East Timor ACTION Network ALERT
Demand Justice for East Timor!
Tell the Bush Administration to Support an International Tribunal for
East Timor
Call, 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:
- East Timor needs real justice. The Indonesian court’s performance
has been shameful. Indonesian security personnel and political leaders
accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity must be held
accountable.
- The U.S. must actively work in the UN Security Council to establish
an international tribunal for East Timor, especially given its history
of support for the Indonesian occupation.
- Continued impunity for the well-documented war crimes and crimes
against humanity committed against the people of East Timor undermines
human rights and nation-building in East Timor and the rule of law in
Indonesia.
Contact Ambassador Bolton at:
Phone: 212-415-4050
Email: usa@un.int
Fax: 212-415-4053.
Letters to: Ambassador John Bolton, U.S. Mission to the UN, 799 UN
Plaza, NY, NY 10017-3505
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.
Dear Ambassador Bolton,
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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