Office of rights body opens in Dili
Office of rights body opens in Dili
JAKARTA (JP): East Timor's first branch office of the National
Commission of Human Rights was officially opened in Dili,
yesterday.
The secretary of the provincial administration, Radjakarina
Brahmana, symbolically handed over the office keys to two
commission members, BN Marbun and Clementino dos Reis Amaral.
The simple ceremony took place at the new office in the Akait
Building, located in the office complex of the provincial
administration, the Antara news agency reported.
Not long after riots, flared by religious sentiments, last
September, Commission members aired the idea of a Dili office to
settle problems more quickly.
Marbun said the Dili office would balance reports on alleged
human rights violations from various parties.
"...the branch office of the Commission here will enable a
more balanced inflow of information about human rights violations
found either by the Commission, the International Committee of
the Red Cross, the Roman Catholic Church or other private
parties," he said.
But he stressed the establishment of the office would not mean
an immediate solution to the many problems of the country's
youngest province.
He said as a branch, the office has no authority to make
decisions.
Its staff are only entitled to accept complaints and make
observations, and report to the head office in Jakarta, he added.
Support
Marbun also said the opening of the branch office received
much support from various parties.
Among the supporters were Dili Bishop Felipe Ximenes Belo, the
district attorney office and the district Court.
"We will do our best to realize the justice system here, to
enable it render services which are the rights of the people
here," Marbun said.
Clementino said earlier that Governor Abilio Jose Osorio
Soares and military authorities have also expressed their
support.
"We met the Governor, the military chief Col. Mahidin Simbolon
and Police Chief Col. Sugianto Andreas... and they said 'go
ahead' and 'no problem'," Clementino was quoted by Antara as
saying.
On Sunday Clementino, Marbun and another Commission member,
Muladi, met with the Chief of the Udayana regional military
command Maj. Gen. H.A. Rivai and the Nusa Tenggara Police Chief
Maj. Gen. Hartoyo.
After the ceremony, Marbun told reporters that the branch's
personnel will begin working in March.
"By March we will have one of our staff members here, with two
East Timorese employees," Marbun said.
In response to who would be suitable to head the office,
Clementino said the most important criteria is that the person
should be neutral.
"Neutrality is our foremost (criteria), we don't care what his
or her ethnic background is," Antara quoted Clementino.
The person could be from anywhere such as from Aceh, Java or
Sumatra, said Clementino, who is a native East Timorese.
He also said the Dili Commission branch will not primarily
receive reports from East Timorese.
"Our commitment is to serve everyone who feels their rights
have been violated, regardless of their origin or religion,"
Clementino said. (anr)