The Minister of Human Rights of the Republic of Indonesia (MenHAM RI), Natalius Pigai, received an audience with the Executive Director of Leimena Institute, Matius Ho, and Program Director, Daniel Adipranata.
Jakarta, LKLB News – The Minister of Human Rights of the Republic of Indonesia (MenHAM RI), Natalius Pigai, received an audience from Leimena Institute at the office of the Ministry of Human Rights, Tuesday (18/2/2025). In the meeting, the Minister welcomed the active involvement of Leimena Institute in mainstreaming human rights education through the Cross-Cultural Religious Literacy program.
Minister Natalius Pigai stated that human rights education is very important in the school curriculum. For this reason, he expressed his appreciation for Leimena Institute’s efforts to raise human rights awareness among teachers in Indonesia.
“To be a teacher, at minimum, one must know what human rights are and how they are applied. That is the role of Leimena Institute, and we will provide that education with a certificate by attendance,” said Natalius Pigai.
Leimena Institute is currently implementing the Cross-Cultural Religious Literacy (CCRL) program, which has been attended by around 9,000 teachers of different religions from 37 provinces in Indonesia. The CCRL program has strong potential to support the priority program of the Ministry of Human Rights in mainstreaming human rights, particularly among educators as agents of change in society.
The Executive Director of Leimena Institute, Matius Ho, said that the human rights dimension is the most important and prominent in the CCRL program initiated by Leimena Institute since 2021. This is because the CCRL program prioritizes cooperation among various groups of different religions and backgrounds in order to strengthen human rights.
“We feel very encouraged and optimistic about the future of human rights in Indonesia with his (the Minister’s) leadership, and with the establishment of the Ministry of Human Rights, we also see many points of convergence between the cross-cultural religious literacy program being carried out by Leimena Institute and the aspirations that the Ministry of Human Rights seeks to achieve,” said Matius Ho.
Minister of Human Rights Natalius Pigai encouraged efforts to mainstream human rights education in society.
Matius added that Leimena Institute will follow up on several directions from the Minister for further exploration of cooperation. Previously, Leimena Institute had collaborated with the Ministry of Human Rights in organizing an International Webinar for the 76th International Human Rights Day on December 6, 2024, with keynote speaker the Deputy Minister of Human Rights, Mugiyanto, who raised the theme “Strengthening Harmony in Diversity through Human Rights Education and Cross-Cultural Religious Literacy.”
“In the future, we hope to explore further cooperation, particularly regarding certificate by attendance for around 9,000 teachers who have been trained through the cross-cultural religious literacy program,” said Matius.
The meeting also discussed opportunities for Leimena Institute’s involvement in human rights education for Civil Servants serving as Human Rights Analysts across various ministries and institutions. These efforts are expected to further strengthen the role of Human Rights Analysts in realizing the Respect, Protection, Fulfillment, Enforcement, and Advancement (Penghormatan, Perlindungan, Pemenuhan, Penegakan, dan Penguatan/P5) of human rights.