Anti-Indonesia draft resolution voted down
Anti-Indonesia draft resolution voted down
JAKARTA (JP): A meeting of the Subcommittee for the Prevention
of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities in Geneva has
voted against a draft resolution addressing the situation in
Indonesia.
The Indonesian Permanent Mission to the United Nations in the
Swiss city said on Saturday that nine experts in the subcommittee
had voted for the resolution, 14 voted against and one abstained
during the secret ballot on Aug. 18.
The draft was proposed by experts from the United States,
Norway and Chile, drawing on material from two documents prepared
by visiting United Nations rapporteurs to Indonesia and East
Timor.
According to the Indonesian mission, the proposed resolution
included "unsubstantiated" accusations against Indonesia on the
question of East Timor, violations of human rights, including
allegations of military intervention in a church conflict.
Before the vote was taken, the Indonesian delegation strongly
appealed to the subcommittee members to reject the draft, saying
that the allegations were "timeworn, irrelevant, based on one-
sided information, and were politically motivated."
The subcommittee, which is in session between July 31 and Aug.
25, is an agency under the United Nations' Human Rights
Committee, which is also based in Geneva.
Two previous attempts to pass a resolution against Indonesia,
in 1993 and 1994, were also rejected at the vote, a statement
issued by the Indonesian mission in Geneva recalled.
The statement praised those experts in the subcommittee who
rejected the draft resolution, saying that they were able to
assess the condition in Indonesia more objectively.
It also said that before the vote, Indonesian delegates were
busy approaching the subcommittee members to provide a more
objective and complete picture of the situation in the country.
It said that "anti-Indonesian" organizations and figures, such
as the CNRM, OPM, Tapol and the Regional Council on Human Rights
in Asia had also been active lobbying the delegates to endorse
the resolution. (emb)