The Ministry of Defense Lists the Importance of the State Asking for Forgiveness in the Roadmap for Heavy Human Rights Victims

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Human Rights (Kemenham) lists the importance of delivering an apology or state apology in the roadmap for the recovery of victims of past serious human rights violations that are being drafted.

Director General of Human Rights Services and Compliance at the Ministry of Defense, Munafrizal Manan, conveyed this at a public hearing held by Commission XIII of the Indonesian House of Representatives at the parliament complex, Senayan, Jakarta, Thursday, March 2.

"In this roadmap, one of the things that is also emphasized is the importance of the state's role in the recovery of victims as part of the settlement of serious human rights violations, including in this roadmap we have included the point about the importance of delivering an apology, apology from the state," he said, quoted by Antara.

According to Munafrizal, the apology was based on the experience of other countries in efforts to recover victims of serious human rights violations.

"This could later become a kind of psychological recovery for victims and victims' families because of the delivery of official apologies from the state," he said.

In addition, the Ministry of Defense has also initiated a special budget for the recovery of victims in the roadmap. This is a kind of Trust Fund for Victims carried out by the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands.

"So, so that the recovery for the victims has clarity from the budget side. Hopefully, what we propose as an effort to provide recovery for these victims in the roadmap can be realized in the future," he said.

On Thursday, Commission XIII of the Indonesian House of Representatives held a public hearing with various partners to discuss recovery for witnesses and victims of past gross human rights violations.

The meeting was attended by representatives from the Coordinating Ministry for Legal, Human Rights, Immigration, and Corrections, the Ministry of Human Rights, the Ministry of Health, the National Human Rights Commission, the Witness and Victim Protection Agency, and BPJS Kesehatan.

Deputy Chairman of Commission XIII of the Indonesian House of Representatives Andreas Hugo Pareira said the meeting had an important and strategic meaning.

"This is to discuss the settlement of compensation and recovery of witnesses and victims of past serious human rights violations, including social security and various other forms of compensation," he said.

According to Andreas, through social security, it is hoped that victims will be able to regain access to health services, economic support, and a more decent and useful life.

In addition, Commission XIII of the DPR RI considers social security to play an important role in reducing the vulnerability experienced by victims so far, as well as preventing the occurrence of deepening inequality.

Andreas emphasized that social security and compensation policies for witnesses and victims of past gross human rights violations would strengthen public confidence that the state was truly present in providing protection and justice.