ICTJ in the News

June 27, 2005

Timor: ICTJ critical assessment

International Justice Tribune

By Thierry Cruvellier

The UN-backed Serious Crimes Unit (SCU) set up in Timor-Leste in June 2000 closed its operations in May 2005. The Unit was charged with prosecuting people suspected of committing atrocities in the region where 1400 people died and 400,000 were displaced. Coming after 24 years of Indonesian occupation, which ended in 1999, the SCU served its mandate at the same time as Jakarta was setting up its own Court of Human Rights (CHR). In a report published on 10 June, the New York-based International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) assesses the work of the dual process. Its title, "Justice Abandoned" illustrates the current context.

Following the departure of international lawyers, Timor has been left to take over the work with scant resources. Moreover, the report stresses that for the Timor government "the focus is on promoting friendly relations with Indonesia, even if that means jettisoning justice". In March 2005, the two countries set up a joint truth and friendship commission. The time for criminal prosecutions seems over. But the SCU has had some successes. These include the indictment of 391 individuals, 87 of whom were tried in Dili, where all but three were convicted. The results for Indonesia are much less impressive. The CHR has only tried 18 people, and of the six suspects convicted, five have already been acquitted on appeal. Not surprisingly, ICTJ reports that "the trial process has been widely denounced as a sham" and cites the total lack of cooperation from Jakarta as the SCU's biggest handicap. "Higher-level perpetrators from the Indonesian military and government have been shielded by the Indonesian authorities and remained outside the reach of the serious crimes process," says the report. It concludes: "The lack of Indonesian cooperation, clearly the main cause for the serious crimes process' weaknesses, was compounded by the UN's lack of support for justice in Timor-Leste, creating an environment in which the Timorese leadership opted for active and public support of the Indonesian position".