Selective Human Rights Diplomacy: Indonesia’s Foreign Policy toward LGBTQ Rights amid Domestic Moral Politics

TUHFATUL MUBAROKAH ASSALAMAH; Widya Astika Putri; Intan Fitri Hilza

doi:10.24843/jnp.v4i2.3724

Authors

TUHFATUL MUBAROKAH ASSALAMAH Airlangga University Author
Widya Astika Putri The University of Melbourne, Australia Author
Intan Fitri Hilza University of Southampton, United Kingdom Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.24843/jnp.v4i2.3724

Keywords:

Indonesia, human rights diplomacy, LGBTQ rights, norm localization, Universal Periodic Review

Abstract

This article explains how Indonesia negotiates international human rights commitments and domestic moral politics in its foreign policy toward LGBTQ rights. Combining qualitative foreign policy analysis, critical discourse analysis, and a temporal comparison of Indonesia’s third and fourth Universal Periodic Review (UPR) cycles, it examines national reports, recommendations and government responses, UN and ASEAN instruments, diplomatic statements, and domestic political discourse from 2017 to 2023. The findings identify six interrelated strategies: generalization, procedural engagement, selective acceptance, moral reframing, sovereignty shielding, and strategic silence. These strategies separate protection from explicit recognition, allowing Indonesia to preserve international credibility while operating within a domestically constrained political win-set. The article develops the concept of selective human rights diplomacy and argues that diplomatic ambiguity is a structured instrument of dual-legitimacy management. Aggregate UPR acceptance rates therefore cannot substitute for recommendation-level analysis of wording, justification, and implementation.

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