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World Report East Timor 2004
Human Rights Watch - January 1, 2004
Since gaining its independence on May 20, 2002, after two-and-a-half decades of brutal Indonesian occupation, East Timor has taken important steps to protect human rights. East Timor's new constitution includes significant rights guarantees and, with the support of the United Nations, the government has moved forward in a number of areas including policing. In December 2002 East Timor's first government, under the presidency of former guerilla fighter Xanana Gusmao, signed all main United Nations human rights treaties.East Timor still faces myriad problems caused by the legacy of Indonesia's occupation and the destruction of much of the country's limited infrastructure by withdrawing Indonesian troops in1999. East Timor faces severe economic hardship, and has yet to rebuild much of what was destroyed. Efforts to bring to justice Indonesian military and militia leaders responsible for the killings after the 1999 independence referendum have been frustrated by lack of resources, poor cooperation from Indonesia, and systemic problems in East Timor's criminal justice system.
Militias based in Indonesian West Timor launched several border raids into East Timor in 2003, killing several civilians and demonstrating East Timor's continued vulnerability to threats from military and civilian factions in Indonesia. Approximately 2,000 United Nations peacekeeping forces remain deployed in the country.
Despite significant gains in 2003, important obstacles remain to justice for victims of the violence that accompanied Indonesia's rule and eventual withdrawal from East Timor.
The Serious Crimes Unit (SCU) established by the United Nations, now under the authority of East Timor's prosecutor general, is responsible for conducting investigations and preparing indictments against those responsible for crimes against humanity and other serious crimes committed in East Timor in 1999. Since its establishment, the SCU has issued eighty-one indictments charging 369 people with crimes, including thirty-seven Indonesian military commanders and officers. On February 24, 2003, the SCU indicted former Indonesian minister of defence and armed forces commander Wiranto, six high-ranking Indonesian military commanders, and the former Governor of East Timor with crimes against humanity for murder, forcible transfer of population, and persecution during 1999. All remain at large in Indonesia.
While trials of lower ranking East Timorese militia continue in Dili's district court, the architects of the 1999 violence remain at large in Indonesia. International pressure and arrest warrants have failed to ensure extradition of these defendants to Dili for trial. Calls in 1999 and 2000 for the establishment of an international tribunal were blunted when the U.N. secretary general entrusted responsibility for a judicial accounting to Indonesia, believing that domestic trials should be the first recourse for East Timor's victims. Indonesia has failed to fulfill this responsibility. Its efforts to date are largely recognized as a sham, with poorly prepared cases, woefully inadequate witness protection, and acquittals for twelve of the eighteen defendants on trial. There has been no judicial accounting for atrocities committed during the 24-year Indonesian occupation.
The Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation in Timor-Leste (Comissao de Acolhimento, Verdade e Reconciliao de Timor Leste, CAVR) is a national, independent, statutory authority mandated to undertake truth-seeking, facilitate community reconciliation, report on its work and findings, and make recommendations for further action. Complementing the work of the SCU, the CAVR has been largely successful in its initial efforts to promote community-based national reconciliation, an ambitious task after twenty-five years of violence in East Timor.
East Timor's national judiciary and criminal justice system remain weak, under resourced, and over burdened. After being shut down for eighteen months, the Court of Appeal only recommenced hearing cases in July 2003. Due to public frustrations with formal judicial processes, many serious crimes, including rape and domestic violence, are habitually referred to traditional customary law mechanisms rather than to the courts. Such mechanisms lack basic due process protections and regularly fail to provide justice for victims, especially victims of sexual violence.
The National Police Service of East Timor (Policia Nacional de Timor-Leste, PNTL), overseen by the United Nations, has grown in strength and expertise. However, the service remains fragile and underdeveloped with inadequate training and resources to maintain law and order in a manner consistent with international human rights standards. The PNTL have now taken over full control of twelve of East Timor's thirteen districts from United Nations civilian police, but remain under the executive authority of the U.N.
The United Nations continues to have a presence in East Timor. Although armed U.N. peacekeepers are likely to remain in the country for the foreseeable future, the civilian arm of the United Nations Mission of Support in East Timor (UNMISET) is due to be phased out beginning in May 2004.
East Timor remains in desperate need of long-term international financial assistance and receives its largest financial contributions from Japan, Portugal, the United Kingdom, the European Union, the United States, and Australia.
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