VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia Retno Marsudi conveyed three main focuses that are needed to overcome the current human rights challenges. According to her, the world is in turmoil with an ongoing crisis that exacerbates human rights challenges, including in the Asia-Pacific region.
"In facing a difficult global situation, we must always defend human rights," she said at the opening of the Regional Conversation on Human Rights (RCHR), which was attended virtually, Tuesday (20/12) from Jakarta.
The first thing that was conveyed by Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno was strengthening human rights institutions. According to her, human rights institutions are the first line of defense to protect human rights.
"National human rights institutions must ensure the effective implementation of international human rights standards at home and build a society based on respect for human rights," she said.
Second, the handling of the most urgent human rights issues. According to Retno Marsudi, this does not mean that one right is more important than another.
"But we have to focus our efforts on making sure it has an impact," she said.
In addition, the issue of food is also one of the human rights focuses at this time. According to her, the issue of food requires world attention, especially in facing the threat of food crisis.
The third thing that becomes Minister Retno's attention is the improvement of human rights cooperation. She said that at the national level, the government and civil society must be at the forefront of human rights protection. Meanwhile at the international level, the politicization of human rights, double standards and embarrassing labels must be avoided.
"Human rights function to protect human dignity not to intensify geopolitical competition," she said.
The RHCR Forum was held in commemoration of World Human Rights Day as well as ending Indonesia's membership in the UN Human Rights Council for the 2020-2022 period. (VOI)