Human Rights Court: Definition, Legal Basis, Position, and Objectives of Its Establishment

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.

Legal Basis and Position

As previously mentioned, the presence of the Human Rights Court is a mandate from Article 104 paragraph (1) Law Number 39 of 1999 concerning Human Rights which mandates that:

to try gross human rights violations, a human rights court is formed within the scope of the general court

And this mandate is manifested through the ratification of the Law Number 26 of 2000 concerning the Human Rights Court. This Law explains everything from the definition, scope of authority, to the procedural law used in the Human Rights Court. Meanwhile, regarding its position, as Article 2 states that the Human Rights Court is a special court within the general court and Article 3 paragraph (1) of the Law explains that the Human Rights Court is located in the regency or city area whose legal area covers the legal area of the district court concerned.

Division of Human Rights Courts

And it should also be noted that in Law No. 26 of 2000, the Human Rights Court is divided into two, namely the Human Rights Court and the Ad Hoc Human Rights Court. The Human Rights Court referred to as stipulated in Article 2 and Article 3 paragraph (1) of Law No. 26 of 2000 is authorized to examine and adjudicate cases of gross human rights violations.

Meanwhile, the Ad Hoc Human Rights Court is a special court that has the authority to examine and adjudicate cases of gross human rights violations that occurred before the enactment of Law No. 26 of 2000 concerning the Human Rights Court. This Ad Hoc Human Rights Court can only be formed on the proposal of the DPR with a presidential decree. Thus, not all events of gross human rights violations can be resolved through the Human Rights Court, but the time of the incident (tempus delicti) of the event must be seen, if it occurred in the year before the enactment of Law No. 26 of 2000, then the authority to adjudicate is the Ad Hoc Human Rights Court.

The Purpose of Establishing the Human Rights Court

The purpose of the establishment of the Human Rights Court is closely related to the background of the establishment of the Human Rights Court as explained in the previous section. The Court Human Rights was established to uphold and maintain the values of human rights of every individual (community) in Indonesia.

Human rights are very fundamental in life, if the state (government) does not carry out its obligation to fulfill the needs and human rights of every citizen and results in the unfulfillment of the human rights of citizens, it will certainly be very detrimental, especially if there are human rights violations. With that, a institution is needed that can guarantee to uphold these human rights and also provide a deterrent effect for anyone not to commit serious human rights violations. That is, in addition to being a coercive effort, the presence of the Human Rights Court also aims to present preventive efforts.

Reference Sources:

• Rahayu. 2015. Human Rights Law. Semarang: Diponegoro University Publisher.
• Law Number 39 of 1999 concerning Human Rights
• Law Number 26 of 2000 concerning the Human Rights Court