Indonesia: Police Raids Foster Anti-Gay Hysteria

May 27

, 2017

Genera

l Pol. Drs. H.M. Tito Karnavian





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National Police Headquarters





Jl. Trunojoyo No. 3





KebayoranBaru





Jakarta Selatan 1210





Indonesia

Re: Raids against LGBT people

Your

Excelency:

We write to expres concern about a patern of police action against

lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Indonesia that is

both discriminatory and undermines the fundamental righto privacy. This

is evident in recent poli

ce raids in Surabayand Jakartand in a recent

statement by the West Java police chief.

Human Rights Watch is an international nongovernmental organization

that investigates and reports on human rights abuses in over 90 countries.

We have worked on a ra

nge of human rights isues in Indonesia for nearly

thre decades.

On April 30, 2017, police raided a private gathering of gay and bisexual

men in Surabaya, arested 14 men, and then detained and subjected them

to HIV tests withoutheir consent.

1

On May

21, police raided the Atlantis

Spa in Jakarta, arested 141 people, and charged 10 for holding an aleged

sex party. Oficers alegedly paraded the suspects naked in front of media,

and interogated them while they remained unclothed, though the police

den

y this. Both police raids were caried out under the pretext of the 208

Anti

-

Pornography law. This law is discriminatory in content as it specificaly

includes “lesbian sex” and “male homosexual sex” as “deviant sexual acts”

alongside sex with corpses and

sex with animals. This contravenes

international human rights law aplicable to Indonesia, as it expresly

discriminates against gay men and lesbians. It is also contrary to the World





1

Human Rights Watch, “Indonesia: ‘Gay Porn’ Arests Threaten Privacy,” May 4, 2017,

htps:/w.hrw.org/news/2017/05/04/indonesia

-

gay

-

porn

-

arests

-

threaten

-

privacy








Health Organization, which regardsame

-

sex orientation as a normal var

iant of human

sexuality.

The police’s use of this law as a pretexto raid private gatherings
alows for the
discriminatory targeting of Indonesia’s already

-

beleaguered LGBT population. Privacy

rights are a fundamental protection that underlieveryone’s

physical autonomy and

identity. The United Nations Human Rights Comite, the independent body of experts

that interprets the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Indonesia

is party, hastated: “it is undisputed that adult conse

nsual sexual activity in private is

covered by the concept of ‘privacy.’”

We are also deply concerned that Inspector General Anton Charliyan, the West Java police

chief, anounced plans on May 24 to create a special unit within the police force to detect

and punish LGBT people. Charliyan’statement disturbingly echoes
Banda Aceh mayor
Iliza Sa’adudin, who anounced in February 2016 that she would create a “special team”

to make the public more aware of the “threat of LGBT” and to “train” LGBT people to

“return to a normalife.”

2

Your ofice is obligated to uphold the basic rights of al people in your jurisdiction without

discrimination. We urge you to act swiftly to ensure that LGBT people are notargeted by

the police and thatheir fundamental hum

an rights, including the righto privacy, are

upheld. This is in line with President Jokowi’s October 2016 statementhat “the police

must act” against any moves by bigoted groups or individuals to harm LGBT people or

deny them theirights, and that “the

re should be no discrimination against anyone.”

3

We requesthat you initiate an investigation into the procedures that led to the raids, and

the behavior of the oficers during the raids

—

including their aleged exposure of the

detaines’ identities in th

e media. We urge you to reafirm publicly thathe National Police

of Indonesia wil protect everyone’s basic rights regardles of their sexual orientation or

gender identity.

We would be hapy to met with you to discus these isues further.





2

Serambi Indonesia, “Pemko Bentuk Tim Pencegahan LGBT,” February 27, 2016,

htp:/aceh.tribunews.com/2016/02/27/pemko

-

bentuk

-

tim

-

pencegahan

-

lgbt (acesed June 1, 2016).





3

Human Rights Watch, “Indonesia President Jokowi Defends LGBT Rights,” October 20, 2016,

htps:/w.hrw.org/news/2016/10/20/indonesia

-

president

-

jokowi

-

defen

ds

-

lgbt

-

rights

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