UN human rights commissioner begins Indonesia visit
UN human rights commissioner begins Indonesia visit
JAKARTA (Agencies): United Nations High Commissioner for Human
Rights Jose Ayala Lasso arrived yesterday for a series of
discussions with Indonesian officials in Jakarta and East Timor.
He will officially begin his visit today with a meeting with
Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas. He will fly to Dili,
capital of East Timor on Monday for a two-day stay.
On the eve of his departure from Geneva on Friday, Ayala Lasso
told a media conference that he would use the visit to urge
Indonesia to ratify key international human rights treaties,
Reuters reported yesterday.
He also intends to urge Jakarta to take action on concerns
raised in February by the UN Human Rights Commission.
"The principle objective of my trip to Indonesia and East
Timor is to raise the issues already analyzed by the different
(UN) mechanisms of human rights which have visited Indonesia,
including decisions adopted by the Commission of Human Rights,"
Ayala Lasso said.
"I will ask the Indonesian government to implement as soon as
possible these recommendations...I will ask the government to
ratify human rights treaties."
One of the commission's recommendations was that the
government of Indonesia fully investigate a November 1991
incident in which soldiers clashed with protesters at a Dili
cemetery.
An independent commission investigating the incident later
established that "around 50 people" were killed and that dozens
of others went missing.
The government removed the top military commanders in charge
of East Timor at the time and a military tribunal tried and
convicted a number of officers over the incident.
Ayala Lasso, who will report to the 53-member commission upon
completion of his visit, said he intended to steer clear of
politics.
"My mandate is limited to human rights issues. And I will be
very careful only to act within the limits of my mandate."
"But I am certainly convinced that an improvement in the human
rights situation in East Timor could certainly play a very
positive role in the overall negotiations which are going on
regarding the question of East Timor."
He was referring to the talks Indonesia has been holding with
Portugal, East Timor's former colonial master, over the status of
East Timor. The talks involving their foreign ministers are held
under the auspices the UN secretary-general. Their next meeting
is scheduled for next month.
Ayala Lasso said he would also visit Jose Alexandre "Xanana"
Gusmao, who is serving 20 years imprisonment in a Jakarta prison
for his role in leading an armed rebellion for a separate East
Timor state.
Asked whether Indonesia had granted permission to visit
Xanana, he replied: "Yes".
Among East Timorese figures he plans to see include Dili
Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo, he added.
UN sources said in Geneva that Ayala Lasso had been forced to
shorten his visit to Indonesia because he has to attend the
London conference on former Yugoslavia.
He has also canceled a plan to visit Cambodia which was
originally scheduled as part of his visit to Asia.