Congress Urges Expeditious Talks on Permanent Maritime Boundary
for East Timor
Calls on Australia to Create Trust Fund for Disputed Revenue
Contact: John M. Miller, ETAN,
718-596-7668; 917-690-4391 (cell)
Charles Scheiner 914-831-1098
March 4, 2005 -- Senior U.S. senators and representatives today
urged “Australia to move quickly and seriously to establish a fair,
permanent maritime boundary with Timor-Leste,” as the two countries
prepared to resume negotiations on the issue.
A letter to Australian Prime Minister John Howard signed by 17
members of both chambers of Congress, many in leadership positions
and sitting on important committees, was sent today. The signers,
who have long been concerned with Timor-Leste (also known as East
Timor), urged that “any revenue from disputed areas on Timor-Leste's
side of the median line but outside the Joint Petroleum Development
Area be held in escrow,” pending a settlement.
“An equitable sharing of oil and gas revenues would enable
Timor-Leste to provide better health care and other essential
services to its citizens. Such equitable sharing of revenue is not a
question of charity; rather it is a matter of self-determination,
sovereignty and Timor-Leste's future,” the members of Congress
wrote.
The letter urged Australia, “to participate in international
legal mechanisms for arbitration of maritime boundary disputes,” and
expressed special concern about “reports of scores of recent
preventable deaths in Timor-Leste that have resulted from chronic
food shortages and outbreaks of dengue hemorrhagic fever.”
"An Australian official recently called for delaying resolution
of the maritime boundary for up to 99 years. The East Timorese are
unlikely to be that patient,” said Karen Orenstein, Washington
Coordinator of the East Timor Action Network. “The petroleum revenue
is necessary for the people of the new nation. More importantly,
East Timor's independence will not be fully realized until its
boundaries, both land and sea, are defined and accepted by its
neighbors.”
Representative Barney Frank (D-MA) and Senator Jack Reed (D-RI)
initiated the letter. The full text of the letter can be found
below.
Among the signatures on the letter are Representatives Nancy
Pelosi (D-CA), Democratic Leader of the House of Representatives;
Tom Lantos (D-CA), Ranking Member of the International Relations
Committee; Chris Smith (R-NJ), Vice-Chairperson of the International
Relations Committee; Eni Faleomavaega (D-AS), Ranking Member of the
International Relations Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific; Nita
Lowey (D-NY), Ranking Member of the Appropriations Foreign
Operations Subcommittee; Fortney Pete Stark (D-CA) and Jim McDermott
(D-WA), senior members of the Ways and Means Committee (with
jurisdiction over the U.S.-Australia Free Trade Agreement). Senators
signing the letter include Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Ranking Member of
the Appropriations Foreign Operations Subcommittee; James Jeffords
(I-VT) and Ron Wyden (D-OR), members of the Finance Committee (with
jurisdiction over the U.S.-Australia Free Trade Agreement); and Tom
Harkin, senior member of the Appropriations Committee.
The third round of talks is scheduled for Canberra on March 7-9.
Background
Substantial oil and natural gas deposits lie under the Timor Sea
between Australia and East Timor. Which country will be the
recipient of tens of billions of dollars of revenue is contingent on
a permanent boundary agreement.
The economic future of East Timor depends on where the Timor Sea
boundary with Australia is drawn. Since East Timor’s independence
referendum in 1999, the Australian government has taken in
approximately two billion Australian dollars in revenue from oil
fields much closer to East Timor than to Australia. Under current
international legal principles, these fields belong to East Timor.
(Larger fields, yet to be developed, are also claimed by both
countries.)
After two years of stalling, Australia finally sat down at the
negotiating table in April 2004. Those and subsequent talks last
fall went nowhere because Australia refused to discuss the 60
percent of East Timor’s legal entitlement claimed by Australia on
the basis of prior occupation stemming from illegal agreements with
Indonesia, the former occupier of East Timor.
In October 2002, East Timor enacted a Maritime Boundary Law,
claiming a 200 nautical mile Exclusive Economic Zone in all
directions, based on the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law
of the Sea. Where neighboring claims overlap, as is the case with
East Timor and Australia, countries must negotiate a boundary,
usually halfway between their coastlines. The Australian government
preemptively withdrew from the maritime boundary jurisdiction of the
International Court of Justice and the International Tribunal on the
Law of the Sea two months before East Timor's independence, leaving
the new republic with no legal recourse if negotiations are
protracted or unsuccessful, as they have been thus far.
In a briefing last month, an Australian Foreign Affairs official
said, “Our position is that the permanent boundaries should be put
off for quite some considerable time.” When asked how long, he
replied “You will recall that this was often talked about as the
Hong Kong solution and I think the Hong Kong years were ninety-nine,
I believe. So it’s certainly putting it off for quite some
considerable time.”
Last year, the Senate Appropriations Committee stated that it
“again encourage[d] all parties to negotiate in good faith in
accordance with international legal principles.” Last July, while
the House of Representatives debated the U.S.-Australia Free Trade
Agreement, Representatives Patrick Kennedy (D-RI), James McGovern
(D-MA) and Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) urged Australia to expeditiously
negotiate a permanent maritime boundary with Timor. In March 2004,
more than
four-dozen representatives expressed the hope that “both
governments will agree to a legal process for an impartial
resolution if the boundary dispute cannot be settled by
negotiation."
East Timor Action Network/U.S. has supported human dignity
for the people of East Timor since 1991. ETAN advocates for human
rights (including national and women’s rights), democracy,
sustainable development, and social, legal and economic justice.
For more information see
http://www.etan.org/issues/tsea.htm
Plain facts
about Australia & East Timor’s Maritime Boundary
(also
PDF
version)
March 4, 2005
The Honorable John Howard
Office of the Australian Prime Minister
3-5 National Circuit
Barton, ACT 2600
AUSTRALIA
Dear Mr. Prime Minister,
As members of the United States Senate and House of
Representatives who have long supported independence and development
for the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, we would like to share
our concerns regarding the upcoming negotiations between your
country and Timor-Leste on economic and territorial rights in the
Timor Sea.
We urge Australia to move quickly and seriously to establish a
fair, permanent maritime boundary with Timor-Leste, based on the
rule of law and respect for the sovereignty of both nations. Until
such a settlement is reached, we would urge that any revenue from
disputed areas on Timor-Leste's side of the median line but outside
the Joint Petroleum Development Area be held in escrow. We hope that
the temporary suspension of the development of the Greater Sunrise
field, which has eased pressure from oil companies for a quick fix,
will serve as a catalyst for a more thorough, deliberate and
empathetic resolution of the territorial dispute.
Although Timor-Leste has been free of Indonesian military
occupation since 1999, its citizens continue to struggle against
illiteracy, poverty, preventable disease and a lack of basic
services. We are especially concerned by reports of scores of recent
preventable deaths in Timor-Leste that have resulted from chronic
food shortages and outbreaks of dengue hemorrhagic fever. An
equitable sharing of oil and gas revenues would enable Timor-Leste
to provide better health care and other essential services to its
citizens. Such equitable sharing of revenue is not a question of
charity; rather it is a matter of self-determination, sovereignty
and Timor-Leste's future.
We applaud the fact that Australia has helped Timor-Leste achieve
independence and also provided significant humanitarian and
reconstruction aid. However, the approximately two billion
Australian dollars your government has received in revenues since
1999 from Laminaria-Corallina, fields located twice as close to
Timor-Leste, is much larger than the total cost of your generous
assistance. We are aware that many East Timorese believe these
fields and the revenue generated -- equivalent to about four years
of Timor Leste's GDP or one day of Australia's -- as well as most or
all of Greater Sunrise should belong to Timor-Leste. We urge your
government to participate in international legal mechanisms for
arbitration of maritime boundary disputes, which should include the
issue of control of resource development outside the interim Joint
Petroleum Development Area.
We admire your country's leadership in 1999 in helping to free
the people of Timor-Leste from the political oppression under which
they suffered for so long. We hope these maritime boundary
negotiations will move fairly and expeditiously, and that your
country will once again play a leading role in helping the people of
Timor-Leste to be free, this time from the oppression of poverty
that is preventing them from progressing as one of the world's
newest democracies.
Thank you for your consideration.
With best regards,
Senator Jack Reed
Senator James M. Jeffords
Senator Patrick J. Leahy
Senator Edward M. Kennedy
Senator Tom Harkin
Senator Ron Wyden
Rep. Nancy Pelosi
Rep. Christopher H. Smith
Rep. Tom Lantos
Rep. Barney Frank
Rep. Nita M. Lowey
Eni F. H. Faleomavaega
Rep. James P. McGovern
Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy
Rep. Fortney Pete Stark
Rep. Lane Evans
Rep. Jim McDermott
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