The
enactment of the new Islamic Criminal Code calling for adulterers to be
stoned to death and whipping for sex outside of marriage in Aceh,
Indonesia, has shocked many quarters. This statement was released by
FORUM-ASIA on 26 September 2009 and endorsed by Commission for
Disappeared and Victims of Violence (KontraS), Indonesia's NGO
Coalition for International Human Rights Advocacy (HRWG) and Indonesia
Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI).
The
enactment of the new Islamic Criminal Code calling for adulterers to be
stoned to death and whipping for sex outside of marriage in Aceh,
Indonesia, has shocked many quarters. This statement was released by
FORUM-ASIA on 26 September 2009 and endorsed by Commission for
Disappeared and Victims of Violence (KontraS), Indonesia's NGO
Coalition for International Human Rights Advocacy (HRWG) and Indonesia
Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI).
(Bangkok,
26 September 2009) The enactment of the new Islamic Criminal
Code calling for adulterers to be stoned to death and whipping for sex
outside of marriage in Aceh, Indonesia, has shocked many quarters. The
Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA), a regional
organisation with 46 members across Asia, expresses its grave concerns
that such a law is a gross violation of human rights as whipping and
stoning to death are both tantamount to inhumane treatment and torture.
The world is
advancing towards the abolishment of torture and the death penalty,
which is a violation to Article 6 (2) of the International Covenant
on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) which states that "in countries
which have not abolished the death penalty, sentence of death may be
imposed only for the most serious crimes" and Article 7 also prohibits
torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment which Indonesia is,
one among other 20 countries, the signatory of the UN Convention Against
Torture and its Optional Protocol on 26 September 2006.
Despite opposition
from civil society organisations, on 14 September, Aceh's Legislative
Council endorsed unanimously the "qanun jinayat", the Islamic criminal
code, allowing stoning to death for adulterers, lashing for unmarried
persons caught engaging in sexual intercourse and long prison term punishment
for homosexuals.
Aceh's parliament
is the only legislature in Indonesia that employs qanun jinayat. The
Syaria law implemented since 2005 has already outlawed drinking alcohol
and gambling, and made compulsory the wearing of headscarves for women.
The new controversial bylaw, endorsed in the Plenary Session, was sworn
in following a heavy defeat of conservative Muslim parties in local
direct elections. The bylaw covers issues including adultery, pre-marital
sex, consumption of alcohol, rape, sexual harassment, homosexuality
and gambling. It orders married Muslims or non-Muslims involved in adultery
to be stoned 100 times or to death, while unmarried violators are threatened
with 100 flogs by caning, while homosexuals could face a maximum of
100 public lashings, or sentenced to a maximum eight-year imprisonment.
FORUM-ASIA
is concerned that instead of being a model of democratisation process
in Southeast Asia, Indonesia moved backwards by implementing a punishment
that is 14th century old. This archaic law is a
direct violation to a number of International human rights treaties
which Indonesia is a state party to, such as the United Nations Convention
on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW),
Article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
(ICCPR) and Article 16 of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel,
Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT).
With its current
role as the vice president of the United Nations Human Rights Council,
FORUM-ASIA calls upon the Government of Indonesia to make serious efforts
to comply with the recommendations from the Universal Periodic Review
in June 2008, especially on the prevention of torture and other cruel,
inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and urges the government
to cancel the legislation of qanun jinayat.
Endorsed by:
The Commission
for Dissapeared and Victims of Violence (KontraS), Indonesia's NGO
Coalition for International Human Rights Advocacy (HRWG), Indonesia
Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI)
