Legal Literacy - This article explains the difference between human rights violations and gross human rights violations, along with concrete examples of human rights violation cases. Let's take a look!

State Obligations

Before further discussing the difference between human rights violations (HAM) and gross human rights violations, it would be better for us to first understand the state's obligation in realizing the fulfillment of human rights for its citizens. In the concept of human rights, the state (government) has the status as a duty bearer and every individual (society) within the territory of that state has the status as a rights holder.[1]

The obligations that the state has are the obligation to respect, the obligation to fulfill, and the obligation to protect human rights for its citizens.[2]

Understanding Human Rights Violations and Gross Human Rights Violations

To find out the meaning of human rights violations, we can refer to Article 1 number 6 of Law Number 39 of 1999 concerning Human Rights which states that:

“A human rights violation is any act by a person or group of people, including state apparatus, whether intentional or unintentional, or negligence, that restricts, and or revokes the human rights of a person or group of people guaranteed by this Law, and does not obtain, or is feared will not obtain a fair and correct legal settlement, based on applicable legal mechanisms”

Meanwhile, the definition of gross human rights violations can be seen in Article 1 number 2 of Law Number 26 of 2000 concerning the Human Rights Court, which states that:

“Gross Human Rights Violations are human rights violations as referred to in this Law.”