National Symposium on the Comprehensive Anti-Discrimination Bill: The Department of Criminology’s Call for Anti-Discrimination Legislation

September 16, 2025 — The National Coalition of Vulnerable Groups Against Discrimination (KAIN), together with OHCHR and ERT, collaborated with the Department of Criminology, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, University of Indonesia, to hold a National Symposium on the Comprehensive Discrimination Elimination Bill. This open-for-public thematic national symposium was also available for online viewing, broadcasted on the YouTube channel of the Legal Aid Institute (LBH) Masyarakat, to ensure the wide-ranged participation. Three of the four thematic discussions will feature several lecturers from the Department of Criminology at the University of Indonesia to share their views and knowledge on the issue of discrimination as a whole.

The symposium, which was held on September 16–17, 2025, has three main objectives: to discuss the draft of the Comprehensive Discrimination Elimination Bill, to gather substantive recommendations from various stakeholders, and to strengthen the academic basis and public support for the bill’s passage. In other words, this symposium serves as a meeting place and forum for the exchange of ideas between academics, stakeholders, civil society, and various vulnerable groups to share their perspectives.

Thematic Discussion 1, held at the Juwono Sudarsono Auditorium, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Universitas Indonesia, presented the main topic of the definition and scope of inclusive discrimination. The definition of discrimination will be counterproductive if it only covers certain vulnerable groups, so a broad and inclusive scope is needed in the creation of appropriate and targeted legal protection. At the same time, Thematic Discussion 2 was held at the Mochtar Riyadi Auditorium, FISIP UI, with the topic of enforcement mechanisms for accountability and recovery for victims of discrimination. Meanwhile, Thematic Discussion 3 presented the topic of effective efforts to prevent discrimination. These three discussion series share the same objective and substance, namely to serve as a call for an appropriate anti-discrimination legal framework.

What is discrimination?

Discrimination is the process of treating a person or group of people unfairly or detrimentally because of their background. This background can include race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, mental state, sex, and so on, which are considered different from the majority group. Discrimination goes hand in hand with the concept of social injustice, which defined as unequal access to economic resources.

In Indonesia, combating discrimination against vulnerable groups is still far from being accomplished. The involvement of the Department of Criminology, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Universitas Indonesia, in the National Symposium on the Discrimination Elimination Bill is a firm commitment to fight for and strengthen the protection of human rights in Indonesia.