PERMINTAAN MAAF NEGARA ATAS PELANGGARAN HAM YANG BERAT SEBAGAI BENTUK REPARASI KORBAN

Abstract

The settlement of gross violations of human rights cases in Indonesia has faced various obstacles, including the absence of a public state apology. In fact, according to International human rights normative standards, an apology is categorized as an effective form of reparation. By a socio-legal research approach, this article examines the significance of a public state apology from the perspective of victimology and International human rights standards, as well as the victim's perspective. Interviews were also conducted with victims of the gross violations of human rights in the 1965-1966 tragedy and the tragedy of Semanggi I in 1998. This article argues that according to the perspective of radical victimology, an apology is a form of state intervention in the form of symbolic recovery. Based on Boven/Bassiouni Principles, the public state apology is acknowledged as 'Satisfaction' for the victim. Even though some victims tend to reject the public state apology, this article argues that this symbolic reparation should be the first step in fulfilling reparations for victims. An apology should also be accompanied by other forms of reparation, such as the prosecution of the perpetrators of gross human rights violations at the Human Rights Court.