Indonesia's
laws prohibiting and punishing the "abuse or defamation of religions"
are contrary to international human rights law, according to the amicus
curiae brief submitted by ARTICLE 19, Amnesty International, the Cairo
Institute for Human Rights Studies and the Egyptian Initiative for
Personal Rights to the Indonesian Constitutional Court on 11 March 2010.
Indonesia's
laws prohibiting and punishing the "abuse or defamation of religions"
are contrary to international human rights law, according to the amicus
curiae brief submitted by ARTICLE 19, Amnesty International, the Cairo
Institute for Human Rights Studies and the Egyptian Initiative for
Personal Rights to the Indonesian Constitutional Court on 11 March 2010.
The organisations submitted the brief to the Indonesian
Constitutional Court in the judicial review of Law Number 1/PNPS/1965
concerning the prevention of religious abuse and/or defamation. The 1965
law prohibits "interpretation and activities are in deviation of the
basic teachings" of "a religion adhered to in Indonesia", which includes
some faiths with followers in the country but not others. The
Indonesian Criminal Code imposes a five year prison sentence on anyone
who publicly expresses views or engages in actions which are considered
"abuse or defamation" of these religions.
In the opinion of the
organisations, the laws violate Indonesia's international human rights
obligations to respect and protect freedom of expression, freedom of
thought, conscience and religion, and the right to equality. The
organisations emphasise that the laws are fundamentally incompatible
with the authoritative interpretation of international human rights law
by international and regional human rights bodies and mechanisms,
including the UN Special Rapporteurs on freedom of opinion and
expression and on freedom of religion or belief. The organisations
further argue that the laws go against regional human rights standards
and practices.
The organisations have submitted the brief in the
hope that the Constitutional Court will rescind Indonesia's defamation
laws as a first step towards ensuring full adherence to Indonesia's
international legal obligations, including respect for and protection of
the human rights to freedom of religion or belief and freedom of
expression, and ending discriminatory policies and practices against
certain minority faiths.
