The Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (CESCR) of the United Nations High Commission on Human Rights completed its seventy-fifth session after adopting concluding observations on the reports of Indonesia, together with the countries Iraq, Ireland, Mauritania, Romania, and Sweden. The report highlights shortcomings and provides recommendations for protecting, respecting, and fulfilling Indonesia’s economic, social, and political rights in the past years. Indonesia was last reviewed by the committee in 2014.
In its concluding observations, the Committee addressed human rights grievances in various fields, among other things, the situation of human rights defenders, business and human rights, rights of indigenous peoples, equality between men and women, as well as deficiencies in the health and education sector.
The urgent issue of armed conflict-driven internal displacements in the Papuan Provinces was mainly addressed in the section on the rights to physical and mental health. The Committee is concerned about disparities in the quality and availability of healthcare services between urban areas and rural or remote regions, insufficient healthcare infrastructure, and high rates of maternal mortality. The Committee was particularly “concerned about reports on the state of the healthcare system in West Papua, characterised by abandoned or destroyed health centres and a significant decrease in medical facilities, particularly in highlands regencies, and the dire health situation of internally displaced persons (art. 12).” (CESCR, E/C.12/IDN/CO/2, p.10)
The ECSCR recommended to the government of Indonesia to
“(a) Improve the coverage and quality of essential health services, especially for disadvantaged and marginalised individuals and groups living in rural and remote areas;
(b) Take measures to improve healthcare infrastructure, particularly in rural and remote regions, including the construction and upgrading of hospitals, clinics, and health centres;
(c) Allocate resources promptly to rebuild and enhance healthcare infrastructure and services in West Papua;
(d) Allow humanitarian access to internally displaced people in West Papua for national and international humanitarian organisations.” (CESCR, E/C.12/IDN/CO/2, p.10f)
Read the full text Concluding Observations E/C.12/IDN/CO/2
