NOBEL PEACE PRIZE WINNER CALLS FOR

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Subject: NOBEL PEACE PRIZE WINNER CALLS FOR UNITED NATIONS HUMAN RIGHTS OFFICE IN EAST TIMOR 

16 June 1997


                  Press Release
                  GA/COL/2966




NOBEL PEACE PRIZE WINNER CALLS FOR UNITED NATIONS HUMAN RIGHTS OFFICE IN 
EAST TIMOR



Addresses Special Committee on Decolonization As It Hears Petitioners on 
East Timor Question

Jose Ramos Horta, co-winner of the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize, this afternoon 
called for the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to 
establish
an office in East Timor to facilitate dialogue between the Timorese and the 
Indonesian authorities and to mediate local conflicts.

Addressing the Special Committee on decolonization, the resistance activist 
 -- who was awarded the Prize along with East Timorese Roman Catholic Bishop
Ximenes Belo -- also called for a reduction to 1,000 of the number of 
Indonesian troops in East Timor and their confinement to barracks. In 
addition, he
urged East Timorese resistance fighters to observe a cessation of all armed 
activities.

Among other petitioners speaking today on the question of East Timor, a 
representative of Human Rights Watch/ASIA urged the Special Committee to
encourage the Indonesian Government to establish an independent truth 
commission to examine past abuses in the Territory. Such a commission should
also act to cease the creation of militias and other quasi-military 
institutions which only served to exacerbate the human rights situation in 
East Timor, she
said.

The Special Committee heard a call for an East Timorese version of the 
United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) by a
representative of the Free East Timor Japan Coalition. He said the United 
Nations must establish a transitional authority on East Timor, and urged the
Committee to support efforts aimed at rebuilding indigenous civil society 
and institutions pending an internationally monitored electoral process.

Representatives of several organizations appealed for reconciliation among 
the different political groups in East Timor. A representative of Timorese 
Youth
for Reconciliation said such reconciliation should be given high priority. 
East Timorese youth wanted to move forward; they were tired of standing 
still, he
said.



Decolonization Committee - 1a - Press Release GA/COL/2966 1475th Meeting 
(PM) 16 June 1997

The Committee heard statements by representatives of the following 
organizations: the Seeds of Hope East Timor Ploughshares Group; the Hobart 
East
Timor Committee; the National Council of Maubere Resistance; the 
International Platform of Jurists for East Timor; Fretilin International; 
the Auckland East
Timor Independence Committee; the Asia-Pacific Coalition for East Timor; the 
Timor Foundation for Reconciliation and Development; the Timorese Cultural
Group; the Movement of Support to the Intra-Timorese Dialogue; and the 
Timorese Cultural and Ethnic Research Centre in Australia. The 
representative of
Indonesia spoke on a point of order.

The Special Committee will meet again at 10 a.m. tomorrow, 17 June, to 
continue hearing petitioners on the question of East Timor.



Special Committee Work Programme

The Special Committee on decolonization met this afternoon to continue its 
consideration of the question of East Timor. It was expected to hear a 
number of
petitioners on the issue, including a joint recipient of the 1996 Nobel 
Peace Prize, Jose Ramos Horta.

Statements

ANGIE ZELTER, of the United Kingdom-based Seeds of Hope East Timor 
Ploughshares Group, said that with a new Government in power in Britain, 
there
was now a chance that, with United Nations leadership, that Government would 
support a proper process of decolonization for East Timor and the removal
of Indonesians from the Territory.

She said Indonesian armed forces violated East Timor's right to self- 
determination and continued their illegal occupation of the Territory, 
contrary to United
Nations resolutions. Indonesia was carrying out horrifying acts of 
aggression and genocide in violation of the Nuremberg Principles and the 
Geneva
Conventions. British citizens were deeply ashamed at the support that 
previous British Governments gave to Indonesian troops, selling weapons to
Indonesia and pretending not to know the scale of the killings in East Timor 
during the late 1970s and early 1980s. The Special Committee was urged to do
all in its power to help advance the decolonization process in East Timor 
and bring to an end its disgraceful and tragic occupation.

JOSE RAMOS HORTA, co-winner of the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize, called for a 
reduction to 1,000 the number of Indonesian troops in East Timor and their
confinement to barracks, and urged East Timorese resistance fighters to 
observe a cessation of all armed activities. He said a protection zone 
should be
created in an agreed region of the Territory, where the armed resistance 
forces and their families could assemble under international humanitarian
protection. Prisoners should be released and torture ended.

He said an office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights 
should be established in East Timor, with a mandate modelled after a similar
office in Colombia and the confidentiality rules of the International 
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). That office could serve as a useful 
bridge for
communication between the local people and the authorities, facilitate 
dialogue and mediate local conflicts. It should also provide training in 
international
human rights and humanitarian law for law-enforcement agents, the armed 
forces, the police and civil society.

He urged the parties concerned to work in good faith with the Secretary- 
General to find a satisfactory formula for resolving the East Timor 
conflict. Noting
the forthcoming meeting between the Foreign Ministers of Portugal and



Decolonization Committee - 3 - Press Release GA/COL/2966 1475th Meeting (PM) 
16 June 1997

Indonesia, he said the Secretary-General had, during his six months in 
office, given ample evidence of his firm commitment to work with 
objectivity,
impartiality, creativity and determination to bring about a resolution of 
the conflict.

The East Timorese should be given the right to govern their own country, he 
said. The United Nations, Portugal, Indonesia, Australia, United States, 
Japan
and East Timorese political leaders must share responsibility for the 
tragedy that had affected the people of the Territory. "The people of East 
Timor were
and are still the victims of our collective irresponsibility, of the errors 
of judgement of some, and the indifference of too many", he said. It served 
no purpose
to put the blame on one side or the other.

GEOFFREY C. GUNN, of the Free East Timor Japan Coalition and a professor of 
international relations, urged the Special Committee to take an active and
interventionist approach to the question of East Timor. It would be a 
travesty of truth and law if the Committee was to accept the arguments of 
the
Indonesian Government. The Committee should set in motion machinery to 
ascertain the wishes of the East Timorese for their political future. The 
United
Nations should be moving in the direction of an East Timorese version of the 
United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) to
tailor a future United Nations presence inside occupied East Timor to match 
that country's languages and traditions.

Stressing that the United Nations must establish a transitional authority on 
East Timor, he urged the Committee to lend its authority to an international 
effort,
also involving non-governmental organizations, to rebuild indigenous civil 
society and institutions, pending an internationally monitored electoral 
process.
He also called for the stationing in East Timor of the permanent presence of 
the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), not
just in Jakarta, as part of a larger and imaginative peace package.

He affirmed Japanese interest in a solution to the problem of East Timor. 
Japan did not recognize Indonesian claims to East Timor and would lend its 
good
offices and experience towards a solution of the problem. He recommended a 
body of independent scholarship on East Timor to the Committee, so that it
would not have to "swallow the half-truths and fabrications emanating from 
the officialized Indonesian media on East Timor". Those who had visited East
Timor could no longer be duped by the Indonesian public relations machinery. 


CONSTANCIO PINTO, of the National Council of Maubere Resistance, said he was 
Timorese, a former political prisoner and the organizer of a peaceful
demonstration in November 1991 in which 271 people were killed by the 
Indonesian Army. His organization envisioned an independent and democratic



Decolonization Committee - 4 - Press Release GA/COL/2966 1475th Meeting (PM) 
16 June 1997

East Timor, based on the rule of law and emanating from the will of the 
people through free elections. The question of self-determination had 
brought his
organization and others to the Committee each year, to give that body first- 
hand accounts of the conflict in East Timor. Despite the awarding of the 
Nobel
Peace Prize to two East Timorese, the frequency of human rights violations 
in the Territory had increased. Since then, hundreds of people had been
arrested, tortured and disappeared.

He said the reality of torture in East Timor was that political prisoners 
were punched repeatedly, men's genital organs were electrocuted, fingernails 
pulled
out, bodies burnt with cigarette butts, faces sliced with razor blades, and 
women raped in front of their husbands, children, relatives and friends. The
Indonesian Army continued its retaliation against civilians. Torture or 
ill-treatment of political prisoners in East Timor in both police and 
military custody was
routine. Retaliatory attacks such as those on 29 May in Dili and Lospalos 
were not isolated; they had occurred since the Indonesian invasion. He urged 
the
United Nations to send human rights observers to East Timor without delay, 
including special rapporteurs. Indonesia's human rights abuses would end 
with
a political settlement that took into account the right of the East Timorese 
to self-determination.

ELIZABETH SISSONS, of the Hobart East Timor Committee, drew attention to 
discrimination being perpetuated by Indonesia on the grounds of race, gender
and creed. Indonesia was using rape as a weapon of occupation. By not 
condemning such actions of the Indonesian occupying forces, the 
international
community had implicitly endorsed them. Indonesia was also engaged in 
serious discrimination against the people of East Timor on religious 
grounds, with
animists as the victims. She called for international condemnation of the 
discriminatory practices by Indonesia.

JENNIFER COON, of the International Platform of Jurists for East Timor, 
expressed concern about the detention of an East Timorese labour leader 
despite
his severe illness. Indonesia was holding many in prison. Its continuing 
violation of human rights contradicted its claim that the people of East 
Timor had
been happily integrated into Indonesian society. The people were being 
marginalized and denied employment opportunities, as well as the sovereignty 
over
their natural resources. She called for an international arms embargo 
against Indonesia, noting such a measure had helped end the apartheid regime 
in
South Africa.

MARI ALKATIRI, of Fretilin International, said that all organizations 
resisting East Timor's illegal occupation by Indonesia were willing to find 
mechanisms to
re-establish international law there. That was an important condition for 
the Maubere people of East Timor to freely exercise the right to 
self-determination
and independence. The occupation costs of East Timor included a death toll 
of more than 200,000, as well as 20,000 exiled,



Decolonization Committee - 5 - Press Release GA/COL/2966 1475th Meeting (PM) 
16 June 1997

thousands of orphans, innumerable rapes, tortures, summary executions, 
persecution and imprisonment without trial. For 23 years, there had been a
procession of violence and violations against the defenceless East Timorese 
population. Political costs included an ongoing conflict which had the 
potential
to destabilize the region. Legal costs included the ongoing violation of 
international law, which had taken alarming proportions as a deliberate 
policy of
genocide against the East Timorese people.

He said that General Assembly and Security Council resolutions adopted since 
1975 clearly stated that East Timor had not yet exercised its right to
self-determination and independence. Both bodies had demanded the withdrawal 
of Indonesian forces. "The international community is awakening after a
long sleep, induced by the virus of indifference and the syndrome of 
Indonesian annexation's irreversibility." There was need for an 
international criminal
court for East Timor. He looked forward to constructive dialogue with 
Jakarta to ensure that the Secretary-General achieved success in eliminating 
all
colonial issues from the United Nations agenda by the year 2000.

ALYN WARE, of the Auckland East Timor Independence Committee, recalled the 
extreme response by the Indonesian Government to a recent
demonstration by students. It had been an example of the harsh treatment of 
young people who opposed Indonesian Government rule. The New Zealand
Government had changed its policy on East Timor, encouraging tripartite 
talks, supporting a United Nations-sponsored referendum, recognizing East
Timor's right to self- determination and calling for the withdrawal of 
troops.

He stressed the importance of the Nobel Peace Prize to East Timorese. It was 
hoped that the Committee's deliberations would assist in promoting progress
on the issue in the interest of the East Timorese people.

AUGUSTO MITCLAT, of the Asia-Pacific Coalition for East Timor, expressed the 
hope that the current session of the Special Committee would lead to self-
determination for the people of East Timor. Events in the region, such as 
Burma's admission into the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN),
could impede that goal. The ASEAN action strengthened Indonesian control of 
East Timor. At a meeting with their European Union counterparts last
February, ASEAN Foreign Ministers had successfully argued in support of 
Indonesia's position that discussion of the East Timorese issue would be
extraneous.

MARTY MULIANA NATALEGAWA (Indonesia), speaking on a point of order, said 
petitioner's references to ASEAN should not be allowed.

UTULA U. SAMANA (Papua New Guinea), Special Committee Chairman, urged the 
petitioner to stick to the issue.



Decolonization Committee - 6 - Press Release GA/COL/2966 1475th Meeting (PM) 
16 June 1997

Mr. MITCLAT said his organization was a regional body, hence his references 
to ASEAN. The policies of ASEAN presented enormous implications for the
people of East Timor. If the United Nations did not act decisively on the 
issue, the people would take matters into their own hands and the United 
Nations
would face a far more intractable situation. He urged the Organization to 
implement all its resolutions on East Timor.

SIDNEY JONES, of Human Rights Watch/ASIA, said no serious efforts had been 
made by Indonesia to account for the past abuses in East Timor. Anger
against the Indonesian Government was deep-seated and would not go away. 
Indonesia had long employed divide-and-rule tactics as a security measure in
the Territory, apparently in the belief that to pit one group against 
another would weaken resistance to its rule.

She expressed support for a 1997 resolution by the Commission for Human 
Rights expressing concern about continuing reports of violations in East 
Timor,
as well as at the lack of compliance made by Indonesian authorities with 
commitments undertaken at previous sessions of the Commission. The Special
Committee should encourage the Indonesian Government to establish an 
independent truth commission to examine past abuses in the Territory and to
cease the practice of creating militias and other quasi-military 
institutions, which only served to exacerbate the human rights situation.

ABILIO ARAUJO, of the Timor Foundation for Reconciliation and Development, 
said the conflict was a colonial problem, and new approaches must be
adopted to resolve it. The East Timorese people wanted to preserve their 
political space. There was ground for consensus among historical leaders 
which
would lead to a resolution of the conflict.

He called for respect of the cultural identity of the people, promotion of 
human rights and sustainable growth, and welcomed the forthcoming talks 
between
Portuguese and Indonesian Foreign Ministers in New York. Creative new ideas 
should be put forward. The Timor foundation would continue to promote
progress in the Territory and appealed to all parties to end the use of 
violence.

ROGERIO PEREIRA, coordinator of Timorese Youth for Reconciliation, said the 
Committee had played a key role in pushing forward the question of the
sovereignty of East Timor. The majority of young Timorese were optimistic 
about their future. The facts spoke for themselves in East Timor. Portugal 
had
run away from its responsibility to ensure a normal decolonization process 
there. Reconciliation should be given high priority. There was need for more
education, development and prosperity. East Timorese youth wanted to move 
forward; they were tired of standing still. The Portuguese had left the 
country
backward.



Decolonization Committee - 7 - Press Release GA/COL/2966 1475th Meeting (PM) 
16 June 1997

He said there were many social problems that had been created by the 
Timorese political parties. Dialogue should be continued and agreement 
reached on
the issue of sovereignty.

INOCENCIA XIMENES NEVES, of the Timorese Cultural Group, said the invasion 
of East Timor had been the outcome of Timorese abandonment of their
responsibility and a shirking of the administering Power's responsibility. 
When the intervention by Indonesia occurred, she had abandoned her native 
land,
but she had a desire to return home one day, to play a part in the 
development of the Timorese people and culture. Her organization aimed at 
keeping
Timorese culture alive through dance and other cultural activities. Its 
activities included traditional dances and songs, which were practised in 
Portugal to
keep Timorese culture alive.

She said that one result of past meetings aimed at promoting reconciliation 
had been an exchange between Timorese in East Timor and those abroad. On
a recent return to the Territory, she had seen much prosperity. Current 
development had been made possible by the growth in the economic sector, as 
well
as by the reduction in illiteracy. She appealed to the Secretary-General to 
find a solution to the East Timorese issue; her organization would continue 
to
support the reconciliation process.

ANTONIO MARIA ARAUJO, of the Movement of Support to the Intra-Timorese 
Dialogue, said the parties must accept blame for the mistakes of the past
while searching for a resolution of the problem. East Timorese were now 
aware that they should also contribute to a peaceful resolution of the 
conflict, while
not seeking to interfere with the talks between Portugal and Indonesia. East 
Timorese with opposing views had met overseas in an effort to contribute to
that effort. International support was important but proposals must meet 
with the wishes of the people.

MARIA LOURDES SOARES, of the Timorese Cultural and Ethnic Research Centre in 
Australia, said there was an urgent need for concerted effort to
safeguard the cultural heritage of the East Timorese people. In a recent 
visit to the Territory, she discovered that there had been some 
improvements, but
there was still need for improved infrastructure. East Timorese 
representatives had been tireless in their search for a resolution of the 
conflict. There was
now a need for alternatives, which could be found in proposals put forward 
at reconciliation meetings.

The reconciliation process had brought home the fact that all was not lost, 
she said. That process should be viewed as complementary to the diplomatic
efforts involving Portugal, Indonesia and the United Nations. It was the 
responsibility of the East Timorese to find the path to resolution of the 
conflict, while
supporting those diplomatic efforts.

* *** *