey
The President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo administration has failed to deliver on its
campaign promise of human rights protection in its first year, a study has
revealed.
The Setara Institute for Democracy and Peace recorded a slight fall of 0.04
points from 2014 to 2015 on the achievement index of human rights promotion,
which is rated from 0 to 7, with 7 being the best score.
"The results are not surprising because human rights issues have evidently not
been a priority in the Jokowi-JK administration," said Setara Institute deputy
chairman Bonar Tigor Naipospos, referring to Jokowi and Vice President Jusuf
Kalla.
According to Bonar, the promise made during the election campaign was not
reflected in a number of government documents, including the National Mid-Term
Development Plan (RPJMN), the National Plan of Action on Human Rights (RANHAM)
and the Government Working Plan (RKP).
The study, which was conducted from Nov. 5 to Dec. 5, involved 215 respondents
in 19 provinces.Setara research director Ismail Hasani said that respondents,
who consisted of human rights experts and activists, were disappointed that
human rights protection was not outlined in Jokowi's Nawa Cita (nine agenda)
development principles and at the failure to set up a special commission on
past human right abuses that was initially proposed.
Instead, Bonar explained, the government has been inconsistent in the matter
and has neglected to bring to light the truth in regards to these issues, such
as by restricting discussions on the 1965 communist purge and questioning every
move by the public to demand full disclosure.Human rights issues that the
survey rated included the death penalty, with the county's score on this seeing
the biggest drop in the past year from a recorded of 2.18 in 2014 down to 1.99
in 2015.
Ismail said the executions of convicted foreign drug offenders earlier this
year had negatively impacted diplomatic relations on the human rights front
within the international realm and therefore affected the protection of
Indonesian citizens on death row abroad, he explained.
However, Ismail continued, there were also some improvements, such as a rise in
economic, social and cultural rights that went up from 2.99 to 3.22 in the past
year. Ismail said the study showed that Jokowi was leaning too much toward
infrastructure development while neglecting human rights issues.
Setara national committee secretary Pastor Benny Susetyo urged for a balanced
approach from the government, adding that upholding human rights and democratic
values would also promote economic growth.
There is a need to break ties to the past, Benny said, adding that it was
necessary for the government to own up to past failures. He also said the
President should not be afraid to ignore politicians in his circle that had
conflicts of interest in order to experience real growth in the promotion and
protection of human rights.
(source: The Jakarta Post)
IRAN:
Amnesty International: Iran remains world's top executioner of juvenile
offenders
The Iranian regime has "cemented its shameful status as the world's top
official executioner of juvenile offenders after 2 young men were re-sentenced
to death for crimes committed when they were under 18 years old", Amnesty
International said on Tuesday.
2 Iranian juvenile offenders Sajad Sanjari and Hamid Ahmadi, are facing death
after the Iranian regim's judiciary concluded that they had reached "mental
maturity" at the time of the crime.
Sajad Sanjari, now aged 20, was 15 years old at the time of alleged crime and
Hamid Ahmadi, now aged 24, was first sentenced to death in August 2009 was 17
years old at the time of committing alleged crime.
"This ruling lays bare the Iranian authorities' contempt for the human rights
of children, coupled with their appetite for the death penalty - a toxic
combination that leaves numerous juvenile offenders facing execution," said
Said Boumedouha, Deputy Director of Amnesty International's Middle East and
North Africa Programme.
"Iran's continued use of the death penalty against persons convicted of crimes
committed while they were under 18 years of age is cruel, inhumane and
blatantly unlawful. The death sentences of both these men, and all other
juvenile offenders on death row in Iran, must be commuted immediately."
"The re-sentencing to death of Sajad Sanjari and Hamid Ahmadi makes a mockery
of a fundamentally flawed provision that gives judges the discretion to impose
the death penalty for crimes committed by minors. No such discretion must ever
be given under any circumstances. The assessment of their mental state years
after the crime is an inherently defective way of determining criminal
responsibility," said Said Boumedouha.
"These retrial proceedings have been hailed as juvenile justice advances but
increasingly we are seeing them turning into a cruel show that ends with
juvenile offenders once again finding themselves on death row."
http://www.amnestyusa.org/news/press-releases/iran-renewed-death-sentences-for-juvenile-offenders-show-%E2%80%98contempt-for-children-s-rights
(source: NCR-Iran)
JAPAN:
Japan lawyers' group slams 'inhumane' death penalty, calls for suspension,
national debate
The Japan Federation of Bar Associations on Wednesday condemned capital
punishment as "inhumane" and called on Justice Minister Mitsuhide Iwaki to set
up an panel of experts to review the policy.
It said the body should start a national debate about a practice already
abandoned in Europe and elsewhere.
The lawyers' group, an influential body representing Japan's legal profession,
said the panel should include people for, against and neutral toward the death
penalty.
The secrecy surrounding executions in Japan has been criticized at home and
abroad, with neither death row inmates nor their lawyers and families given
advance notice executions, which take place by hanging.
It is also unclear what criteria authorities use in deciding when inmates are
to be executed, as some remain on death row for years.
Making its case, the group noted that 140 countries have abolished the death
penalty by law or in practice as of the end of 2014. It also cited a
recommendation by the U.N. Human Rights Committee that urged Japan to "give due
consideration to the abolition of the death penalty."
The group said: "The death penalty is one of the most important human rights
problems facing Japan."
Moreover, it called for a suspension of executions while the nation debates the
policy.
"We have called for public debate over the abolition of capital punishment,"
the group said. "It is because the death penalty is an inhumane punishment and
it eliminates the possibility of rehabilitating those who commit crimes."
It added: "Trials always carry a risk of misjudgment, and if a wrong judgment
leads to capital punishment, it cannot be corrected."
(source: Japan Times)
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