Indonesia's top rights body calls for police to probe poisoning

Indonesia's top human rights body urged the police on Friday to investigate several new outbreaks of food poisoning linked to President Prabowo Subianto's flagship programme to provide free meals to students, which made 2,000 people sick this week.



In separate cases across at least two major Indonesian islands, around 2,000 students and teachers fell ill after eating lunch issued by the government as part mof a scheme to eradicate malnutrition launched by Prabowo last year.



"Rights to food, especially safe-to-consume food, are human rights," the Indonesian independent rights body known as Komnas HAM said in a statement. "Without a rigorous sanitation standard ... the nutrition intervention that the state is doing will lose its moral legitimacy," it said.



Komnas HAM called on the police to launch a probe into the poisoning cases, without providing further details. The National Police did not immediately respond to a request for comment.



Komnas HAM also called on the National Nutrition Agency, which oversees the programme, to suspend the kitchens allegedly responsible for the poisoning outbreaks.