Jakarta – The Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) believes that the Draft Criminal Code (RKUHP) could be an obstacle to the resolution of gross human rights violations.
Under the latest version of the RKUHP which was able to be accessed by the public back in 2019, gross human rights violations are regulated under Articles 599 and 600. Yet gross human rights violations are already specifically regulated under Law Number 26/2000 on Human Rights Courts.
"The presence of articles on gross human rights violations in the RKUHP will be quite disruptive on how gross human rights violations themselves are resolved", said Kontras Coordinator Fatia Maulidiyanti during an online discussion on Thursday June 16.
Maulidiyanti explained that gross human rights violations under the RKUHP have been changed into a general offense. Thus there will be many principles which will not be in accordance with the resolution of gross human rights violations as referred to in the Rome Statutes and the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights.
In addition to this, the inclusion of articles on gross human rights violations will also negate the special features of these cases, such as the expiration date. Under Law Number 26/2000, cases of gross human rights violations have no expiration date.
In other words, said Maulidiyanti, the RKUHP will nullify Law Number 26/2000. It is because of this that Kontras opposes the inclusion of articles on gross human rights violations in the RKUHP.
"It would be better if the articles on gross human rights violations are removed", she said.
According to Maulidiyanti, it would be better if the government revises Law Number 26/2000 rather than including the articles in the RKUHP. In her view, the law is still not perfect.
"In the law itself, there are still many critical points which should be revised immediately and immediately make improvement to accommodate the government in resolving gross human rights violations", she said. (yla/fra)
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "KontraS: RKUHP Bisa Hambat Penyelesaian Kasus HAM Berat".]
