Jakarta, 27 May 2025 — The Coalition Against Enforced Disappearances affirm that the state bears a moral and legal obligation to address enforced disappearances. The Indonesian Constitution and Law No. 39 of 1999 on Human Rights guarantee the right of every person to be free from enforced disappearance. However, these guarantees remain unfulfilled due to continued state inaction, including the lack of commitment to ratify the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (ICPPED), signed by Indonesia on 27 September 2010. This absence of commitment is further reflected in the omission of human rights issues in the Asta Cita, the policy roadmap of the Prabowo-Gibran administration.
Each year, from 26 to 31 May, the international community commemorates the Week of the Disappeared—a global call to remember victims of enforced disappearance. This commemoration traces its roots to the courageous actions of families of the disappeared in Latin America, particularly through the Latin American Federation of Associations for Relatives of Disappeared-Detainees (FEDEFAM), and gained global recognition through the movement of the “Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo.” For one week, these mothers demanded state accountability for the disappearance of their loved ones under authoritarian regimes of the 1980s.
Over time, this movement has extended beyond Latin America, resonating across the globe in nations such as Indonesia, where enforced disappearances have occurred under authoritarian rules. This momentum led to the adoption of the ICPPED by the United Nations General Assembly on 20 December 2006. The convention became a central reference to the commemorations as it now serves as a critical legal framework for preventing and addressing enforced disappearances, offering clear definitions, protections for victims and families, and state obligations to prevent, investigate, prosecute, and hold perpetrators accountable.
Indonesia has a long history of enforced disappearances, and it remains an unresolved wound. During the Suharto regime, numerous enforced disappearance cases were documented. The Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (KontraS) documented 32,774 disappearances during the 1965–1966 anti-communist purges, hundreds of disappearances during the Penembakan Misterius (Petrus) or Mysterious Shootings between 1982 and 1985, the 1984 Tanjung Priok massacre, the 1989 Talangsari incident, and the disappearances of 23 activists during the end of Suharto era in 1997–1998, of whom only nine returned. The Aceh Truth Commission (KKR Aceh) stated in its Findings Report (2023) that the enforced disappearances occurred in armed conflict during the military operations in Aceh (1989-1998), with at least 1,935 people missing. Many others disappeared during armed conflict in Papua, such as the killings in Sentani, Papua (1970). The Santa Cruz Massacre in Dili in 1991, and the forcible transfer of thousands of children, referred to as Stolen Children, from Timor-Leste from 1975 to 1999, were also documented as forced disappearances during the armed conflict in East Timor.
During the reformasi, as Indonesia transitioned toward democratisation, enforced disappearances continued to occur. Notable cases include disappearances during the violence surrounding the 1999 East Timor referendum, extrajudicial killings in Wasior, Papua (2001–2002), the Timang Gajah massacre in Aceh (2001), the Biak massacre in Papua (1998), and the disappearance of two KontraS Aceh volunteers in 2003. Indonesia is also responsible for the disappearance of prominent Papuan leader, Theys H. Eluay, and his assistant, Aristoteles Masoka, in 2001. Most recently, enforced disappearances were documented during Peringatan Darurat in 2024, a mass student-led protest against a parliamentary bill concerning local elections.
The lack of state commitment to resolving cases of enforced disappearances has perpetuated a cycle of impunity. Perpetrators remain untouched by accountability mechanisms such as trials, while victims and their families have yet to receive adequate reparations. Efforts to establish truth-seeking initiatives have stagnated. Impunity is entrenched, with many individuals implicated in these crimes continuing to occupy key positions and roles within state institutions, including the Indonesian National Police and the Indonesian National Armed Forces.
In the absence of specific legislation addressing enforced disappearances and related consequences, such as civil status, child rights, or victims’ right to investigation, the ICPPED could serve as both a preventive and corrective mechanism. The lack of legal provisions leaves space for the continued recurrence of these crimes.
Therefore, the Coalition urgently call for the following actions:
- The House of Representatives (DPR RI), to immediately ratify the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (ICPPED) as a concrete commitment to human rights protection and the prevention of future disappearances;
- The Attorney General of Indonesia, to initiate criminal investigations into all cases of gross human rights violations, particularly those involving enforced disappearances;
- The Government of Indonesia, to provide full and dignified reparations to families of the disappeared, including support for their ongoing search efforts, truth-telling, public acknowledgement, prosecution of perpetrators, guarantees of non-recurrence, and civil restitution, including the official registration of victims as “forcibly disappeared”;
- The Ministry of Education and Culture, to ensure that enforced disappearances under the New Order regime are included in national history curricula, to preserve collective memory and acknowledge past atrocities;
- The Government, Indonesian National Police, and Indonesian National Armed Forces, to immediately end the practice of enforced disappearances and stop granting impunity to perpetrators, including by implementing vetting and lustration mechanisms.
The Coalition Against Enforced Disappearances is an alliance of civil society organisations and Human Rights activists focused on urging the Indonesian government to ratify the Convention Against Enforced Disappearances (ICPPED). Established in 2020, the coalition consists of KontraS, Asia Justice and Rights (AJAR), Amnesty International Indonesia, the Association of Families of the Disappeared (IKOHI), YLBHI, LBH Jakarta, ELSAM, the KontraS Federation, KontraS Surabaya, KontraS Sulawesi, KontraS Aceh, LBH Bandung, the Social Initiative for Public Health, and the Solidarity for Victims of Human Rights Violations (SKP-HAM) of Central Sulawesi.
For Indonesia version, see KontraS website: https://kontras.org/media/siaranpers/pekan-anti-penghilangan-paksa-mengingat-mereka-yang-dihilangkan-menuntut-tanggung-jawab-negara