East Timor rights trial needs int'l pressure<\/p>\n
Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Activists have urged the international community to ensure that
\njustice is served against all perpetrators of the gross human
\nrights violations in East Timor, now that hopes for a fair trial
\nhave evaporated.<\/p>\n
The cases, in which 15 Indonesian Military (TNI) officers are
\nimplicated, seem to have been forgotten, especially after the
\nrecent United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR)
\ndecision to drop them from its agenda.<\/p>\n
However, rights activist Hendardi said there was still a
\nchance for justice, if the international community would pursue
\nthe cases through an international tribunal.<\/p>\n
\"It is the responsibility of the international community to
\nensure that justice is upheld in these cases. It will be
\ndifficult to rely on domestic pressure,\" Hendardi said on
\nTuesday.<\/p>\n
The UNHCHR is only one of the possible means for settling the
\ncases, because the opportunity still remains for these cases to
\nbe brought to the international tribunal at The Hague, he said.<\/p>\n
Hendardi explained that there were certain criteria that the
\nIndonesian ad hoc human rights tribunal should adhere to in order
\nto keep the UN from interfering.<\/p>\n
\"The domestic court should abide by international standards,
\nbe impartial and independent and hand down appropriate
\npunishment. Should we fail to comply, there is always a chance
\nthat these cases will go to the international tribunal,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Indonesia has come under the international spotlight for its
\nalleged involvement in human rights violations that marked East
\nTimor's independence from the country in 1999.<\/p>\n
Many international inquiries were launched by the UN and other
\nhuman rights watchdogs into these violations in the years since,
\nbut no satisfactory results have been achieved.<\/p>\n
Indonesia insisted on settling the case domestically by
\nestablishing an ad hoc human rights tribunal, which has now
\nacquitted most of the defendants, and those found guilty were
\nonly given light sentences.<\/p>\n
Although the result has drawn criticism both from the national
\nand international communities, the only \"punishment\" Indonesia
\nhas received regarding the East Timor atrocities has come from
\nthe United States, which has maintained a military embargo on
\nIndonesia since 1999.<\/p>\n
Even the East Timorese government has chosen to put the issue
\nof the human rights violations behind it, for the sake of
\nestablishing good ties with Indonesia.<\/p>\n
A member of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas
\nHAM), Salahuddin Wahid, agreed that other avenues should be
\npursued to make sure that justice is upheld in the East Timor
\nhuman rights cases.<\/p>\n
\"However, we have to prevent any attempt to bring these cases
\nto an international tribunal by improving our own trial system
\ninstead,\" Salahuddin suggested on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
He admitted that currently, the defense's arguments and legal
\nprocesses in the East Timor cases was far from satisfying, but
\nsaid that this was the only platform for dealing with the East
\nTimor human rights violations.<\/p>\n
\"We do need international pressure, but will not open the
\npossibility for an international tribunal,\" Salahuddin remarked.<\/p>\n
Earlier, noted lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis said that despite the
\nunsatisfactory legal efforts against the alleged perpetrators of
\nhuman rights violations in East Timor, the move to ensure that
\nthe law was enforced should continue.<\/p>\n
He reminded that no citizen was above the law, and that
\nimpunity should be stopped.<\/p>\n
Hendardi pointed to several examples of human rights abuses in
\nRwanda and Serbia, in which the UN chose to step into the legal
\nprocess and brought the cases to the international tribunal at
\nThe Hague.<\/p>\n
\"There is still a chance for justice to be upheld in the East
\nTimor mayhem. I believe the picture of the legal process of these
\ncases is not as gloomy as many people have thought,\" he said.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/east-timor-rights-trial-needs-intl-pressure-1447893297",
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