REFLECTIONS FROM THE FIRST INDONESIA-NORWAY HUMAN RIGHTS DIALOGUE:
A Great Lesson Learned
by
Dr Hafid Abbas
Director General of the Agency of Research and Development on Human Rights
In my capacity as Deputy Minister of State Ministry of Human Rights, I accompanied Dr Hasballah M Saad, Minister of Human Rights of the Republic of Indonesia, to visit Norway, September, 5-7, 2000. The visit was made as a response the invitation of Norway’s Minister of Development and Human Rights Ms Hilde F Johnson to discuss various areas of human rights issues. At that time, there were only three Ministries of Human Rights in the world. So, if a ministerial meeting were to be made, we could have run it in a small room because there would have been only three or four participants. The ministerial meeting between Indonesia and Norway was in fact very monumental and laid the foundation of human rights cooperation between the two countries. The meeting recommended to set up the first Human Rights Dialogue between Indonesia and Norway which was planned to be held in Jakarta in 2001. However, the plan could not be folloed through because of our dynamic internal political condition. President Wahid himself, who established the Ministry of Human Rights in early of his administration, just less than a year earlier, dissolved this Ministry and integrated it into Ministry of Justice which is now called Ministry of Law and Human Rights. A similar situation also took place in Norway where the Human Rights portfolio was integrated into Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
In our case, the integration of Ministry of Human Rights within Ministry of Justice in early 2001 have been represented by two main units; the Agency of Research and Development on Human Rights and the Directorate General of Human Rights Protection. By President Wahid, I was appointed to be the Director General of this new Directorate. I have served this office for about six years. However, since last September 2006, President Yudhoyono appointed me to be the Head or the Director General of the Agency of Research and Development of Human Rights.
It was indeed not an easy task to prepare the first Human Rights Dialogue between Indonesia and Norway during our dynamic democratic reforms. Ministry of Justice and Human Rights as the focal point to prepare the dialogue could not organize any constructive consultation with the Norwegian Government. For illustration, within a very short period of time, just less than one year, Minister of Justice and Human Rights had been replaced five times. Prof Yusril Ihza Mahendra who had been serving this ministry under President Wahid's administration, was shortly reappointed by President Megawati after she took the power. Prof Yusril replaced Prof Mahfud who had been in the ministry for only 20 days. We had two other Ministers Dr Marsilam and Prof Lopa who had been earlier served the ministry for a little bit longer, 45 days and six months respectively. During this period, we had a popular term over here which we called daily, weekly and monthly Ministers. These dynamic changes provided us untold lessons learned, and we should greatly appreciate the Norwegian Government for strengthening the good cooperation between Norway and Indonesia during this difficult situation.
The situation greatly improved in early 2002 which allowed us to run the Two Days Seminar within the Framework of the Indonesia-Norway Human Rights Dialogue, in Jakarta, 29-30 April 2002. This first dialogue addressed five areas, namely: (i) Corruption and Economic Criminality, (ii) Human Rights Courts, (iii) The Role of Judiciary in Democracy, (iv) Human Rights Education, and (v) Human Rights, Regional Policy and Civil Society. These areas had been thoroughly discussed from both Norwegian and Indonesian perspectives. The two countries presented prominent key speakers from their respective expertise. At the end of the dialogue, concrete agenda had been jointly declared by both delegations. This agenda provided a firm foundation for future relations between the two countries in areas of human rights promotion and protection, and promoting greater understanding of each other’s human system and institutions for solid cooperation.
The uniqueness of this first dialogue, a field visit had been made by all Norwegian participants to the Islands of Bangka and Belitung, about one hour flight from Jakarta. Our Ministry chartered a special round trip flights to visit the two islands. The visit aimed at providing the Norwegian Delegation a first hand experience and deeper insights to our social and cultural realities which is probably extremely different as compared to Norway social life.
As concrete follow-ups of the dialogue, we had been able to sketch some possible forms of future cooperation including: (i) the exchange of legal materials, concerning the laws, legal system and legal institutions of each country, and related materials for human promotion and protection, (ii) the exchange of visit between relevant personnel and officials, including judges, academicians, legal advisers and legal practitioners, and (iii) the establishment and strengthening of appropriate contacts and other forms of communication. In my experience, all these areas have been undertaken successfully. The Norwegian Government has provided international human rights orientation and capacity building for the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, University Research Centres on Human Rights, Police and Military, religious leaders, Provincial Government, and Human Rights NGOs all over the country. Every year, at least 30 participants representing these institutions have studied human rights at the Norwegian Institute of Human Rights, University of Oslo for at least three weeks. The alumni are now the training of trainers for human rights at their respective institution.
In all of these reflections from almost a decade ago, I am very pleased to see that the momentum of the first Human Rights Dialogue has been kept by establishing a friendly trusting relationship at many different areas and levels between the two countries. The real key to this success, I think, is the strong political support from the very beginning of Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Republic of Indonesia, Dr Hassan Wirayuda and Ambassador of Norway to Indonesia, Mr Bjon Blokhus, and the involvement of a large range of committed individuals on both sides across the social, economic, cultural and political spectrum. We look forward to more constructive and fruitful outcomes of the Seventh Human Rights Dialogue which will be held in Jakarta, next 15-16 April 2008.