| Subject: NZGOV: letter from Goff on UN
Experts Commission
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade - 1 FEB 2005
Maire Leadbeater Indonesia Human Rights Committee PO Box 68 419
AUCKLAND
Dear Maire Leadbeater
Thank you for your letter of 24 December 2004 regarding the justice
process for Timor-Leste and conveying your concern to see progress in
establishing the United Nations Commission of Experts.
As you know, the New Zealand Government has strongly argued for the
need to bring to justice those responsible for the crimes in East Timor in
1999 in a manner consistent with the standards of international law. To
this end, New Zealand fully supports the establishment of the United
Nations Commission of Experts, and has been working closely with the UN
Secretariat and other interested countries on this initiative. Although
the Commission falls short of an international tribunal, it offers a
realistic opportunity to assess the functioning of the judicial processes
of both Indonesia and Timor-Leste in relation to the crimes of 1999,
evaluate the extent to which justice has been served, and suggest possible
ways forward.
There has been some delay in the announcement of the Commission of
Experts. Events such as the recent elections in Indonesia and the tsunami
disaster last month may have contributed to this delay, but the Commission
of Experts will nonetheless go ahead and I expect that it will be
announced by the United Nations Secretary-General in due course. As for
the Truth and Friendship Commission proposed by the Indonesian and Timor-Leste
governments, New Zealand's position is that while such an initiative may
prove to be a valuable way of strengthening ties between the two
countries, it should not pre-empt the international community's
responsibility to hold to account the perpetrators of the crimes of 1999.
Yours sincerely
/s/
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade
Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand. Telephone: +64 4 470
6553, Facsimile: +64 4 495 8444
Back to February menu
January
World Leaders Contact List
Human Rights Violations in East Timor
Main Postings Menu
Note: For those who would like to fax "the
powers that be" - CallCenter is a Native 32-bit Voice Telephony software
application integrated with fax and data communications... and it's free of charge!
Download from http://www.v3inc.com/ |
