Jakarta – Along with the momentum of International Human Rights Day on Wednesday December 10, the Setara Institute for Peace and Democracy released the 2025 Human Rights Index which shows the worrying state of human rights in Indonesia throughout this year.
With a national average score of only 3.0, down from the previous year (3.1), the report gives a strong signal that the administration of President Prabowo Subianto and Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Rake’s commitment to strengthening human rights remains untested.
Civil rights decline, freedom of expression worst
Of the two major categories of human rights, civil and political rights (Sipol) recorded the lowest score, namely 2.8, far below the score for economic, social and cultural rights (Ekosob) of 3.2.
The Setara Institute believes that this situation is a "serious alarm" on the worsening of rights enjoyed in the civil sphere. Most worrying is the freedom of expression indicator, which again scored the lowest at just 1.0.
Massive repression of demonstrations, intimidation of journalists, criminalisation based on the Information and Electronic Transaction (ITE) Law and interference with academic freedom are suspected to be the main causes of the narrowing of civil space.
Enforcement of justice retreats, impunity grows
The right to justice indicator, with a score of 3.1, shows the decreasing quality of upholding justice.
Setara highlighted:
- Plans to rewrite the history of events in 1998 which ignores the facts on human rights violations
- Declaring former president Suharto as a national hero which is considered to perpetuate impunity
- Repression against human rights defenders
- The minimal role of the Ministry of Human Rights in cases of human rights violations
- The institution is even said to just be an image building instrument without a substantive function
Public participation, women's representation a fresh breeze
Even though it generally showed setbacks, the 2025 Human Rights Index recorded several progressive moves by the state in efforts to strengthen the right to participate in government.
Two Constitutional Court (MK) rulings were highlighted: MK decision Number 62/PUU-XXII/2024 which opened opportunities to break the major political parties' hegemony of the presidential threshold and MK decision Number 169/PUU-XXII/2024 that emphasises women's rights to play a full role at all levels of leadership in the House of Representatives (DPR).
Economic, social and cultural rights
In the field of economic, social and cultural rights (Ekosob), education showed the best indicator with a score of 4.3, driven by the Constitutional Court's ruling that waived primary and secondary school education fees, an increase in teacher allowances through Presidential Decree Number 79/2025 and Ministry of Religious Affairs Regulation Number 4/2025, and the Smart College Card (KIP-K) scholarship program to expand access to higher education.
Meanwhile, health recorded a score of 3.6, but still faces major problems such as declining environmental quality, massive deforestation and various ecological disasters.
The right to work indicator scored 3.4. Even though various programs have been implemented, problems such as 1.27 million child labourers, hundreds of thousands of workplace accidents and violence against informal workers show that the government still has extensive homework.
Most worryingly is that land rights are again the worst indicator with a score of 1.6. The continuation of national strategic projects (PSN), agrarian conflicts and a militaristic approach are considered to be worsening the situation. The formation of the Special Committee on Agrarian Conflicts by the DPR in October is a new hope that is waiting for realisation.
Setara Institute calls for progressive laws
Based on these findings, the Setara Institute is urging President Prabowo to pass progressive laws on the promotion of human rights, review counterproductive policies, ensure that human rights violations are not repeated and strengthen state institutions and mechanisms so that they run effectively. RED/ACN
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Indeks HAM 2025: Alarm Serius atas Kemunduran Hak Sipil di Era Prabowo-Gibran".]
