The Inspector For Work of the Secretariat of State for Policy, Professional Training and Employment (SEPFOPE), Rofino Lopes, said there are more than 100 vulnerable children working along the streets of the capital in Dili trying to make ends meet.

Inspector Lopes, said these figures are based on research conducted by his team from 2005-2009 but the latest statistics are not known.

"There are approximately 100 children who are doing non-formal labour such as selling eggs, oranges, phone credit, washing cars and other work," said Inspector Lopes, in Dili.

He added even though his unit is not able to identify child labour across all sectors of society, most children are involved in the non formal sector selling basic goods on the side of roads, but not in construction.

He said also the children do not attend school because either the parents cannot afford it or are orphans of at least one parent.

Meanwhile the Minister of Social Solidarity (MSS), Isabel Guterres, said the government will continue to work to help street children through its Mother's Support Program.

Minister Guterres said she would also work hard to work together with parents and local authority to understand the causes leading children to the streets and trace them so they can get support from the government.

"The government is helping with funds for families through its Mother Support program, especially vulnerable families to allow them to send their children to school," said Minister Guterres.

Women & gender

IHPSOTL accuses VCCT of discrimination against MSM and transgender

The Dili Weekly - April 23, 2013

Program Manager, Rui Carvalho, of the ISEAN Hivos Program Satellite Office in Timor-Leste, accuses personnel working at the Volunteer Confidential Counselling Testing facilities of discriminating against MSM (men who have sex with men) and transgender Timorese when these clients go for HIV/AIDS tests.

Program Manager Carvalho said it is mostly verbal discrimination that MSM and transgender individuals face.

He said it is common in Timor-Leste for MSM and transgender individuals to be discriminated against by their family, society in general and also by the VCCT staff.

He added his clients are often verbally abused and taunted which affects their psychological wellbeing. He said they are also discriminated against physically.

"I will not name names but last year an MSM friend from Baucau, when going for a test at the VCCT was discriminated against by the health workers there. Rather than offering counselling they forced him to strip and demonstrate how he has sexual relations," said the Program Manager of IHPSOTL Rui Carvalho, at Delta Novain Dili.

He said his organization ISEAN Hivos would become an umbrella organization for these two groups and would fight discrimination and stigmatisation of MSM and transgender individuals in Timor-Leste.

Meanwhile the Deputy Provedore for Human Rights and Justice (PDHJ) Silveiro Pinto Baptista said everyone is equal under the law so if any citizen, including those belonging to these groups, is discriminated against they should lodge a complaint at PDHJ.

He guarantees PDHJ will ensure and promote the rights of all citizens. "So far PDHJ has not yet received any complaints from individuals belonging to these two groups," said Deputy Baptista.

The Chief of Unit of the HIV/AIDS Program at the Ministry of Health Marta Avenia dos Santos said the process of testing for HIV/AIDS is voluntary and includes counselling for those undertaking the testing. "I believe no one going through the VCCT process is being discriminated against," said Chief dos Santos.

TL government: No more shelters planed for 2013

The Dili Weekly - April 11, 2013

The National Director for Social Assistance said the government doesn't have plans to build more shelter homes for victims of gender based violence but will continue to give financial support to develop existing shelter houses.

National Director for Social Assistance Antonia Carmen da Cruz, from the Ministry of Social Solidarity, said the were many gender based violence victims within the Casa Vida shelter home, especially minors.

"It's true that in reality the shelter home receives young victims and we have just one Casa Vida, so we're looking for how to work together with Casa Vida on this," said Director da Cruz (06/02) in Bemori, Dili.

She said to make a permanent shelter home they needed to study the situation.

In another part, Casa Vida Coordinator DomingasSoares said that they had a plan to create more shelter homes this year because there were so many victims staying in Casa Vida currently.

"We do not follow the government's standard that's why we accommodate 55 people currently, we have four shelter homes and for each we allocate five, three and 14 victims," said Coordinator Soares.

In response to questions, Director da Cruz said that the government would look into the situation at Casa Vida but not this year.

"Because to build a house we need to deal with many administrative processes related to land, so we will put it off until 2014 but support other programs in place following the proposal we have," said Director da Cruz.

As well as giving financial support to the organizations thatassist victims, the government also has a plan to work with families and the community to protect women and children from violence.

There are currently seven shelter homes in Timor-Leste that accommodate victims of gender based violence, including RogerioShelter Home in Lospalos, Paz Shelter Home in Baucau, Casa Vida and FOKUPERS in Dili, Salele in Suai, Maria Tapo in Maliana and another shelter home in Oe-Cusse.

Foreign affairs & trade

ASEAN considering Timor Leste bid for membership: Secretary-General

Jakarta Post - April 30, 2013

ASEAN is currently studying Timor Leste's bid to become a member of the association, secretary-general Le Luong Minh said on Monday.

"We've established a group to examine Timor Leste's application to become a member of ASEAN. However, it must be noted beforehand that Timor Leste must implement all obligations to be considered an ASEAN member," Minh said as reported by Antara news agency.

Minh said that one of the main obligations was to ensure that Timor Leste could meet ASEAN's three pillars, namely economic, political and sociocultural.

During the 22nd ASEAN Summit in Brunei Darussalam last week, leaders of the organization expressed their support for Timor Leste's bid for ASEAN membership.

In a joint statement issued after the summit, the leaders said, "We were encouraged by the progress in discussions by the ASEAN Coordinating Council [ACC] and the ACC Working Group [ACCWG], on all relevant aspects relating to Timor Leste's application as well as the possible implications for ASEAN; and we have agreed to explore the possibility of Timor Leste's participation in ASEAN activities within the context of its need for capacity building."

Timor Leste filed an application to become a member of ASEAN in 2011. (asw)

Aust must do more for East Timor: Senator

Australian Associated Press - April 16, 2013

After a private fact-finding visit to East Timor, Democratic Labor Party (DLP) Senator John Madigan says Australia must counter the rising influence of China in the country.

Senator Madigan said the amount of development funded by China was obvious during his tour last week.

"Anybody who thinks they are pumping that sort of money in for no reason is a bloody fool," he told AAP on Tuesday. "They are exerting their influence and that influence is on our doorstep."

China has in recent years stepped up its aid and development investment in the Asia Pacific region.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard last week signed an agreement with China on co-operation to tackle poverty and health issues, such as malaria and HIV/AIDS, in the Asia-Pacific.

Senator Madigan said a free, strong healthy and happy East Timor was in Australia's national interest and more needed to be done to help its children. "We need to be doing more in our backyard," he said.

Senator Madigan plans to return to help with a project to build a new kitchen for an orphanage. "You can make such a difference to their lives with a just a bit of effort," he said.

"They (the children) are the future of east Timor. If we want to help East Timor, help the children, educate the children, give them a chance."

Mining & energy

East Timor state company to start prospecting for oil

Macauhub - April 29, 2013

The recently created East Timor state oil company, Companhia Nacional de Petroleo de Timor-Leste (CNPTL) plans to start prospecting for oil under the terms of a partnership with Italian group ENI and Australian group Inpex, according to an official statement issued Friday in Dili.

The statement said that the "production sharing contract," between Timor Gap, a wholly-owned subsidiary of CNPTL, and ENI and Inpex was signed on 13 April and is intended for oil and gas exploration in the Timor Sea.

The operation will be carried out in the ADPC 11-106 joint oil development area, located around 240 kilometres south of Dili and 500 kilometres northeast of Darwin, covering an area of 662 square kilometres.

In this partnership, the ENI group owns 40.53 percent and will be the operator, Inpex Offshore Timor-Leste, Ltd. controls 35.47 percent and Timor Gap 24 percent.

The aim of CNPTL is to act on the state's behalf in oil and gas sector deals, including both onshore and offshore activities both in Timor and internationally. (macauhub)

Woodside eyes Timor LNG plans

Business Speculator - April 26, 2013

Woodside Petroleum Ltd is unlikely to pursue the use of floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) technology in its development of the Sunrise gas project in the Timor Sea and is instead leaning towards an onshore plant, according to The Australian Financial Review.

The East Timor government said it and the company see the offshore option as carrying risk related to the use of commercially unproven technology, and that Woodside is reviving the possibility of an onshore plant for the Sunrise project.

"I believe they have come to the conclusion that FLNG is simply not an option for Greater Sunrise," East Timor government spokesman Agio Pereira told the AFR.

Woodside had previously said building an onshore plant in East Timor would cost $US5 billion more than a floating plant.

The discussion comes soon after Woodside shelves the James Price Point plan for Browse LNG that saw the company abandon the onshore option favoured by Australian governments.

Economy & investment

East Timor expected to post two figure economic growth in 2013 and 2014

Macauhub - April 10, 2013

East Timor is the second of only two countries in Asia that in 2013 and 2014 are expected to post economic growth of two figures, with 10 percent growth in both years, according to the 2013 report from the Asia Development Bank.

The only Portuguese-speaking Asia country is behind Mongolia alone, which is expected to post growth of 16.5 percent in 2013 and 14.0 percent in 2014.

The average for Asian countries is expected to be 6.6 percent in 2013 and 6.7 percent in 2014. In 2012 four Asian countries posted two figure economic growth – Mongolia (12.3 percent), Afghanistan (11.9 percent), Turkmenistan (11.9 percent) and East Timor in fourth place with 10.6 percent.

The Pacific sub-region, in which the Asia Development Bank includes East Timor, sees the biggest slowdown in the rate of economic growth, which is expected to fall from 7.3 percent in 2012 to 5.2 percent in 2013 and increase slightly to 5.5 percent in 2014.

These estimates, which were presented Tuesday, project economic growth of 8.2 percent for China in 2013, driven by Asia's recovery. (macauhub)

Invasion & occupation

Gough Whitlam's 'indifference' led to East Timor occupation – WikiLeaks

Herald Sun - April 11, 2013

Paul Toohey – Three months before Indonesia invaded East Timor in December 1975, Gough Whitlam dismissed an Indonesian proposal to send a joint international military force to restore peace to the civil-war-torn colony.

WikiLeaks' declassified US diplomatic cables questions the perception of Indonesia as a premeditated invader, after Mr Whitlam rejected a proposed joint peacekeeping army involving Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Portugal and New Zealand.

The cables infer the indifference of Mr Whitlam, as prime minister, paved the way for Indonesia's 24-year occupation of East Timor.

Mr Whitlam did not return calls yesterday but East Timor expert Damien Kingsbury, professor of political studies at Deakin University, claims any Indonesian offers at the time were a smokescreen.

"It never had substance," he said. "Indonesia's preparations for invasion were already well underway."

Mr Kingsbury nonetheless said Mr Whitlam was "happy for Indonesia to take over Portuguese Timor, though he would have preferred it to be done in a more lawful way."

The cables show the Americans believed the Indonesian peacekeeping proposals were genuine, but went nowhere because Australia was not interested. They noted Mr Whitlam's recent comments that Timor was "in many ways part of (the) Indonesian world".

It also quoted Australian advisors as saying President Suharto was "almost 'mystically' sure Timor will eventually become part of Indonesia". American Embassy officials in Jakarta were briefed by Indonesia's acting foreign minister, Mochtar Kusumaatmadja, on Suharto's plan for regional governments, particularly Australia, to intervene in Timor.

At the time, Portugal was in strife at home and two Timorese factions in the colony, Fretilin and UDT, were running amok in a bloody internal campaign on the island.

A cable noted that the head of DFAT, Alan Renouf, told Americans he believed Indonesia would have to move to Timor to "restore law and order" because Australian intervention was "out of the question".

According to a September 4 cable, the Indonesians proposed a multi-nation task force to restore "order and security in order that decolonization process can in orderly manner"; and would put Indonesian soldiers, and other forces, under the direction of an international authority.

It also proposed that all participating nations adhere strictly to the guidelines, share cost, and share power in the aftermath until decolonization was achieved.

The Americans reported that their sources in the Australian Embassy in Jakarta told them that Mr Whitlam was reluctant.

Mochtar also told the Americans that Mr Whitlam did not want to provide troops and feared Indonesia might repeat what it had done in West Irian, denying the people their promised self-determination.

"Mochtar said he had assured Australia that Indonesia would 'play it straight' this time," said the cable.

Mr Whitlam, who was under pressure from his own party to take a stand on Timor, told Parliament the day before Mochtar briefed the Americans that he would not be party to any intervention in Timor of a "colonial character".

Despite decades of conspiracy theories about US meddling in this matter, one cable set out their position clearly: "We are anxious not to become involved in Portuguese Timor," it said.

"Apart from humanitarian concern for welfare of populace and their right to self-determination, our only interest in (the) territory's future lies in possible impact a change in its status might have on our relations with Jakarta".

Malcolm Fraser just wanted East Timor to 'go away'

News.com.au - April 10, 2013

Paul Toohey – Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser was anxious to assure Jakarta that the matter of East Timor was closed as far as Australia was concerned, less than a year after Indonesia invaded the former Portuguese colony.

The release of WikiLeaks cables shows that the then Foreign Affairs Minister, Andrew Peacock, urged Mr Fraser to hold back from publicly acknowledging Indonesia's sovereignty over East Timor during his visit to Jakarta in October 1976.

The Americans approved of Mr Fraser's "neat balance" of rejecting Mr Peacock's views and appeasing Jakarta.

Mr Fraser, who has since softened on many political causes, promised Indonesia's President Suharto that he would keep ensure that all Fretilin radio transmissions to Australia closed to deny the guerilla force getting word to the outside world.

The US Embassy cable said that Mr Fraser was forced, by implication, to repudiate statements from Mr Peacock, made in Australian parliament on July 20, that "Indonesia had not yet fulfilled necessary conditions for Australian acceptance of Timor situation.

Instead, Mr Fraser emphasised to the Indonesians that "the important thing now is to look to the future and to alleviate human suffering."

The Australian Ambassador to Indonesia at the time, Richard Woolcott, also privately informed the US Embassy in Canberra that it would not issue any more visa to "Portuguese subjects or anyone connected with Fretilin".

Mr Woolcott related the key points of a meeting between Fraser and Suharto. "Key issue was Timor in which Fraser, without reviving controversy in Autralia, sought to put problem out of the way as obstacle to smooth Australian-Indonesian relations," said the cable.

In private discussions with the President, Mr Fraser called for a cessation of fighting, Indonesian troop withdrawal, an act of self-determination; and relief through international agencies.

But Indonesia responded that troop withdrawal and self-determination were no longer issues since Timor was now Indonesian territory.

They also said major fighting had died out, and Australian aid was already being funneled through the Indonesian Red Cross, so his conditions were irrelevant.

After Mr Fraser left Jakarta, Indonesia issued a statement saying the Fraser Government had noted that Timor had become "a part of Indonesia".

That situation would remain for another 23 years until Mr Fraser's former treasurer, John Howard, would as prime minister lead the liberation of East Timor in 1999.

Analysis & opinion

East Timor – Resources curse or cure?

Pacific Scoop - April 28, 2013

Ted McDonnell – East Timor is now a peaceful and happy place. The scars of the brutal 24 year Indonesian reign still exist, but the East Timorese are forgiving people.

A decade into its independence, there are significant signs of change, the largest being, Timor Plaza, the nation's first major shopping centre, in the heart of one of Dili poorest suburbs, Comoro.

Yet, despite the opulence of Timor Plaza, very few East Timorese can actually shop there as most live on less than a dollar a day... A cup of coffee at Timor Plaza costs around $4 – equivalent to a day's wages.

International observers now believe East Timor's petroleum riches could very well turn into a resources curse. High unemployment, a failing education system and systemic poverty – plague East Timor.

Despite these systemic social problems, Prime Minister Gusmao, who was returned to government for s second term last year, recently gifted his 53 coalition ministers brand new Toyota four wheel drives valued at $60,000 each.

Gusmao's government has been wracked with controversy with five of his ministers having been investigated by the Corruption Commission over the past two years.

Justice Minister Lucia Lobato was jailed last year for five years. Lobbying from within the government is attempting to persuade the President Taur Matan Ruak to reduce the sentence.

Insiders say other Gusmao senior ministers will also face scrutiny from the Corruption Commissioner as the nation of one million fights corruption from within the highest ranks of government.

Observers and Opposition leaders allege the country's $10 billion resources riches is being plundered by government officials and ministers through nepotism and corruption.

Prime Minister Gusmao recently 'lectured' the local Dili media about writing stories about 'corruption. In the latest the 2013 Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index, East Timor was ranked 90th, down four places, out of the 172 countries. Last year, Transparency International ranked East Timor 113 out of 176 countries in the 2012 Corruption Perceptions Index.

[Ted McDonnell is an Australian-based journalist & photojournalist with some 30 years experience. He specialises in East Timor.]

Book & film reviews

Alias Ruby Blade: Tribeca Review

The Hollywood Reporter - April 17, 2013

John DeFore, New York – Presenting a surprising and privileged viewpoint on the climax of East Timor's long struggle for independence, Alex Meillier's "Alias Ruby Blade" introduces us to an aspiring filmmaker from Australia who wound up acting as the right hand of an imprisoned rebel leader. Told largely in her words (and omitting parts of the story that don't serve the memoirist's purpose), it's an engaging tale with enough intrigue to please those curious about this recent episode in Southeast Asian history.

Kirsten Sword grew up interested in Australia's neighbor to the north, a territory that was abandoned by Portuguese colonialists only to be violently annexed by Indonesia. The hows and whys are left vague here, but in 1990, after East Timor was opened to tourism, she decided to visit with a video camera, pretending to be on holiday while covertly documenting oppressive conditions there. (While tourist dollars were welcome, meddlesome journalists definitely were not.)

During a later visit, Sword worked with like-minded reporters who captured video of a 1991 massacre of peaceful protesters, footage that helped bring global awareness to persecution in East Timor. Moving to the Indonesian capital Jakarta, she befriended a large group of students from East Timor who, imprisoned for protesting the occupation, needed all the assistance she could give. When the resistance movement's hero, "enigmatic warrior poet" Xanana Gusmao, was captured and sent to the same jail, Sword (by now using the alias referred to in the title) wound up serving as secret courier between him and the outside world.

Though they didn't meet in person for years, the pair developed a romantic bond as Sword grew more essential to Gusmao's independence campaign. By bribing guards with the money she funneled to him, the leader was able to get cameras, a cell phone, and even a small computer into his jail cell – allowing the two to exchange intimate recordings of their daily lives, footage used to good effect here. (Sword's narration ignores the fact that Gusmao was married, albeit separated, during this time.)

Though some previous knowledge of the ways the Timorese people suffered under Indonesian rule will help auds embrace its protagonists' campaign, the doc's dramatic structure (goosed in occasionally questionable ways with reenacted footage and Paul Brill's overheated score) will play well with viewers who wander in knowing little about the controversy's outcome.

Though Meillier and his subject get the essential points across about that resolution, they smooth over great chunks of the intervening years, making the story sound much simpler than it has been. They'd surely say that's appropriate in a film focused solely on this woman's experience of events; here's hoping newbies don't walk out thinking they now have the full picture of the last three decades in Timor-Leste.