Lasso says 'violations' rife in E. Timor
Lasso says 'violations' rife in E. Timor
GENEVA (Reuter): United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Jose Ayala Lasso said yesterday he believed there were "very grave" human rights violations in East Timor.
But he said the Indonesian government had agreed he could post a representative in Jakarta who would be able to visit the former Portuguese colony.
"In my opinion there are very grave human rights violations in East Timor. We could see that from the general environment... and from conversations I had with several groups," Ayala Lasso told a news conference.
Ayala Lasso, a former Ecuadorean diplomat, made an official five-day visit to Indonesia earlier this month and spent two days in East Timor where he saw local leaders.
He was allowed to visit East Timorese separatist leader Jose Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmao, serving a 20-year-sentence for leading an armed rebellion against the Indonesian rule in East Timor.
He said Xanana gave him a message, whose contents who declined to reveal, for U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali who is sponsoring talks between Indonesia and Portugal and between Timorese factions on the area's future.
Ayala Lasso said he had asked the Indonesian government to allow him to open an office in Dili, but had been told this would run against Jakarta's stand on East Timor's status -- that it is now part of Indonesia.
Instead, he said, the Indonesian authorities agreed after some discussion to an office in Jakarta and promised that the official who would run it would be able to travel to Dili and carry out investigations without interference.
The government had also pledged that it would allow non- governmental organizations from outside to carry out their own inquiries inside Indonesia on human rights, he added. He did not say which groups this might apply to.
Ayala Lasso said he felt the Indonesian authorities had taken some steps that were positive on the overall rights situation in the country, including the establishment of a national commission on human rights.
He said he had been assured by reliable people in the legal profession that the commission was independent, but it suffered from a shortage of funds. He had also urged the government to pass a law giving it a firm juridical basis.
The UN official said demonstrations against him in Jakarta, both when he visited Gusmao when he went to parliament, had not unduly concerned him although on one occasion clearly aggressive protesters surrounded his car and banged on it. "The police were more or less there. I never felt in danger," he added.