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For Immediate Release
Contact: John M. Miller, 718-596-7668,
917-690-4391
Aid Worker To Give First-Hand Account of East Timor’s Refugee Crisis
as Indonesian Problematic Registration Moves Ahead
Refugees Face Violence, Intimidation, Starvation, and Disease in
Indonesian Camps
Additional background
May 28, 2001 - A national speaking tour by the head of an Indonesian
humanitarian organization assisting refugees in West Timor begins this
week. The East Timor Action Network is sponsoring the tour by Winston
Neil Rondo, General Secretary of the Centre for Internally Displaced
People’s Services (CIS). Rondo’s three-week national speaking tour
will take him Los Angeles, Boston, Providence, New York City and
Washington, DC. He is available for interviews.
Rondo has worked with East Timorese refugees in the West Timor camps
since they were forced from East Timor in September 1999. In conjunction
with international agencies, CIS has provided humanitarian assistance to
thousands of families and children, investigated human rights abuses,
counseled women victims of violence, and disseminated accurate information
to refugees on repatriation to combat militia intimidation
The tour is especially timely as Indonesia prepares to conduct a
massive one-day refugee registration in West Timor on June 6. The planned
registration will require refugees to choose between returning to East
Timor and remaining in Indonesia. Concerns regarding the registration
voiced by CIS and other organizations in the West Timor include the
prominent role of the Indonesian military and militias in the process, the
continuing presence of weapons in the camps, and confusing registration
materials.
“Refugees live in squalid camps, short of water, food and medicine…
Each day five children die mainly from malaria and diarrhea and
malnutrition in the camps… The greater proportion of the refugees in
West Timor lives in a crisis situation. No freedom, no hope, and also no
future,” stated Rondo during a recent
Australian radio interview.
“We, along with Mr. Rondo, are gravely concerned about the
deteriorating humanitarian conditions in the West Timor camps. It is
impossible for the refugees to make an informed choice about their future
with continuing militia intimidation. The U.S. must act now to ensure that
any refugee registration process has significant international oversight
and participation,” stated John M. Miller, spokesperson for ETAN.
In presentations, interviews, and meetings, Mr. Rondo will share his
experiences and analysis of the refugee crisis, and stress the need for
genuine justice and concerted international action, supported by the U.S.,
to find a resolution to the refugee crisis.
Rondo and his organizations have worked closely with Catholic Relief
Services, Church World Service, UNICEF, and others.
In August 1999, the East Timorese people voted overwhelmingly for
independence from Indonesia in a U.N.-supervised referendum, ending a
brutal 24 year-long occupation by the Indonesian military. Immediately
following the ballot, the Indonesian military and militia groups it
formed, armed, and directed conducted a month-long scorched earth campaign
in East Timor. During this time, the military and its militias forced more
than 260,000 people across the border into West Timor, often at gunpoint.
In addition, they killed hundreds, raped an unknown number of women and
girls, and destroyed three-fourths of the buildings and most of the
infrastructure in East Timor.
Currently, East Timor is under a transitional U.N. administration, with
full independence scheduled for early 2002. As of May 2001, between 80,000
and 100,000 East Timorese a tenth of the population are still in West
Timor.
“The U.S. must pressure the Indonesian government to disarm and
disband the militias. The East Timorese refugee crisis has continued for
nearly two years because the Indonesian government has been unable or
unwilling to disarm and disband the militias in West Timor and hold them
accountable for serious crimes committed in East and West Timor, and the
international community has not pressured Indonesia to do so,” said
Miller.
“U.S. action is also needed to make sure that any refugees wishing to
take part in East Timor’s upcoming elections are able to return to East
Timor do so and to support the formation of an international tribunal on
East Timor to prosecute crimes against humanity, including those of gender
violence is vital,” he added.
In its January 2000 report, the U.N. International Commission of
Inquiry on East Timor stated, “The intimidation, terror, destruction of
property, displacement and evacuation of people [in 1999] would not have
been possible without the active involvement of the Indonesian army, and
the knowledge and approval of the top military command.” The Commission
called for an international tribunal on crimes against humanity committed
in East Timor.
The East Timor Action Network/U.S. was founded following the
November 1991 massacre of over 270 East Timorese civilians by the
Indonesian military. ETAN is a grassroots human rights organization
supporting women’s rights, democracy, sustainable development, and
comprehensive justice in East Timor. ETAN has 28 local chapters throughout
the U.S.
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Additional Background
Schedule of Tour events
Background on Refugees
Biography of Winston Neil Rondo
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