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Violence and human rights abuses have been rampant in Aceh. Over the past 26 years of separatist fighting,
6,000 people are reported to have been killed. From January 2000 to February 2001, there have been 673 killings,
161 disappearances and 907 cases of torture in Aceh, according to the National Commission for Missing Persons and
victims of Violence (Kontras).
Please click here for the Kontras website.
Most violations in Aceh can be attributed to government security forces who have used excessive force to
quell separatist movements, according to many human rights groups. In many cases, civilians have been killed in
operations meant to disarm the rebel groups. Police and military units have also threatened full-scale military
operations against separatists in the province.
The pro-independence armed rebel group, Free Aceh Movement (Gerakan Aceh Merdeka, GAM) has also been responsible
for serious human rights abuses, including hostage taking, arbitrary killings and torture.
To reduce the violence, the Wahid government and the GAM signed a “Joint Agreement on a Humanitarian Pause” in May 2000,
through the intervention of the Henri Dunant Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue in Geneva. The agreement, however,
was heavily breached by both sides and expired in January 2001. Shortly after, another moratorium was signed but has
failed to curb the violence.
Please click here to read the agreement.
Extrajudicial killings have been ramptant in Aceh. In November 2000, over 30 people are believed to have been unlawfully
killed by the Indonesian security forces in an effort to prevent people from attending the “Mass Rally for Peace”
organized by the Information Centre for a Referendum in Aceh (Sentral Informasi Referendum, SIRA). Other participants
were tortured and the organizers of the peaceful rally were detained, one of whom, Muhammad Nazar, is still in prison.
Click here for more information:
Human Rights Watch, Indonesia: Release Aceh Activist, November 21, 2000
Many other civilians have been killed in recent months. According to reports by Bathlimus, Head of the Human Rights Care
Forum FP-HAM, at least 67 people (mostly civilians) were killed from mid to later April 2001 and approximately 400 have
been killed since March 2001. The Associated Press reported that police figures released in early May indicate that
around 70 people are being killed every week.
Please click here for more information from:
UNOCHA: Indonesia Consolidated Situation Report No. 22
Assassinations of human rights defenders have also been commonplace in Aceh. In August 2000, one of Aceh’s most prominent
human rights activists, Jafar Siddiq Hamzah, founder and director of a New York based rights group, International Forum for
Aceh, was found beaten to death.
For more information see:
Human Rights Watch, Indonesia: New York-Based Activist Murdered in Indonesia
In December 2000, three staff members of a humanitarian organization, Rehabilitation Action for Torture Victims in Aceh
(RATA) were also tortured and killed, with evidence of military involvement. The four key suspects that were detained
in this case escaped in March 2001. In the same month, three human rights activists, including a lawyer and a religious
leader involved in conflict resolution, were killed. Evidence suggests a role for the state security forces.
Human Rights Watch expressed the fear that this was evidence of the deliberate targeting of human rights defenders by
the Indonesian security forces.
For more information on these cases please look at:
Human Rights Watch Report: “Civil and political rights: Colombia and Indonesia”
Human Rights Watch Report: "Indonesia: More Murders of Human Rights Monitors in Aceh"
For more on human rights abuses in Aceh, click on the following links:
Amnesty International Report: Indonesia Political crisis deepens in Jakarta while repression continues in Aceh and Papua
For Human Rights Watch articles on Aceh, see:
Human Rights Watch
Amnesty International On-Line: Indonesia: Aceh trial – Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch Call For Full Accountability
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