UN envoys investigating alleged human rights abuses in East Timor.
8 November 1999
Three United Nations experts have begun investigating charges of human rights abuses in East Timor. Speaking at a press conference today in Dili, Asma Jahangir, the Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary and Arbitrary Execution said that the three envoys had held talks with UN officials as well as from the Australian-led multinational force (INTERFET). They had also begun to take testimonies from witnesses and had visited sites where people have been buried. The other two experts are Nigel Rodley, the Special Rapporteur on Torture, and Radhika Coomaraswamy, the Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women.
Mr. Rodley told the press conference that while it was too early to draw conclusions, obviously "something catastrophic" has happened in East Timor. Ms. Jahangir said that what they were seeing was "devastating."
Ms. Coomaraswamy said she heard allegations of sexual violence, including rape, and characterized the situation as "grave." She added that there had been allegations of sexual slavery in West Timor, but as of today the team did not have permission to travel there, although they had requested it.
Ms. Jahangir stressed that the team was not part of the international commission of inquiry set up by the UN Commission on Human Rights to look into the alleged rights violations that took place during a two-week rampage of violence in September. "This is not prosecutorial," she said. "The is basically to give the world community an indication of where to go from now and how the situation stands on the ground."
The Special Rapporteurs are scheduled to leave Dili on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported that today militia stopped a UNHCR team outside of Kupang, West Timor, from arranging transportation for refugees wishing to return to East Timor. UNHCR held discussions with the authorities but had to pull out of the camp before dark. The agency also reported that harassment of UNHCR staff and returnees continued in the Atambua area where an unruly mob led by militiamen armed with machetes and spears stopped a convoy of three trucks and a bus from picking up refugees at the Halewen camp.
