The Dialogue ia a cornerstone in the relations between our two countries” he said, “and it has laid the ground for our cooperation on many subjects such as non-proliferation, climate and Health and Foreign Politics.” Indonesia had just started on its path toward democracy when the Human Rights dialogue started 10 years ago. Today, the country is the largest political and economic powerhouse in ASEA, and promotes Human Rights in the Asia-Pacific region. Indonesia’s progress in the field has been gigantic, but challenges remain, as they also do in Norway. Indonesia’s Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa was supposed to co-open the dialogue, but was hindered from coming to Oslo. He was represented by Director General for Europe and North-America, Retno Marsudi who emphasized the exceptionally good co-operation between the countries, and the importance of the dialogue.
The Dialogue has covered a wide range of subjects over its 10 years of existence: corruption, economic criminality, the justice sector and freedom of religion are a few among those. It can shoe to several tangible results: Indonesian officers have been trained in Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law, a legal handbook on the subject has been published and a bill for reform of Juvenile Justice has been presented to the Indonesian Parliament.
Close to fifty experts from both countries discussed the challenges, and the aim was to present common propositions for securing the citizens’ rights. There were three working groups this year as last: Human Rights and the Security Sectors, Interfaith Dialogue and Culture of Tolerance and Children’s Rights. The participants’ backgrounds were varied and there were representatives from religious groups, the military, the police, ministries and universities.
The dialogue started with the working groups doing field trips on 20th June. The Children’s Rights group travelled to the town of Drammen south of Oslo where the Police Prevention Team briefed them on the pioneering co-operation between the different departments in the region. The Interfaith group visited the multicultural Fjell Primary School in the same town, as well as a church, a mosque and the multi-religious crematorium. The Security Sector group was hosted by the Norwegian War Academy where they experienced a realistic training in the Norwegian Defence Forces’ use of Rules of Engagement (ROE). The Field trips generated a lot of enthusiasm and laid the foundation for the ensuing discussions.
The working groups presented their proposals for co-operation after two days of dialogue. The Security Sector group argued for co-operating on ROE training at the Indonesian centre for peace-keeping operations. The Children’s group proposed capacity building for Indonesian authorities in relation to the implementation of the new bill for juvenile justice. The Interfaith group supported the idea of a new Master level course titled “Shari’a and Human Rights: background and core issues in contemporary Indonesia.”
State Secretary Espen Barth Eide closed the dialogue by showing to the deep felt and mutual respect that exists between our two countries: we share many of the same ambitions for the dialogue, og wish to see those evolve. Norway and Indonesia have a common engagement for democracy and Human Rights , and Eide emphasized the good co-operation between Norway and Indonesia in the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, especially in the work on the resolution for the protection of Human Rights Defenders. The Human Rights dialogue will take place in Indonesia next year, and Director General Marsudi wished the participants welcome back to a new round of constructive dialogue.
Utenriksminister Støre`s tale: Les
Ekspedisjonssjef Marsudis tale: Les
Pressemelding fra Indonesisk UD om 10. menneskerettighetsdialog: Les (indonesisk)