The Foundation of the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute
The Foundation of the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute (Yayasan Lembaga Bantuan Hukum Indonesia -YLBHI) promotes access to justice and advocates for the rights of structurally poor, marginalised and abandoned communities in Indonesia. Legal aid beneficiaries of the YLBHI include farmers, labourers, urban poor, fishermen and coastal communities, vulnerable women and children, disabled as well as indigenous people. The YLBHI is the national umbrella body of several legal aid offices across the country, including Jakarta Legal Aid.
Human rights defenders in Indonesia face threats, intimidation, restrictions on their freedom of expression and assembly, judicial harassment including criminal defamation suits, stigmatisation, arbitrary arrest, ill-treatment, torture, forced disappearances and killings. Many of these crimes against defenders are perpetrated by members of the security forces and criminal factions allegedly employed by the authorities.
Corruption and bribery are evident in the legal system and law enforcement, and those purported to have carried out grave human rights violations under the previous régime have not been brought to justice. Instead, human rights defenders criticising past or present abuses are targeted and persecuted. Anti-terrorist legislation is used to target human rights defenders; many have been labeled insurgents in an attempt to undermine their legitimate work.
