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East Timor ACTION Network ALERTDemand Justice for East Timor!Tell the Bush Administration to Support an International Tribunal for East TimorCall, fax or write the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations today!Recently, an appeals court in Indonesia confirmed that justice will not be found there. Clearly, Indonesia's ad hoc human rights court for East Timor is a travesty of justice. A UN Special Rapporteur condemned the court as violating “the principle that prosecutions are to be undertaken in good faith.” The tally: Of the 18 people tried by the ad hoc court, 17 were acquitted. Only the conviction of one East Timorese remains on appeal. In June, a Commission of Experts appointed by the UN Secretary-General to evaluate existing judicial processes and propose next steps to hold accountable those responsible for serious crimes in East Timor in 1999. The Commission examined the UN-initiated Serious Crimes process in East Timor and the Indonesian government's sham Ad-hoc Human Rights Court on East Timor. Neither process has been able to hold any higher-level perpetrators accountable.It recommended that the UN give Indonesia one closely-supervised last chance to credibly try senior officials. Should it fail the UN should establish an international tribunal. An ad hoc international tribunal for East Timor is the best path to justice for the victims of the brutal, quarter-century long occupation which claimed the lives of more than one-third of East Timor’s population. Call, write or fax U.S. Ambassador to the UN John Bolton today and tell him:
Contact Ambassador Bolton at: A sample letter is below; you are encouraged to modify it. You can fax directly from this website by clicking here. Please also send a letter to your local paper. Sample letters to the editor are available on ETAN’s website. Please feel free to modify and send them out. Additional info can be found at http://www.etan.org/issues/h-rights.htm. We are trying to keep a tally of letters sent, so please drop us an email or fax (718-222-4096) with a copy of the letter you send. Thank you for taking action. Together, we are making a difference! You can also fax the UN Secretary-General here. War crimes and crimes against humanity in East Timor must not go unpunished. More than one-third of the pre-invasion East Timorese population was killed during the illegal Indonesian military occupation from 1975 to 1999. I urge you to use all resources at your disposal to ensure the timely establishment of an international tribunal for East Timor. The existing judicial processes have not served justice. The Indonesian ad hoc court is an internationally-recognized sham, due to its limited mandate, exclusion of top officials and vital evidence, and distortion of facts. The Indonesian government has refused to cooperate with the joint UN/East Timor Serious Crimes Unit (SCU); this has given more than two-thirds of those so far indicted by the SCU de facto impunity. We urge you to support the recommendations of the report of the Secretary-General's Commission of Experts. The U.S. must quickly work with other Security Council members to pass a resolution supporting their implementation, including establishing an international tribunal for East Timor with a mandate covering the entire occupation. I look forward to your response. Sincerely, Name and address |
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