ICTJ in the News

June 28, 2005

UN urges real justice in E Timor

BBC

Attempts to prosecute those behind atrocities carried out in East Timor in 1999 are inadequate, according to a UN expert report.

A copy of the report obtained by the BBC urges Indonesia to step up efforts to bring those responsible to justice.

The report says the UN should set up an international tribunal unless progress is made within six months.

Human rights groups, who have described Indonesia's process as a sham, have strongly backed the UN recommendations.

Violations

Some 1,400 people were killed by pro-Jakarta militias widely believed to have been supported by Indonesian security forces during East Timor's referendum on independence in 1999.

Indonesia and East Timor set up parallel legal systems to bring the perpetrators to justice.

But both have been criticised for failing to deliver and a commission was set up by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in February.

The UN commission said those most responsible for serious human rights violations in East Timor had not been brought to justice.

The report said special panels set up by the UN in East Timor to prosecute the perpetrators were unable to gain access to suspects in Indonesia.

It also found the ad hoc court set up in Indonesia failed to prosecute defendants in a credible manner.

Flawed justice

The experts recommended that the special panels, recently closed down by the UN, should be retained and called for Indonesia to bring in international legal experts and to review prosecutions.

The BBC's Susannah Price in New York says the report comes at an awkward time for the UN which is reducing its involvement in East Timor.

The New York-based International Centre for Transitional Justice said the victims had waited long enough and should not be made to endure further flawed and inadequate justice processes.