Human rights in Indonesia

Human rights in Indonesia are defined by the 1945 Constitution (UUD 1945) and the laws under it; several rights are guaranteed especially as a result of the constitutional amendments following the Reform era. As of 2024, the Ministry of Human Rights, under the Coordinating Ministry for Legal, Human Rights, Immigration, and Correction, deals with human rights issues in the cabinet, and the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM), established in Suharto's New Order administration in 1993, is the country's national human rights institution.

In 2024, Freedom House rated Indonesia's human rights freedom as 57 out of 100 (partly free).

Overview

Advocates for human rights have noted actions by the government of Indonesia as concerning. Although the country has had Komnas HAM, which enjoys a degree of independence from government and holds United Nations accreditation, the commission itself has little effect as it was not given any legal teeth against discriminatory practices committed by the government.

Reports by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the United States Department of State highlighted the most common human rights issues in Indonesia, namely the situation in Western New Guinea region, the treatment of religious, gender and sexual minorities, sexual and reproductive rights, the rights of women, children, LGBT, and the disabled, and freedom of expression and association.

Joko Widodo became the second Indonesian president to acknowledge past human rights abuses in his country. He publicly acknowledged the bloodshed of the 1960s. He also cited 12 cases, including massacres by anti-communists, from 1965 to 1969, highlighting human rights violations in the Papua region. He assured that such serious human rights violations would never happen again.