[Kabar-indonesia] Rights Groups Call UN Proposals on Justice for Timor-Leste “Inadequate”

[John M Miller]

Rights Groups Call UN Proposals on Justice for Timor-Leste “Inadequate”

For immediate release

Contact: John M. Miller (USA), +1-718-596-7668
Paul Barber (UK), +44-1420-80153

August 8, 2006 - Two human rights groups today 
commended the UN Secretary-General's continued 
attention to the need for accountability for past 
human rights crimes in Timor-Leste, but called 
his proposals to the Security Council "inadequate."

The East Timor and Indonesia Action Network 
(ETAN) and TAPOL, the Indonesia Human Rights 
Campaign, said that the recently-released report 
by the Secretary-General on justice and 
reconciliation for Timor-Leste offers only modest 
proposals to deal with the lack of accountability 
for human rights crimes committed in Timor-Leste 
in 1999 and ignores pre-1999 crimes entirely.

“We welcome the Secretary General's continued 
attention to the need for justice for the East 
Timorese. Unfortunately, however, he demonstrates 
a reluctance to discharge the UN’s special 
responsibility for justice for Timor-Leste since 
Indonesia invaded in 1975,” said Paul Barber, 
advocacy officer of TAPOL. “His recommendations 
are almost entirely dependent on the judicial 
systems and political will of Indonesia and 
Timor-Leste. This continues a strategy that has 
manifestly been shown to fail.”

"The UN should be taking more forceful actions 
toward accountability,” said John M. Miller, 
National Coordinator of ETAN. “Indonesia has 
ignored repeated calls to cooperate with 
international efforts to achieve justice. The 
government of Timor-Leste, wary of its dominant 
neighbour, remains reluctant to demand that the 
Indonesian organizers and perpetrators of crimes 
against humanity be held accountable."

The SG’s report calls for the revival of 
international support for investigations and 
indictments of serious crimes committed in 1999, 
when Timor-Leste voted for independence, but 
specifically rules out the resumption of the 
prosecutorial component of the UN-established 
Serious Crimes Unit in Timor-Leste. It notes that 
a substantial number of crimes committed in 1999 
have yet to be investigated or prosecuted and 
over 300 of those already indicted are in 
Indonesia, out of the reach of Timor-Leste's courts.

"Internal reconciliation within Timor-Leste and 
completion of investigations into the crimes of 
1999 are important to establishing the groundwork 
for future prosecutions, but these efforts must 
have adequate resources to finish the job," said 
Miller. "Relying on voluntary contributions, as 
recommended, may leave the job incomplete yet 
again." The report calls for a "solidarity 
fund... for the purpose of funding a community 
restoration programme and a justice programme in Timor-Leste."

"The report calls for the Security Council to 
endorse the findings of the Commission 
of  Experts (COE), but fails to address most of 
its recommendations and those of Timor-Leste's 
Commission for Reception, Truth and 
Reconciliation (CAVR), including its call that a 
UN-backed serious crimes process investigate 
exemplary pre-1999 cases," said Barber.

The Secretary-General's report was requested by 
the Security Council in September 2005. In it the 
SG provides his views on the reports of his COE 
and the CAVR , as well as on the creation of the 
joint Timor-Leste-Indonesia Commission of Truth 
and Friendship (CTF). The SG report includes 
recommendations on the issue, some of which may 
be included in the next UN mission to Timor-Leste 
now under consideration by the Security Council.

"The SG while endorsing the findings of the COE 
concerning the inadequacies of Indonesia's Ad Hoc 
Court, would put only the mildest pressure on 
Indonesia to prosecute suspects in Indonesia or 
to cooperate with Timorese or international 
efforts," said Barber. “Experience has shown that 
this is not a credible solution to the problem.”

The report acknowledges both governments’ 
reluctance to pursue prosecutions of Indonesian 
officials and recommends that the Security 
Council ”welcome" the CTF  despite its serious 
shortcomings, including its ability to recommend 
amnesties, but not prosecutions.

“The Council should not offer its support to the 
CTF at least until its terms of reference are 
strengthened to conform with international 
standards on accountability and the denial of impunity,” said Miller.

The COE reported on the Serious Crimes process in 
Timor-Leste and was particularly harsh in its 
criticism of the proceedings of Jakarta's ad hoc 
human rights court. The COE expressed 
reservations about the CTF and called for giving 
Indonesia a limited period of time to
credibly prosecute senior military officials who 
had already been indicted in Timor-Leste; the COE 
called for the creation of an international 
tribunal should Indonesia fail to do so.

The CAVR, an independent Timorese body which 
began work under the UN administration, issued 
its 2,500-page report on 31 October 2005. Its 
report covered human rights violations from 
1974-1999. The CAVR also endorsed an 
international tribunal, as well as calling for 
reparations from countries, including the 
permanent members of the Security Council, which 
backed Indonesia's invasion and occupation. The 
CAVR called for wide dissemination and discussion 
of its report throughout the UN, as well as among 
member states including Indonesia. The CAVR 
report states “Egregious as they were, however, 
the crimes committed in 1999 were far outweighed 
by those committed during the previous 24 years 
of occupation
” The SG's report praised 
international assistance to help the post-CAVR 
Technical Secretariat distribute the report’s findings within Timor-Leste.

On July 21, three coalitions of NGOs concerned 
with the transitional justice process in 
Timor-Leste, wrote the Secretary-General that 
"severe shortcomings of the local and 
international justice processes have helped to 
create a culture of impunity in which a range of 
actors believe they can, in effect, get away with 
murder and other crimes," and called for a 
reconstitution of the Serious Crimes process. The 
letter was signed on behalf of the Timor-Leste 
National Alliance for an International Tribunal; 
the Australian Coalition for Transitional Justice 
in East Timor and the International Federation 
for East Timor, which includes both TAPOL and ETAN.

ETAN, based in the U.S., advocates for democracy, 
justice and human rights for Timor-Leste and 
Indonesia. ETAN supports an international 
tribunal to prosecute crimes against humanity 
committed in Timor-Leste from 1975 to 1999 and 
for restrictions on U.S. military assistance to 
Indonesia until there is genuine reform of its security forces.

The British-based TAPOL - which means political 
prisoner in Indonesian - was founded in 1973 and 
is a leading English language authority on the 
human rights situation in Indonesia and Timor-Leste.

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John M. Miller         Internet: fbp at igc.org

National Coordinator
East Timor & Indonesia Action Network:
48 Duffield St., Brooklyn, NY 11201 USA
Phone: (718)596-7668      Fax: (718)222-4097
Mobile phone: (917)690-4391  Skype: john.m.miller
Web site: http://www.etan.org

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