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Commemoration of the Santa Cruz Massacre 1991-2013

Joint Declaration by the Timorese National Alliance for an International Tribunal (ANTI) - November 12, 2013

Truth and Justice are the foundations for developing democracy in Timor-Leste

Today the People of Timor-Leste commemorate the 22nd Anniversary of the Santa Cruz Massacre, which was a key milestone in Timor-Leste's successful struggle for independence. This day re-awakened the international community to the depravity of the illegal Indonesian military occupation of Timor-Leste and the culture of impunity that has followed. During the 1991 massacre, Indonesian soldiers brutally fired their weapons directly at young people who were peacefully placing flowers on the grave of Sebastiao Gomes, at Santa Cruz Cemetery.

The Indonesian military's cruel action defied international human rights and humanitarian law. This is because the Indonesian military systematically massacred civilians across the territory of Timor-Leste, including the grievous massacre at Santa Cruz. The Government of Indonesia always tried to hide these crimes against humanity from the World, but the reality of the Santa Cruz massacre exposed the real cruelty of the Indonesian military to the world's eyes.

Following the massacre, Indonesian soldiers discarded many corpses in unknown graves, and captured many people who have never been seen since.

Since independence, Timor-Leste and Indonesia have demonstrated their political will, prioritizing the strengthening of bilateral relations and putting aside issues of justice, particularly serious crimes from the past. In 2005, when current Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao embraced known criminal, Wiranto in Bali, Indonesia, he showed this reality, which was reinforced when former Prime Minister, Mari Alkatiri, embraced another known criminal, Prabowo, in Jakarta earlier this year. Despite this, the State and the People of Timor-Leste have not yet managed to convince these criminals to identify where they hid the bones of the people they massacred; nor have the perpetrators acknowledged their responsibility..

Some of the serious crimes which the Indonesian military committed during their 24-year occupation of Timor-Leste have been brought to judicial processes, such as the UN Special Panels for Serious Crimes in Dili and the Ad-Hoc Human Rights Tribunal in Jakarta. However, these processes failed totally to hold Indonesian criminals responsible, and ANTI regards these processes as a facade to pretend that the Indonesian Government was serious about resolving past crimes, rather than the reality what they wanted to sweep them under the rug..

Survivors and human rights activists in Timor-Leste and other nations continue to demand that the criminals be tried, particularly through an international tribunal, because the consequences of impunity are manifest in Indonesia and Timor-Leste. Indonesian soldiers continue to commit similar crimes in West Papua and other places, and people "disappear" frequently. Military perpetrators do not fear criminal accountability; in fact, they are promoted to higher positions. In Timor-Leste, our leaders follow only what the big men want, not what the law directs.

With the above facts and concerns, ANTI would like to deliver the following demands on the anniversary of the Santa Cruz massacre:

1. With a strong voice, ANTI continues to demand that the international community not abandon their responsibility to prosecute serious crimes committed by the Indonesian military during the illegal occupation because the impacts of impunity continue to haunt the Indonesian and Timorese people.

2. ANTI asks the international community to help the people of Indonesia and Timor-Leste create a credible justice mechanism so that we can end the prevalent culture of impunity.

3. ANTI calls attention to key nations, such as the USA, UK, France and Australia, which supported the military regime of Soeharto, and its illegal occupation of Timor-Leste from 1975 to 1999. In particular, through donor programs, we ask that they give priority to the victims and their families as a special category which needs supports and especially deserves to share in the benefits of Timor-Leste's development.

4. ANTI also requests that international corporations and agencies which benefitted from selling weapons to Indonesia during the occupation in Timor-Leste, particularly those that provided materials which were used in Timor-Leste, must compensate through humanitarian funding for reparations for victims of human rights violations.

5. ANTI demands that all Member States of the UN refuse to issue visas to current and former Indonesian military officials whose names are mentioned in the Chega report, because the committed crimes or had command responsibility for such crimes. In this way, we also request that they be sanctioned, such as removing access to their bank accounts until such time as independent confirmation of their credibility and innocence is established. We are especially disappointed that accused criminal Wiranto is free to travel to certain nations, including speaking at a seminar in China at the beginning of 2013.

6. ANTI requests that the State of Timor-Leste ratify the International Convention on the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearances because ANTI believes that Timor-Leste and Indonesia can use this mechanism to search for those people who were disappeared during the war, including the many civilians which the Indonesian military are accused of responsible for their deaths during the 1991 Santa Cruz Massacre.

7. ANTI also asks Timor-Leste State institutions, particularly the State Secretariat for Veterans Affairs and the Ministry of Social Solidarity, to support and facilitate families who are currently searching for the remains of their loved ones so they can bury them in an appropriate place, such as the Ossuaries that the State of Timor-Leste has already prepared.

Finally, ANTI also asks that all entities (religious institutions, NGOs, academics and the entire community) coordinate efforts to build a movement to search for those who disappeared to encourage the Government and the National Parliament to realise this absolutely fundamental problem continues to be a concern of families and violates their right to truth. Through this we can achieve peace and reconciliation for the present and the future.

Long Live the Spirit of 12 November 1991
Long Live the International Tribunal
Long Live Justice

Dili, 12 November 2013

The Members of ANTI are:

1. The National Victims' Association of the Political Conflict 1974-1999 (Asosiaun Vitima Konflitu Politiku 74-99)
2. The HAK Association (Asosiasaun HAK)
3. Committee of 12th November (Komite 12 de Novembru)
4. JSMP (Judicial System Monitoring Program)
5. ACbit (Asosiasaun Chega ba Ita)
6. AJAR (Asia Justice and Rights) Timor-Leste
7. Secretariat of the NGO Forum (Sekretariadu FONGTIL)
8. Lao Hamutuk (Walking Together)
9. Luta Hamutuk (Struggle Together)
10. OPVG (Organizasaun Popular da Vitima da Guerra/Popular Organization of Victims of War)
11. FTM (Forum Tau Matan/Forum for Monitoring)
12. KSI (Kdadalak Soru mutuk Institute)
13. FOKUPERS (Women's Organization)
14. KBH (Knua Buka Hatene/Home for Searching Knowledge)
15. Judicial System Monitoring Program (JSMP)
16. CDI (Community Development Interest)
17. Front Mahasiswa Timor-Leste (FMTL)
18. Institute Edukasaun Popular (IEP)
19. Klibur Solidariedade
20. Mata Dalan Institute (MDI)
21. Ita ba Paz

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