TOWARDS CRIMINAL LAW REFORM PROTECTING COMMUNAL RIGHTS OF ASMAT CARVINGS IN INDONESIA

Abstract

This study examines the reform of criminal law protection of Asmat carvings as a form of traditional cultural expression and communal rights of the Asmat indigenous people in South Papua. The main problem lies in the ineffectiveness of the modern Intellectual Property Rights system based on individual ownership in protecting communal cultural heritage such as Asmat carvings that have spiritual, social, historical, and symbolic value. Various violations still occur, such as imitation of carving motifs, mass reproduction, commercial exploitation without permission, and registration of copyrights or industrial designs by outsiders without fair sharing of benefits for indigenous peoples. This study aims to analyze the legal protection of the Asmat carvings and formulate a criminal law reform model that is more responsive to the communal rights of indigenous peoples. The method used is normative legal research with a legislative approach, a conceptual approach, and a case approach supported by literature studies. The results of the study show that although the constitution, the Copyright Law, and the Law on the Advancement of Culture have provided normative recognition of communal rights, criminal law has not expressly accommodated communal ownership as an object of legal protection. The absence of special criminal offenses, difficulties in the evidentiary mechanism, weak institutional capacity, and lack of optimal integration between customary law and criminal law are the main obstacles, criminal law reform is needed through the recognition of indigenous peoples as legal subjects, the formulation of special criminal acts against the exploitation of traditional culture, the application of the principle of Free Prior Informed Consent (FPIC), and the integration of customary law in national law enforcement.

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