Strengthening Freedom of Religion or Belief through Mediation: A Case Study of the Experience of the Indonesian National Commission on Human Rights

After more than two decades of Reformasi (Reformation) that started in 1998, religious conflicts continue to occur in Indonesia, particularly over the construction of houses of worship and attacks on citizens belonging to sects considered heretical. These developments have not only disrupted harmony and damaged Indonesia’s reputation as the world largest Muslim democracy, but also have undermined respect for freedom of religion or belief (FoRB). One of the most frequently used method to address these issues is mediation, which is considered to be less divisive and more effective in putting the conflicting parties on an equal footing and in finding long-term solutions.

This article analyzes the role of Indonesia’s National Commission on Human Rights (Komisi Nasional Hak Asasi Manusia) in mediating conflicts related to FoRB. This role is worth exploring for the reason that the Commission is a state institution which holds the highest mandate in dealing with human rights issues. Besides, it has a special sub-commission on mediation which handles various conflicts including those related to FoRB and has mediated numerous conflicts related to FoRB with various outcomes. We seek to answer three questions. What are the FoRB cases which have been mediated by the Commission? How did the mediation process by the Commission ensue? To what extent did the Commission’ efforts to mediate FoRB conflicts end in peace agreement and why? To answer these questions, we analyzed all of FoRB cases which have been mediated by the Commission between the year of 2013 and 2020, interviewed the national commissioners and the conflicting parties, and studied the latest literature on human rights and mediation.

We found that in general, the Commission’ measures to mediate FoRB cases have been positively welcomed by the conflicting parties who were willing to engage in dialogues about their shared problems on an equal footing, even though the end result of those dialogues might not necessarily satisfy all parties. This is due to the Commission’ strong legitimacy as the highest institution for the promotion of human rights in Indonesia and its broad definition of mediation, which practically positions itself as a community mediator at the national level. The two main FoRB cases that the Commission has mediated are the conflicts over houses of worships and the sectarian conflicts, mainly the persecution of the Ahmadis in Indonesia. While the Commission’ mediation of the former tends to be more successful in bringing about peaceful agreements than its mediation of the later, its mediation efforts have been severely hampered by two national regulations which pose as structural obstacles in resolving these two problems.

Keywords: Mediation; National Comission on Human Rights (Komisi Nasional Hak Asasi Manusia/The Commission HAM); conflict over houses of worships; sectarian conflict; freedom of religion or belief; Indonesia.