Subject: UN rights commission votes to set up East
Timor probe
Date: Sat, 02 Oct 1999 09:08:53 -0400UN rights commission sets up East Timor probe
GENEVA, Sept 27 (AFP) - The UN human rights commission on Monday voted to set up an
international enquiry into human rights abuses and atrocities committed in East Timor this
month.
Commission president Anne Anderson of Ireland said that 27 of the commission's 53
members voted in favour of the proposal, while 12 voted against. Eleven members abstained
and three were absent.
Among the countries that voted against the motion were China, Cuba, India, Indonesia,
Japan, the Philippines, Russia and Sudan.
Indonesia, which invaded the Portuguese colony of East Timor in 1975 and annexed it the
following year, had opposed the idea of an international enquiry, arguing it would conduct
its own investigation.
The commission had been scheduled to vote on a probe last Friday, but Asian delegates
opposed the text and the meeting was adjourned until Monday.
Eleven Asian nations, including Indonesia, had argued that Jakarta showed good faith by
allowing a UN international force into the territory and had already said it would conduct
its own investigation into abuses attributed to Indonesian-backed militias.
After a flurry of negotiations, diplomats finally agreed on a compromise text covering
the thorny issue of an international enquiry.
Commission members then voted on a full resolution which provided for
various special rapporteurs to investigate alleged abuses under their jurisdiction.
Following the vote, the UN Secretary-General is to officially name the enquiry panel
which will include representatives from Asian countries.
Distr. GENERAL
E/CN.4/RES/1999/S-4/1 27 September 1999
Original: ENGLISH
Situation of human rights in East Timor
Commission on Human Rights resolution 1999/S-4/1 (adopted at its fourth
special session)
The Commission on Human Rights,
Meeting in special session,
Guided by the principles embodied in the Charter of the United Nations,
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenants on
Human Rights, the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and
Degrading Treatment or Punishment, the Convention on the Rights of the
Child, international humanitarian law, including the Geneva Conventions of
12 August 1949 for the protection of war victims and the Additional
Protocols thereto of 1977, and other relevant international human rights
instruments,
Conscious of its responsibility to promote and encourage respect for
human rights and fundamental freedoms for all, and resolved to remain
vigilant with regard to violations of human rights wherever they may occur
and to prevent such violations,
Reaffirming that all States have an obligation to promote and protect
human rights and fundamental freedoms as stated in the Charter of the
United Nations and as elaborated in the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights and other applicable human rights instruments,
Recalling the Agreement between the Republic of Indonesia and the
Portuguese Republic on the question of East Timor (the overall agreement),
signed in New York on 5 May 1999, and the agreements between the
Governments of Indonesia and Portugal and the United Nations of the same
date regarding the modalities for the popular consultation of the East
Timorese through a direct ballot and regarding popular consultation (the
security agreement) (A/53/951-S/1999/513, annexes I-III),
Deeply concerned by the human rights situation in East Timor, and in
particular reports indicating that systematic, widespread and flagrant
violations of human rights and international humanitarian law have been
committed in East Timor, as well as the situation of displaced persons in
East and West Timor and elsewhere in the region,
Recalling Security Council resolution 1264 (1999) of 15 September 1999
in which the Council demanded that those responsible for such acts be
brought to justice,
Recalling also its previous resolutions and statements by the Chair of
the Commission on Human Rights on the subject, the most recent of which
was the statement by the Chair made on 23 April 1999 at the fifty-fifth
session of the Commission (E/1999/23-E/CN.4/1999/167, chap. IX, para.
243),
Deeply concerned by the report of the United Nations High Commissioner
for Human Rights following her visit to Darwin and Jakarta** This document
will be distributed subsequently as a document of the fifty-sixth session
of the Commission. and the information provided by the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees and non-governmental organizations concerning
the human rights and humanitarian situation in East Timor,
1. Welcomes:
(a) The decision of the Government of Indonesia to allow the exercise
by the East Timorese of their right of self-determination and the massive
participation of the East Timorese in the free and fair popular
consultation of 30 August 1999, as well as the announcement by the
Government of Indonesia on 4 September 1999 of its intention to honour and
accept the result of the popular consultation;
(b) The efforts deployed by the Secretary-General in promoting the
consultation and in trying to implement fully the Agreement between the
Republic of Indonesia and the Portuguese Republic on the question of East
Timor and the expressed commitment of the Government of Indonesia to
cooperate with the international community;
(c) The invitation by the Government of Indonesia of an international
force and its deployment in East Timor as well as the contribution of all
States, in particular those in the region, to restoring peace and
security;
(d) The efforts of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human
Rights in addressing the situation, including her visit to Darwin and
Jakarta;
(e) The assurances given by the Indonesian authorities that the
displaced persons have the freedom to exercise their right to return
voluntarily, the assurances regarding the activities of the Office of the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and other international
humanitarian organizations, including the security of the personnel of the
Office of the High Commissioner, and the further assurances regarding free
access to all displaced persons, in particular in West Timor;
(f) The humanitarian response to the current crisis;
(g) The establishment on 22 September 1999 of the independent
Fact-Finding Commission for Post-Ballot Human Rights Violations in East
Timor by the Indonesian National Commission on Human Rights, and looks
forward to the concrete results of its work in close cooperation with
international bodies;
2. Condemns:
(a) The widespread, systematic and gross violations of human rights and
international humanitarian law in East Timor;
(b) The widespread violations and abuses of the right to life, personal
security, physical integrity and the right to property; (c) The activities
of the militias in terrorizing the population;
3. Expresses its deep concern:
(a) At the widespread forced removal and dislocation of persons to West
Timor and other nearby areas;
(b) At the serious humanitarian situation of the displaced East
Timorese, who have been deprived of food and access to basic health
services, particularly as it affects children and other vulnerable groups;
(c) At the violence and intimidation directed against international
agencies as well as most of the independent media;
(d) At the lack of effective measures to deter or prevent militia
violence and the reported collusion between the militias and members of
the Indonesian armed forces and police in East Timor;
4. Affirms that all persons who commit or authorize violations of human
rights or international humanitarian law are individually responsible and
accountable for those violations and that the international community will
exert every effort to ensure that those responsible are brought to
justice, while affirming that the primary responsibility for bringing
perpetrators to justice rests with national judicial systems;
5. Calls upon the Government of Indonesia:
(a) To ensure, in cooperation with the Indonesian National Commission
on Human Rights, that the persons responsible for acts of violence and
flagrant and systematic violations of human rights are brought to justice;
(b) To ensure that human rights and international humanitarian law are
fully respected in regard to all persons within its jurisdiction or under
its control;
(c) To continue to implement its obligations under the Agreement
between the Republic of Indonesia and the Portuguese Republic on the
question of East Timor;
(d) To guarantee the voluntary return of all refugees and displaced
persons, including those who have been forcibly displaced to camps in West
Timor;
(e) To ensure immediate access by humanitarian agencies to displaced
persons, both in East Timor as well as West Timor and other parts of the
Indonesian territory, and to guarantee the security and free movement of
international personnel;
(f) To continue to allow the deployment of emergency humanitarian
assistance;
(g) To cooperate fully with the United Nations High Commissioner for
Human Rights and with the special procedures of the Commission and to
continue to cooperate with the Office of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Human Rights in Jakarta;
6. Calls upon the Secretary-General to establish an international
commission of inquiry, with adequate representation of Asian experts, in
order, in cooperation with the Indonesian National Commission on Human
Rights and thematic rapporteurs, to gather and compile systematically
information on possible violations of human rights and acts which may
constitute breaches of international humanitarian law committed in East
Timor since the announcement in January 1999 of the vote and to provide
the Secretary-General with its conclusions with a view to enabling him to
make recommendations on future actions, and to make the report of the
international commission of inquiry available to the Security Council, the
General Assembly and the Commission at its fifty-sixth session;
7. Decides:
(a) To request the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or
arbitrary executions, the Representative of the Secretary-General on
internally displaced persons, the Special Rapporteur on the question of
torture, the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and
consequences, and the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary
Disappearances to carry out missions to East Timor and report on their
findings to the Commission at its fifty-sixth session and, on an interim
basis, to the General Assembly at its fifty-fourth session;
(b) To request the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to
facilitate the activities of the mechanism of the Commission;
(c) To request the High Commissioner to prepare a comprehensive
programme of technical cooperation in the field of human rights, in
cooperation with other United Nations activities, focusing especially on
capacity-building and reconciliation with a view to a durable solution to
the problems in East Timor;
(d) To request the High Commissioner to keep the Commission informed of
developments.
see also Special
Session of the Commission on Human Rights on the situation in East Timor Geneva,
23-27 September 1999
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