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)