The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) says it has completed 5,234 investigations out of the 6,600 complaints it received throughout 2013.
The commission’s head of human rights violation monitoring and investigation sub-commission, Natalius Pigai, said in a press statement in Jakarta on Tuesday that the figures were much higher compared to the number of complaints it received in 2012, which reached only 5,200 cases.
“This shows that Komnas HAM has public’s trust in helping to resolve their human rights-related issues,” said Natalius as quoted by Antara news agency.
Such an increase, he said, was due to the implementation of a new complaint service system that was put in place as in order to fulfill the people’s constitutional rights as stipulated under Law No. 39/1999 on Human Rights.
“So we are positioned to give service to the people’s constitutional rights. Before 2012, as many as 2,500 complaints submitted to Komnas HAM had not been followed up, but by mid 2013 the commission managed to complete investigations on those cases,” said Natalius.
He said cases related to legal issues had dominated the complaints it received, followed by cases concerning financial issues.
Among entities reported to the Komnas HAM included the National Police, local administrations, corporations and judicial institutions, he added.
“Complaints related to agrarian sector ranked the highest, followed by problems in the labor sector,” said Natalius. (ebf)