MEDIA RELEASE
HUMAN RIGHTS GROUPS
CALL FOR END TO FARCICAL COMMISSION
24 May 2007
Contact:
- John M. Miller (ETAN), New York
+1/917-690-4391; etan@igc.org
- Yasinta Lujina (Lao Hamutuk), Dili
+670/723-4339; info@laohamutuk.org
Rafendi Djamin, Coordinator, (Human Rights Working Group),
+62/81311442159; hrwg@cbn.net.id
Dr. Mark Byrne, (Australian Coalition
for Transitional Justice in East Timor), Sydney, +61/2
9356 3888; mark.byrne@uniya.org
Paul Barber (TAPOL), Britain, +44/1420 80153;
+44/774 730 1739; plovers@gn.apc.org
In an open letter to the
presidents of Indonesia and Timor-Leste, a worldwide coalition of
three dozen human rights organizations led by groups from Indonesia
and Timor-Leste have called on President Yudhoyono and President
Ramos-Horta to close the bilateral Commission for Truth and
Friendship (CTF).
The letter says, "It is
obvious from its mandate and its performance that the CTF is not a
credible mechanism to seek justice or even truth regarding events in
Timor-Leste in 1999, let alone from 1975 to 1999." The full text of
the letter in available in English,
Bahasa Indonesia and
Tetum.
"The CTF cannot satisfy the
pressing need for justice from victims, victims' families, and the
entire population of Timor-Leste," said signer Yasinta Lujina of
La'o Hamutuk, a Timor-Leste-based organization. "Without justice,
the wounds of the past cannot heal and a lack of respect for the
rule of law will continue to destabilise Timor-Leste."
"The creation of the CTF was
an act of political expediency that was doomed from the beginning",
said Dr Mark Byrne, of the Australian Coalition for
Transitional Justice in East Timor. "Its terms of
reference permit it to recommend amnesties for the perpetrators of
the most brutal human rights violations."
According to Byrne, "What we
feared from the outset has happened. The public hearings have become
forums for alleged perpetrators to attempt to rewrite history by
blaming the victims and the United Nations. Instead of telling the
truth — which is by now well established — members of the Indonesian
Government and military and East Timorese militia leaders have
blamed the UN, Australia and the East Timorese themselves for the
violence."
The signatories to the
letter are calling on the two presidents to close the CTF. The
letter recommends that support be given to reconstituting the
"Special Panels for Serious Crimes" in Dili with effective authority
to arrest and try perpetrators of serious crimes committed in
Timor-Leste during the Indonesian occupation, regardless of where
they currently reside. "If that is not possible, we will continue to
call for the establishment of an international criminal tribunal,"
the letter says. The Special Panels ran from 2002-2005 but ended
their work before it was completed due to a lack of cooperation from
Indonesia and inadequate support from the UN.
The letter also calls for
"discussion in both national parliaments on how to implement the
recommendations in Chega!, the Report of the Timor-Leste Commission
for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation (CAVR)." The CAVR criticized
the establishment of the CTF and called for an international
tribunal should other efforts at justice continue to fail.
The lack of "a credible
mechanism to hold accountable high-level perpetrators of crimes
against humanity in Timor-Leste… which will continue to hamper the
growth of democracy and respect for the rule of law in both
Indonesia and Timor-Leste," the letter says.
The letter is timed to
coincide with recent the inauguration of José Ramos-Horta as the new
President of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste. Signers include
human rights groups from Indonesia, Timor-Leste, Australia, New
Zealand, Asia, United States, and Europe
The CTF began in 2005 as an
effort to deflect a
United Nations report call for Indonesia to be
given six months to prosecute those within its jurisdiction accused
of serious crimes during the 1999 independence referendum in
Timor-Leste. The CTF was intended to "establish the conclusive truth
in regard to the events prior to and immediately after" the
referendum.
The CTF was originally
intended to last for one year, but its mandate was extended in 2006.
The commissioners — five each from Indonesia and Timor-Leste — have
recently asked for another year to complete their work. However, the
Commission has been beset by problems, including: the widespread
perception that it lacks legitimacy; serious deficiencies in the
standards of its public hearings, including no clear procedure for
reconciling conflicting versions of the truth and a lack of clarity
and transparency about its processes.
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