Indonesia: 11th EU-Indonesia Human Rights Dialogue takes place in Indonesia
Yogyakarta, 11.02.2026
On 11 February, the EU and Indonesia held their 11th human rights dialogue in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
Discussions covered recent developments in human rights, including governance and rule of law issues, fundamental freedoms, business and human rights, and the rights of women and girls, of the disabled, and of migrants and refugees. The partners welcomed Indonesia’s Presidency of the Human Rights Council in 2026 as an opportunity for closer coordination in multilateral fora. They reaffirmed their shared commitment to universality, objectivity and non-selectivity, and agreed to explore avenues for enhanced cooperation in international fora and opportunities for common initiatives. They also reviewed international issues of concern, including the human rights situation in Palestine, Myanmar, Afghanistan and Ukraine.
Indonesia informed of its internal review processes that aim to strengthen policy coherence, including on the human rights legal framework, and provided an update on the Criminal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code. Its 6th human rights action plan for 2026-2030 is at final preparation stage and will prioritise human development and inclusion, nature and climate resilience, and economic and digital transformation. The introduction of a systematic human rights data governance to improve evidence-based policy making was highlighted. The EU positively noted the advances in social rights protection, including public health services.
On the rights of women and girls, the partners positively noted the criminalisation of sexual offences, strengthened through Criminal Code provisions in addition to the Law 12/2022 on Sexual Violence Crimes. Indonesia briefed on its continuous efforts to identify and dismantle discriminatory local regulations that could infringe upon women and girls’ freedom of expression and of religion and belief, to enforce the ban against child marriage and to eradicate female genital mutilation. While legally covered, these issues required continuous education and awareness raising and inter-ministerial efforts. The EU updated on its Roadmap on Women’s Rights adopted by the European Commission in March 2025, to be complemented by the 2026-2030 Gender Equality Strategy in March 2026, just before the 70th session of the Commission on the Status of Women.
The partners positively noted Indonesia’s leadership in the region on issues pertaining to the rights of the disabled, with legislation in place since 2019, implemented through action plans, overseen by a National Disability Commission. Its main priorities include adaptive and sustainable social protection, empowerment and education. The EU briefed on preparing a new Communication on Disability to be adopted in 2026, strengthening the Strategy for the Rights of Persons with Disability 2021-2030.
The EU and Indonesia discussed the rights of migrants and refugees, with both regions hosting refugees from Ukraine, Myanmar, Afghanistan, Somalia and beyond. While Indonesia is not a state party to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Refugees, it provides temporary protection to the refugees arriving to its territory on humanitarian grounds, and facilitates resettlement, with IOM support. The EU updated on hosting more than 4 million Ukrainian refugees on its territory under temporary protection. It highlighted the systematic human rights abuses and gross human rights violations in the occupied Ukrainian territories, including summary executions, torture, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, restrictions on freedom of expression and assembly and forced conscription.
Indonesia further expanded on its new initiatives regarding business human rights due diligence that seeks to bridge corporate practices with human rights, closely following UN guidelines on business and human rights. This initiative effectively enacts a shift from voluntary to mandatory compliance and from private certification schemes to regulated state control. The law strengthens Indonesia’s reform portfolio in view of the OECD accession process, which the EU supports. The new law is designed for gradual implementation, in view of human resource constraints. Indonesia’s Ministry of Environment will continue to regulate and manage natural resources and the licensing of business operations.
Indonesia and the EU also exchanged on the importance of responding to threats against democracy and open civic spaces, strengthening institutional deliberation spaces in the context of legal revisions, and balancing freedom of expression with the fight against disinformation and information manipulation. Among others, they addressed online platform management and child protection needs in this context. The EU informed of its new policy to safeguard, strengthen and promote democracy, the ‘European Democracy Shield’, with its three priority areas: integrity of the information space, democratic institutions – with focus on elections and media – and societal resilience and citizens’ engagement. It took note of the on-going investigations following abuses against peaceful demonstrators in 2025 in Indonesia. It also positively noted that Indonesia put on hold executions for convicts on the death row for a consecutive 10-years and hoped that implementing regulations of the Criminal Code would promote the commutation of the death penalty to life sentence, with possibility of review.
The dialogue identified scope for enhanced exchanges linking political discussions with technical cooperation, including in areas such as gender equality, business and human rights, digital governance and the protection of victims of human trafficking. Both sides acknowledged the value of complementary dialogue formats, including academic, interfaith and policy exchanges, in supporting a broader ecosystem of engagement.
Both sides agreed to maintain close consultation ahead of the next session of the Human Rights Dialogue, foreseen to take place in Brussels in 2027. The Dialogue was co-chaired by Director for Human Rights and Migration at the Indonesian Ministry of foreign Affairs, Indah Nuria Savitri, and EEAS Head of Division for South-East Asia, Leila Fernández-Stembridge.