Stop Imprisonment, Time for Rehabilitation

In Indonesia, the issue of mistreatment at the hands of government officials is one of the most common and serious human rights violations. Physical assault and torture, sexual assault and harassment, verbal abuse, and other forms of mistreatment occur in a variety of settings. Abuse happens during searches, demonstrations, meetings, and arrests.

A new report produced in Indonesia by the Monitoring Network of Human Rights Violations against People who Use Drugs looks specifically at police mistreatment of drug users. The stigmatization of drug users often means that government officials can act with impunity when it comes to violence, coercion, and use of abusive force. The “war on drugs” has made drug users an easy target for extortion by law enforcement authorities.

The report found that people who use drugs are especially vulnerable to physical, mental, and sexual violence; neglect of health rights; stigmatization; and discriminatory and disproportionate punishment. Those rights, especially the right to physical integrity and liberty, freedom from torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment, as well as freedom from arbitrary arrest and detention, are found in the major international human rights treaties (such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention against Torture) and in domestic law.

An executive summary of the report findings, including recommendations for the government, is available below.

The Monitoring Network is made up of four advocacy groups: FORKON, PANAZABA, PERFORMA, and EJA.These are organizations of people who use drugs located in the Jakarta Capital Region, West Java Province, Central Java Province, and East Java Province. The monitoring and documentation project was supported by the International Harm Reduction Development Program of the Open Society Foundations.

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