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