Yesterday, family members of Munir Said Thalib, an Indonesian human rights activist assassinated in 2004, and activists organized a protest in front of the National Human Rights Commission’s (Komnas HAM) office. Present in attendance were Suciwati (Munir’s widow), Diva Suukyi Larasati (Munir’s daughter), Usman Hamid (Amnesty International Indonesia’s Executive Director)…

I had a paradoxical childhood. I can’t remember how old I was when I gained consciousness of my surroundings, at least when it comes to where I was or who I was with. The question about who I am is still a present existential question of its own. But, by…

On 24 September 2019, I joined the Reformasi Dikorupsi movement, the largest protest Indonesia has ever witnessed since 1998. I arrived pretty early, at around 11 AM, in front of the House of Representatives (DPR) building in the Gatot Subroto area, Central Jakarta. Thousands of other protesters, mostly students from…

The United States (US) withdrawal resulting in the Taliban blitzkrieg-like takeover of Afghanistan invited various reactions from the wider international community. On 24 August 2021, the United Nations (UN) High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, urged “all States to create safe pathways for Afghan refugees and migrants, broaden asylum…

As a signatory to the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (ICPPED), Indonesia is, in principle, endorsing the global attempts to fight enforced disappearance. However, despite its moral support to the ICPPED, many cases of enforced disappearance in Indonesia are still left unresolved. For instance…

A little over a month ago, the Indonesian civil society elements were upset by the Indonesian government’s decision to vote against Resolution A/75/L.82 of 10 May 2021 regarding the inclusion of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) question on the United Nations General Assembly annual agenda item (United Nations, 2021; Sekarwati…

Introduction Indonesia’s foreign policy has always been imbued by the free and active (bebas-aktif) doctrine ever since the concept was originally introduced by the country’s first vice president, Mohammad Hatta, in 1948 (Parameswaran, 2014). The doctrine entails Indonesia’s non-alignment to a particular axis of power while seeking dynamic roles in…

West Papuans’ struggle for independence is a long history filled with historical grievances, sustained human rights abuses, economic injustice, ‘slow genocide,’ and institutional racism (MacLeod, 2011; MacLeod, Moiwend, & Pilbrow, 2016). During the colonization period, the Melanesian peoples of New Guinea island were colonized by three powers: the British and…

On 15 September 1999, the United Nations Security Council authorized the use of force in East Timor. Through the adoption of Resolution 1264/1999, the Council deemed it necessary to establish a multinational force to protect the United Nations Mission in East Timor (UNAMET) and end human rights abuses in the…