UN human rights team to arrive in East Timor this week
UN human rights team to arrive in East Timor this week
GENEVA (Reuters): A United Nations team of human rights experts will go to East Timor this week to investigate alleged atrocities there after a key UN body on Monday approved their deployment.
The five independent experts, led by chair Sonia Picado of Costa Rica, will hold preliminary talks this week in Geneva, including with UN human rights chief Mary Robinson," UN spokesman Jose Diaz said on Tuesday.
"The experts are scheduled to leave for East Timor at the end of this week," Diaz said.
Picado is a law professor and member of Costa Rica's Legislative Assembly who served as an ambassador to the United States. She has also been a judge and vice chair of the Inter- American Court of Human Rights.
The other experts, named by Robinson a month ago, are Judith Sefi Attah of Nigeria, A.M. Ahmadi of India, Mari Kapi of Papua New Guinea and Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger of Germany.
In Timor, they will interview witnesses of alleged human rights violations and visit what are said to be sites of mass killings. They will report to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan by Dec. 31.
Previous panels have led to setting up war crimes tribunals to prosecute violators of international humanitarian law in former Yugoslavia and Rwanda.
Known as the "international commission of inquiry", the team will be backed up by forensic experts.
On Monday, the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), the parent body of the 53-member state UN rights forum, voted in favor of sending the inquiry, a bureaucratic necessity.
The vote was 27 to 10 with 11 abstentions and six members absent. The no votes came mainly from Asian and Middle East Nations, including Indonesia, India, Oman, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Syria, Vietnam and China. Russia too voted against.
None of the experts appointed by Mary Robinson could go to the territory until ECOSOC endorsed the inquiry.
Meanwhile in Dili, East Timor, the man who will guide East Timor as it begins its transition to independence arrived in Dili on Tuesday vowing to work closely with Timorese after complaints local leaders were being sidelined.
The United Nations' Sergio Vieira de Mello told reporters on the tarmac at Dili's Komoro airport: "We are determined to succeed in very, very close coordination and consultation with the East Timorese."
"As far as I'm concerned... (relations) are not strained at all. Too many statements have been made, some of which were premature. Let us start working in earnest and without indulging in premature and superficial remarks."
De Mello takes over the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) to build the territory and establish a new legal and political system, currency, civil service and economy before independence in about three years.
He is expected to head the body for at least six months, leading 500 foreign civilians and more than 10,500 soldiers and police.
Considered one of the UN's rising stars, the 51-year-old Brazilian held a similar role in war-torn Kosovo.