Currently, Indonesia become the state of violations of freedom of peaceful assembly, association, and expression or fundamental rights, which has been a long listed, especially related to criminalization which addressed to the critics to the government and raise the issue about Papua. Just like what happened 2 weeks ago during the protest to the G-20 event in Bali, Indonesia.

The criminalizations are under treason and subversive crimes, the defamation against the state officials (personally), based on existing Criminal Code and the Law on Electronic Information & Transaction (UU ITE).

For the last 2 years, we face the critical situation where Indonesian Government proposed the new draft of Criminal Code Bill (Rancangan Kitab Undang-undang Hukum Pidana/R-KUHP) which contains draconian articles, anti-democracy and violates human rights, especially fundamental freedoms and become more like royal based-state similarly during the colonialism era by the Dutch or monarchy with leste majeste laws.

The legislation process of the draft of R-KUHP itself, has been done without any transparency and without any meaningful participation, not even share the draft in a timely manner. The government only socialized to numbers of cities but never accommodate the comments or suggestions from the civil society and human rights activists.

Such regulations or law that creating a huge loophole in democracy setbacks become a new pattern in legitimizing the human rights violations and authoritarism to reduce any form of civil rights such as peace protests as the essence of democracy. This is against with the state commitment in the UPR session that mentioned civil society participation is fundamental. However, in reality the government not even giving us free space for fundamental freedoms.

Hence, the practices of human rights violations committed by the state, which originally performed without legal basis, now being institutionalized under the legislation process. Indonesian government is using the new tactics to clamp down on freedom of assembly, association, and expression, which called State Captured-Violations.

Indonesian government and parliament will sign the new draft of R-KUHP (criminal code) on 6th of December 2022.

We urge the Mr. Clement as a Special Rapporteurs to raise this situation of the new draft RKUHP (Indonesian criminal code) in a formal and immediate level, to the United Nations also to the government of Indonesia. And as the follow up mechanism from the OHCHR to the Indonesian government.

And to the Indonesian government to commit to accept 28 recommendations on civic spaces in the UPR 4th Cycle to guarantee the fundamental freedoms in Indonesia.

Submitted by FORUM-ASIA INDONESIAN MEMBERS:
PBHI, KontraS, YLBHI, HRWG, Imparsial, AJI Indonesia, Elsam