grounds. Hundreds of people, including children, were placed in administrative detention. Dozens of schools were set on fire by unidentified people. RIGHTS OF LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, TRANSGENDER AND INTERSEX PEOPLE In February, the Supreme Court referred to a larger bench a petition challenging Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, which criminalizes consensual same-sex relations. In June, five people who identified themselves as members of the LGBTI community filed another petition in the Supreme Court asking for Section 377 to be struck down. In July, the cabinet approved a flawed bill on transgender people’s rights. Activists criticized the bill for its problematic definition of transgender people, and for its provisions on anti-discrimination which were not aligned with a 2014 Supreme Court judgment. VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS Reported crimes against women and girls continued to rise. According to statistics released in August, over 327,000 crimes against women were registered in 2015. Women from marginalized communities continued to face systemic discrimination, making it harder for them to report sexual or other forms of violence. In January, two groups of Adivasi women reported that they were raped and sexually assaulted by security force personnel during search operations in their villages in Chhattisgarh. Little progress was made in both investigations. In April, women garment workers protesting in Bengaluru, Karnataka, faced arbitrary and abusive actions by police. In May, a Dalit law student from Kerala was found raped and murdered at her home. The police had failed to investigate previous complaints of caste-based discrimination by the family. In July, the government released a flawed draft law on trafficking without adequate consultation. Indian law continued to criminalize soliciting in public places, leaving Amnesty International Report 2016/17 sex workers vulnerable to a range of human rights abuses. INDONESIA Republic of Indonesia Head of state and government: Joko Widodo Broad and vaguely worded laws were used to arbitrarily restrict the rights to freedom of expression, of peaceful assembly and of association. Despite the authorities’ commitments to resolve past cases of human rights violations, millions of victims and their families were still denied truth, justice and reparation. There were reports of human rights violations by security forces, including unlawful killings and the use of excessive or unnecessary force. At least 38 prisoners of conscience remained in detention. Four people were executed. BACKGROUND In January, the armed group Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for a series of attacks in the capital, Jakarta, in which four attackers and four civilians were killed. In response, the government proposed changes to the Anti-Terrorism Bill, which could undermine safeguards against torture and arbitrary detention and expand the scope of the application of the death penalty. In July, retired General Wiranto was appointed as Coordinating Minister for Political, Law and Security Affairs. He had been indicted for crimes against humanity by a UN-sponsored tribunal in Timor-Leste. He was named as a suspect in the inquiry initiated in 1999 by the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM), for gross violations of human rights in East Timor surrounding the 1999 referendum. No charges had been brought against him by the end of the year. FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION Broad and vaguely worded laws continued to arbitrarily restrict the rights to freedom of expression, of peaceful assembly and of 187

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