Inequalities before the Law Access to Justice for Persons with Disabilities: Indonesia Nicola Colbran Director, Australia Indonesia Partnership for Justice

Little progress has been made towards ensuring equality before the law and access to justice for persons with disabilities in Indonesia – Why?

Attitudes to Disability Influence Laws Disability = identical to sickness or weakness A person with a disability = person without capability who will only burden those around them PwDs = objects of laws, not subjects with legal rights

Convention on Rights of Persons w/ Disabilities Article 12: Equal recognition before the law - People before the law who have the right to make own legal decisions Violations include: - interdiction laws: declaration of incapacity, and attribution of to act on persons behalf to another person

Convention on Rights of Persons w/ Disabilities Article 12: Equal recognition before the law Violations include: preventing legal acts on an equal basis with others eg. marriage law: permits polygamy for wife’s disability or divorce for spouse’s disability failing to support participation in legal proceedings eg. No witness statements from those with hearing or speech impairments; inaccessible court buildings.

Convention on Rights of Persons w/ Disabilities Article 13: Access to justice Can PwDs access an enforceable remedy? No, because: Laws cannot be implemented: no implementing regulations or no remedies can be sought for breach Do not set out who is responsible, where & to whom a complaint can be made or sanctions for breach Too general, or only partly regulate the subject matter Where there is protection for rights of PwDs, it is often not implemented or enforced

Approach to Disability: Laws and Policy Indonesia ratified DisCo on 18 October 2011 disability = human rights issue disability = consequence of interaction with an environment that does not accommodate that individual’s differences and limits or impedes the individual’s participation in society

Laws 1945 Constitution non-discrimination equality before the law right to equal treatment before the law These protections need to be translated into law, in accordance with the recently ratified Convention

Going forward - AIPJ Supreme Court Legal Aid Circular Letter now includes a specific reference to PwDs Code of Conduct for Judges prohibits unfair treatment by judges on the basis of physical or mental capacity AHRC-Komnas Perempuan Ombudsman Information and complaints through internet Legal aid/paralegal – NGO swaps Disability specialisation training for lawyers in exchange for legally mandated pro-bono work

Thank you