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Subject: Jesuit Refugee Service ends operation in West Timor
Jesuit Refugee Service ends operation in West Timor
Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) ends its operation in West Timor as of November
30, 2004. The organization has worked with the former East Timorese refugees
since 1999, assisting thousands of refugess with education and health care. JRS
has also worked closely with UNHCR, IOM, the government and other agencies to
repatriate refugees, resettlement outside Timor and local integration. JRS has
also worked with UNHCR and the Timorese Red Cross to trace separated children
accross the boarder between East and West Timor.
JRS first arrived in times of emergency when more than 300,000 fled across
the boarder to West Timor to escape the violence that erupted following the in
referendum of independence for East Timor. Since then, most refugees have been
able to return home. 16,000 East Timorese still remain, and have been granted
Indonesian citizenship.
The decision to close the programs was made based on the knowledge that the
number of refugees in West Timor has been reduced, and there is no longer an
emergency situation. This does not mean that all problems have been solved for
the remaining former refugees. "Durable solutions should still be a
priority to ensure lasting stability in Timor. In our experience, development
programs to empower the local population to absorb the remaining refugees are
mostly needed," JRS Indonesia National Director Edi Mulyono says. "As
JRS is not a development agency, we are hopeful that with the lowering of the UN
security level in West Timor, other agencies will be able to implement good
programs, which will be beneficial to both the old and new population in West
Timor."
JRS announces that all future communication about West Timor should be
directed to the national office in Yogyakarta.
A document with recommendations presented at seminars on durable solutions
for the former East Timorese refugees in Kupang and Atambua, West Timor, October
2004, is available in English and Indonesia upon request to Ingvild Solvang (solvangSPAMFILTER@SPAMFILTERjrs.or.id).
Publication Date : December 7, 2004 02:23 PM
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