Legal Literacy - This article explains the Human Rights Court, starting from the definition, background, position, to the purpose of establishing the Human Rights Court.

Definition and Background of the Human Rights Court

The definition of the Human Rights Court can be found in Article 1 number 3 of Law Number 26 of 2000 concerning the Human Rights Court, which states that:

The Human Rights Court, hereinafter referred to as the Human Rights Court, is a special court for gross human rights violations.

Then, the background for the establishment of the Human Rights Court is due to the many incidents of human rights violations that occurred in Indonesia at that time, especially the East Timor event that occurred in 1999. This event attracted the attention of the international world, especially the UN, to immediately take actions that could quell the conflict that occurred.

According to the report of the Commission of Inquiry into Violations (KPP) of Human Rights for East Timor, it was found that there had been serious human rights violations in the form of mass killings, torture and ill-treatment, enforced disappearances, and forced displacement of residents.[1] Regarding this event, the UN Security Council issued Resolution Number 1264 of 1999 which essentially condemned the human rights violations that occurred in East Timor and requested that the perpetrators be tried before a court.[2] With this pressure, the Indonesian government finally enacted Law Number 26 of 2000 concerning the Human Rights Court, which is a follow-up to the mandate of Article 104 paragraph (1) of Law Number 39 of 1999 concerning Human Rights.