|
UNITED NATIONS MISSION IN TIMOR-LESTE:
Great expectation to leave "good memories" and "positive legacies"
before ending its mandate in 2012
A Local Perspective
By Rui Manuel Hanjam, M.phil
A former local staff of UNAMET and UNTAET (1999/2000).
The United Nations, as an institution, has devoted extraordinary efforts
to resolve conflicts around the world. The world needs a strong, neutral
institution to perform an important role in conflict prevention and
resolution. Timor-Leste is part of this global institution's mandate to
maintain its presence in order to guarantee the country self
determination, stability, a smooth transition towards independence and
the development of democratic state institutions. This mandate has
progressed through various missions, namely: UNAMET, UNTAET, UNOTIL,
UNMISET and UNMIT.
For each mission in Timor-Leste, the UN headquarter has assigned Special
Representatives of the Secretary General,of different nationalities
(with the exception of Kamalesh Sharman and Athul Khare who both hold
Indian nationality) each with different characters and styles of
leadership: Ian Martin, for UNAMET's popular consultation in
1999; the late Sergio Viera de Melo for the United Nations
Transitional Administration (UNTAET), Kamalesh Sharman for the
United Nations Office in Timor-Leste (UNOTIL), later replaced by
Sukehiro Hasegawa for the United Nations Mission in East Timor (UNMISET),
and Athul Khare for the United Nations Integrated Mission in
Timor-Leste (UNMIT). The successor of Athul Khare is Ameerah Haq
from Bangladesh, who is presently serving for the UNMIT mission, (until
now, there is no further information on whether the UN headquarters will
review and change the name of the current mission UNMIT, based on Ian
Martin's Technical Assessment Mission)
This article is a contribution, from a local perspective, that intends
to discuss the successes and failures of these successive UN missions
and provide recommendations for improving future missions, specifically
in terms of communication and capacity building with the local
counterparts.. This will allow the UN, as an institution, to make
adjustments or changes based on these recommendations. Until now, in
Timor-Leste, there is a wide-shared belief and high expectations that by
the end of the mission in 2012, the UN will leave 'good memories' or
'positive legacies' rather than negative ones. It is hoped in the future
these negative examples may be avoided so that other host countries will
smoothly deliver efficient and effective administrations.
UNAMET and its impossible mission
The UNAMET mission, of which I was a part , was considered to be a
very successful mission from its inception with the signing of the May
5th agreement in 1999 until the popular consultation, carried out on
August 30, 1999 and the announcement of the result on September 4, 1999.
The success of the mission can not be separated from the 'strong
leadership' that was exercised by Ian Martin as a capable diplomat with
vast experiences dealing with human rights matters in Amnesty
International and as Deputy of the UN mission in Haiti. Both experiences
enriched his career allowing him to control elements inside the mission
itself, such as UNPOL, Military Liaison Officers, Military Observers, as
well as the UN Voluntary staff, who supported the popular consultation
on the ground upon their deployment.
The mission, in a short time, under the guidance of high caliber
professionals in the media like David Wimhurst and his team, was able to
disseminate educational information about ballot papers, how to vote
etc. by using various channels of information such as TV, radio and
other printed information like pamphlets and leaflets, so that people
were educated in a short time and were able to absorb information about
the voting process.
As a result, the popular consultation was carried out professionally
with an excellent turnout and minimum irregularities by which the
majority of the voters confirmed their position of self determination by
casting their votes leading to independence. Therefore, many Timorese
whom I have met regard this mission as an 'impossible mission'.
Many people who were impressed by the victory expected a peaceful hand
over, such as; Macao (from Portugal to China) or Hong Kong (from Great
Britain to China).Unfortunately, there was no 'happy ending' of the
UNAMET mission due to the premeditated Indonesian 'scorth earthed
policy' in 1999 to burn down and to destroy the 27th Province. Timor's
infrastructure and thousands of homes were reduced to smoke and ashes in
only two weeks and the violence resulted in massacres and deaths,
injuries and forced deportations.
The UN could have handled the Timorese refugees within the siege of
the UN compound more competently and compassionately. The Timorese
civilians in the compound were there only because, out of desperation,
they threw their children over the razor wire and then stormed the
compound after being harassed and threatened by armed Polri in the
school grounds who said when the UN left they would kill them- These
threats had been earlier reported to JOC nevertheless they were left
helplessly in the school yard until they took their safety in their
own hands.
With UN personnel and 1500 Timorese refugees in UNAMET HQ under siege,
we knew, for sure, that Ian was under pressure to communicate the
reality on the ground to the headquarters in New York so that the
headquarters would accept the evacuation of the Timorese staff and
refugees with UN staff in 1999. As Timorese local staff, who worked for
this mission, we clearly understood that the negotiation was very tough.
Ian Martin was struggling to convey the message through the mission's
political section to convince Kofi Annan in NY to influence the Security
Council to take urgent action to address the critical condition in 1999.
Meanwhile as part of 'bargaining power' to allow local staff and
civilians who resided temporarily in UNAMET compound to be evacuated to
Darwin , local staff had gathered together with the civilians to lay
down on the ground at the main gate of UNAMET compound prepared to let
the UN vehicles pass over them if the UNAMET only evacuated
international staff. This action was also a statement to show the
international community that Timor was not under the control of the
Indonesian security forces as spelt out in the agreement. Furthermore,
most UN staff and remaining journalists within the compound also refused
to leave without the Timorese. If it was not for the mutiny within
the compound, the UN would have abandoned the Timorese families to a
horrific fate. After the evacuation the UNHQ was moved to the
Australian consulate because the walls were high and Timorese refugees
would not be an issue. The final decision took longer than expected
which is why the process of evacuation was executed only on the 12
September, eight days after the violence erupted on the 4th after the
announcement of the result in 1999.
The tragic violence in September 1999 was beyond the unarmed UNAMET
mission's control; however, it maintained continuity of mission by
moving its operation temporarily to Darwin. The successful evacuation of
the civilians and local staff was intended to justify the intervention
of the International Force for East Timor (INTERFET). UNAMET waited
until the INTERFET was able to restore and normalize the chaotic
situation before deploying humanitarian assistance and handing over to
UNTAET.
UNTAET and its preparation of Timorese Administration
The United Nations Transitional Administration was established in
July 2000, under the Security Council Resolution 1272. . The UNTAET
mission was to support a greater autonomy of decision making and the
progressive transfer of governance to a full Timorese government. In a
meeting held in Tibar, the then SRSG, Sergio Viera de Mello proposed the
concept of a joint government, which gave rise to the East Timor
Transitional Administration (ETTA) combining International staff and
Timorese to fill the nine portofolios of the transitional government
structure The UNTAET also created the first Council of Ministers with
its thirteen portofolios to make important decisions and carry out a
democratic election to form Constituent Assembly which was considered to
be the embryo of the Timorese Parliament.
Initially the lack of crucial resources was debilitating for the huge
task at hand. While departments tried to function with one or two
computers. It appeared that the procurement of some resources was badly
mismanaged by an Indian who was appionted to be the procurement advisor,
eg the choice of Tata vehicles which were generally useless in the
districts because of perpetual mechanical problems and low quality of
the vehicles. The presence of the ship-hotels was another sign of
mismanagement.. It would have been cheaper to construct dormitories and
leave the Timorese with infrastructure than use the ships which were
also a blatant symbol of inequality and decadence in the shattered
little nation.
There is no doubt that the establishment of the Transitional
Administration encountered many challenges both from the Timorese side
to reach 'common consensus' and from the UN side to efficiently manage
its multi agencies and multi-nationalities under the UNTAET umbrella in
order to lead the country to move ahead. In this regard, Sergio Viera
de Mello played an important role with his combination of Latino and
Commonwealth style (see Dionisio Babo' Paper). There was also the
additional challenge of bringing together all political parties and
successfully unifying them in the decision making process. This was
successfully achieved by Sergio, hand in hand with the Conselho National
da Resisten'a Timorense (CNRT), under the leadership of Kay Rala Xanana
Gusmao. As a Brazilian, Sergio absorbed and adapted easily to Timorese
culture that had historically been partially influenced by Portugal.
Sergio was also sensitive to local culture and religion which was a
consideration of each decision that he made. Not only that, Sergio
had a strong leadership style and was able to bring all entities within
the UN system together and he focused on this important task. However,
dealing with the reality on the ground is always difficult and he faced
many challenges. Sergio honestly recognised UN weaknesses in the ruling
Transitional Administration. This was expressed as I quoted in my
interview with him during my research for my Masters thesis as follows:
',....There are lots of 'trials and errors' at the beginning. The UN
was not prepared, equipped either in materials, words or in terms of
human resources to assume those functions quickly and efficiently. So,
it is very difficult to adapt other experiences. We were not governing
in Cambodia, we were not governing in Namibia. So, we could not really
compare everything. What we are doing here is new and particularly
difficult because of the destruction and the collapse of the previous
administration. We have never seen that before. Therefore we have to
'invent' UNTAET. It is like a laboratory. New experiment, with mistakes,
like the old experiment. In experimental science, you try, you make
mistakes, you do not really find the answer, you try again until you
say, yes this is the way. That is how we do it here...' (clip interview,
2001)
Sergio Viera's comments reflected the reality in Timor. This also
sent a clear message that 'successful lessons learned' from elsewhere
cannot be simply adopted due to complexities of the host countries in
many areas such as the political sphere, culture, religion etc.
Despite the successes mentioned above and consultative processes that
were initiated by Sergio, the mission, according to Timorese public
opinion, failed to implement the Pacta Unidade Nasional (National Unity
Pact) that required unity and power sharing both in government and
parliament among the leaders of political parties that had grievances in
the past (Fretilin, Apodeti, UDT, Kota and Trabalista). This
exacerbated the situation when there was no democratic election, but
rather a transformation of the Constituent Assembly to become the
legislative body in the parliament. This was considered to be a
disaster in a post conflict country like Timor-Leste, where a period of
10-5 years is necessary to acquire leadership maturity to maintain
unity, stability and full acceptance of democratic elections (read also
Bishop Belo's comments) and the endorsement of a check and balance
mechanism.
There are many commentators who stated that the crisis of 2006 was due,
in part, to the lack of experience of the leaders to exercise the state
democratic rules and to carry out their functions and this created
conflicts. The situation was worsened by the unhealthy communication by
the leaders to maintain their interests. Timorese leaders should have
assumed their responsibility and function as 'role models' for
democracy. Unfortunately, the concept of a democratic institution is
still vague and not understood clearly by the public and in particular
by Timorese leaders.
Again, going back to de Mello's image of a laboratory experiment, there
is a common perception with its argument that the UNTAET was keen to
test the rules, values and norms of democracy in the initial stage, in
order to be able to ensure that the result corresponded to the mission's
mandate. If the 2012 mandate is the last mandate, then a democratic
country in its infant stage should have been established and begun to
develop towards a mature democracy like those in the West..
Human rights in theory and practice: the case of all missions in
Timor-Leste
Human rights cannot be a mere slogan for people. The values of human
rights should be upheld by everybody, particularly all UN staff
everywhere. By upholding the values and principles of human rights and
attaching and embedding them in their daily lives, they can serve
accordingly without any constraint in practical terms of their daily
work.
But, what is nicely written on paper is sometimes different in reality.
There were several incidents that reflected 'inconsistency' with these
values and principles. Consequently, we, local staff, felt very
frustrated and powerless during the UN missions in Timor-Leste where
overt inequalities were practiced by an institution that operates under
the concept of multinationalism .
UN staff who left Timor-Leste had contributed many 'good' memories and
some bad memories. The good of course, should be the guidelines and
continued practice of the country's future administration and the bad
should be discarded. However, we need to consider the bad for reflection
on institutional improvement.
Many Timorese commented that the 'transfer' of the Serious Crime Unit
work into National Court, was an attempt by the UN to escape its
responsibility. Ironically, on the one hand, this helped the Timorese
to accelerate the process of reconciliation, but on the other hand, as a
strong institution, the UN should continue to stand firm. Human rights
must be internationally upheld without weakening the UN commitment to
them,. otherwise a negative message is sent setting a precedence of
inconsistency.
There were also a series of incidents which indicated the violation of
human rights and the UN code of conduct. Unequal treatment was
experienced by many local staff. For example, during UNAMET in Ermera,
three local staff and an international staff member had arrived by
helicopter from the Public Information Office based in Dili. A UN
staff, Mr. Samukai from Liberia forced the three local staff to
squeeze in the back of the car next to piles of baggage, tires and
papers while the international staff member had plenty of room in the
front seat. I was one of the three local staff and we did not press the
matter because of our focus and commitment to help the UNAMET to hold
the consultation without constraints. Later I discovered that Mr Samukai
held an important position in his country. We discussed among ourselves
that we were entitled to equal treatment As Timorese, of course, we
were shocked because we assumed the human rights value of equality would
prevail as it has perpetually been promoted by every UN mission as a
guideline for its staff.
.
In the initial stage of transition from UNAMET to UNTAET, there was a
shop open for UN staff that provided fast food. All the items were
brought from Australia. After the destruction most Timorese staff were
hardly able to find such shops. Another frustration for the locals was
the decision that items had to be purchased on presenting an
international passport. Of course, it meant only internationals, were
served, not the Timorese. I was lucky that some generous international
staff with whom I worked helped me by buying limited goods for me from
the shop, most Timorese were not so lucky. I mention this to underline
that equal treatment should be across the board in UN missions which
would ensure that the institution would be respected by everyone. I
tink. This will be a challenge for the UN as an institution that is
currently led by the Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon.
Moreover, a Human Rights Unit is always attached to UN missions in
conflict areas. During UNAMET, Ian Martin, as a person who worked for
Amnesty International, was fully aware of human rights issues and he
absolutely disagreed with unequal practices if three of us were able to
bring these issues to his attention.
During the transition from UNAMET to UNTAET, Timorese staff including
myself worked for the Public Information Office. We had to rush to
finalize media releases and news for radio and TV and to meet deadlines
for broadcasting. A female staff who arrived late was kicked in her
bottom and, she fell and smashed her own computer. I again, I was
shocked, and we raised questions among ourselves- 'is this the real UN
with human rights values or is it just empty rhetoric'' or was the UN
unable to program its own multinational staff . I joined our other
friends, (who have now mostly become diplomats,) to discuss with Manuel
Almeida, who was our new Public Information Office Director, how to
solve the issue. Again, I was informed that Sergio might be upset if the
issue was brought to his attention.
These are just two examples of discrimination. There were many abuses
and discriminative acts practiced by internationals during that period
which were not brought to the attention of the head of both UNAMET and
UNTAET. But, I was very optimistic that the Head of the two missions
would have seriously taken action if those issues were brought to his
attention.
There were many criticisms directed at all the UN Missions in
Timor-Leste. A serious issue is UN immunity that is applicable to all UN
mission staff in most conflict and post conflict countries. This allows
UN staff to exercise their roles without fear in helping the country
move towards peace and harmony. However, there were several incidents
where the UN staff and UNPOL were involved in criminal 'hit and run'
cases, and immediately the UN Headquarters arranged for the
perpetrators to leave the country without further investigation,
resolution or compensation to the families of the victims (read the
statement of discontent expressed by both PNTL General commander and an
article by the Secretary State for Defense and some images of torture
captured by local TV). During several discussions that I had with the
family of the victims, they raised their concerns.
The incidents that involved UNPOL members in two violent acts resulted
in the UN leadership intervening in order to deport the UNPOL members
back to their own countries. Furthermore, this was done without a
transparent mechanism to satisfy the families of the victims. These
incidents have set a bad example in police practice. Commenting in a
workshop, Longinhos emphasized, Timorese police lack capacity because
their teacher (UN) is unable to provide the best quality of capacity
building, meaning when 'the teacher is weak the students are also weak'
(Suara Timor Lorosae, February 15, 2010) Many people have no doubt that
if Timorese police are unable to act professionally in dealing with
criminals and traffic violators it is partially due to the
unprofessional manner some UNPOL handle law breakers and enforce the
rule of law..
This also applies to unprofessional and disrespectful behaviors by some
UNPOL to local authorities. For example in the case of searching the
vehicles of Taur Matan Ruak jointly by UNPOL and ISF (International
Stability Force). And in the case of the smashing of vehicles and the
rude behavior by Philipino UNPOL to the Vice Minister of Finance which
was brought to the attention of the SRSG Atul Khare. The investigation
had been carried out in an unsatisfactory manner, so the SRSG requested
to have a second investigation, however the SRSG stated, he was not
aware of the incident and sent his deputy and political staff to
convince the Minister of Finance and the Prime Minister to drop the case
because he was worried about the image of the UN mission and his own
reputation.
Several times, when local authorities were invited to Obrigado Barracks
for UN ceremonies, they felt intimidated at the UN gate by the
bad-mannered attitude of security personnel. These incidents always
caused tension.
Good Governance and bad practices to avoid
Good governance is a key word for post conflict countries. The
United Nations Development Program (UNDP) is mainly responsible for
assisting these countries to establish a transparent, effective and
efficient governance. The UN defines 'good governance' as,
The process of decision-making and the process by which decisions are
implemented (or not implemented). In addition, good governance has 8
major characteristics. It is participatory, consensus oriented,
accountable, transparent, responsive, effective and efficient, equitable
and inclusive and follows the rule of law. It assures that corruption is
minimized, the views of minorities are taken into account and that the
voices of the most vulnerable in society are heard in decision-making.
It is also responsive to the present and future needs of society.
As most Timorese observe, the UN efforts to enhance the capacity
of the bureaucracy and administration of the new country is crucial. At
least, the eight characteristics mentioned above should be fulfilled.
All discussion about the national interest ensures high participation of
all stakeholders. The process has been developed to the extent where
these characteristics are generally implemented. My view is that good
governance should be guided by the UN mission in Timor with good will
and good example to be followed.
The critics of the good governance practices are prevalent. This is
understandable in a post conflict country where everyone is in the
process of learning. Nevertheless, the Country Assessment Strategies and
other developmental documents are mostly prepared without the
involvement of the Timorese (see the collection of 1500 documents
produced during the State of the Nation Report). On many occasions, a
process of consultation is held after these documents have been
prepared by consultants hired by the UN missions - with the exception of
the local decentralization document that is currently in the
implementation stage to establish the thirteenth municipality.
Participation can be either direct or through legitimate intermediate
institutions or representatives. And, significantly, participation by
both men and women is a key cornerstone of good governance. Most
Timorese stakeholders have shared their concerns about gender
participation. After gender education was lectured by many gender
advisors hired by the UN, now, at last, we have for the first time where
a female SRSG appointed to Timor-Leste. One wonders if gender
participation is as well exercised as it is defined'
The issue of capacity building is being argued by some line ministries
who work together with the UN international staff to provide training
and the effective transfer of knowledge until such time when the UN
leaves the country. However there is a growing feeling among the
national stakeholders that the capacity building only takes place inside
'Obrigado Barracks' i.e. HQ. If the UN believes in the capacity building
with their Timorese copunterparts, by now, we would have witnessed the
visible counterparts of UN advisors seating side-by-side with their
counterparts in Line Ministries. However, the end result is mixed. It
comes as no surprise that the government has to offer significant
incentive to attract national staff who work for the UN to work for the
government regardless of the cost that the government has to bear for
the efficiency and effectiveness of transferring knowledge to the local
counterparts who are, to some extent, performing below the standard
requirements and low level of work ethos.
Another national concern is the increase in poverty and unemployment
despite billions of dollars in donor aid. President Horta addressed
this conundrum in is speech to the 63rd Session of the UN
General Assembly, pointing out that the monies had not gone directly
to rural projects but the bulk went to overgenerous foreign consultancy
fees, unnecessary reports and recommendations and study missions. High
international salaries, overseas procurement, imported supplies, foreign
military and security spending have also siphoned off the major volume
of donor aid from urgent development programs and the struggling
economy. To ensure future donor effectiveness, a comprehensive enquiry
into how the aid was spent must be conducted. Semilarly, in a workshop
for preparation of rural development framework, the president reafirmed
his statement ' if that is true, araound three billions have been spent,
perhaps all the farmers or poor people in rural areas have enjoyed their
lives and they have been able to drive BMW to the town.....'
There is a double standard by many UN staff who use UN vehicles to enjoy
their off-duty life along the beaches while advising the government, in
the interest of good governance, not to use government vehicles during
the weekend.
Another hypocrisy occurs by some UN staff and UNPOL members who insist
the owner of rental houses reduce the cost of the rent, yet demand the
owners sign a false receipt showing the amount that matches the UN
entitlement, meanwhile they rent the rooms to their friends at a higher
charge and double the profit. What sort of good governance, integrity
and honesty is this' Can this be a good example to follow' These kind of
practices reflect badly on the UN which should take measures to prevent
the exploitation of local people by its staff members and more carefully
oversee the efficiency and effectiveness of its internal management.
Some of the UN staff have left their childreen. The former Aileu
District Administrator, Mrs. Maria Paixao, in a discussion of gender
issue took place in Hotel Timor, reafirmed that there are more then 100
childreen that need protection. For that, the UN HQ in Dili has
requested to draft an UN intenal regulation for protection of the
victims. It was brought into public discussion and consultation,
meanwhile publicly never heard of its implementation.
The resolution of the maritime boundaries both with Indonesia and
Australia is crucial for protecting Timor-Leste's sovereignty and the
prosperous development of its potential natural resources. Peter
Galbright, played important role in the negotiation along with his
Timorese counterpart, the former Prime Minister, Mari Alkatiri who was
in charged of Minister of Economy at the time of negotiation. This
effort should be praised as the success that potentially has channeled
revenue to the new born country' prospect of development. However,
having only facilitated half the process of joint exploration and
shared profit with Australia , the UN must not leave Timor-Leste with
the issue unresolved. Given the circumstance where the country has to
sacrifice its maritime boundaries within fifty year time frame for
negotiation.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the people of Timor-Leste appreciate the many
achievements of the UN Missions in Timor-Leste in its efforts to assist
our new nation to develop its governance in an efficient and effective
manner. For the government and people of Timor-Leste, bad lessons will
act as references to be avoided and to indicate moves in the right
direction. Furthermore good and bad lessons can educate the UN to
perform in a professional, impartial, and affirmative way that will
benefit other post conflict countries.
There remain great challenges for Ameerah Haq to work with her
Timorese counterparts to bring about significant changes and we are
optimistic that we will meet them successfully together. I hope
that Ameerah will have gained lessons learned from her predecessors and
apply sensible approach to the remaining period of the UN mission in
Timor-Leste. Let's hope that the bitter memories will never be repeated
and that the UN can claim a lasting memory when they leave Timor-Leste
once and for all.
Back May Menu
World Leaders Contact List
Main Postings Menu
|
