UN may hold int'l inquiry on E. Timor abuses
UN may hold int'l inquiry on E. Timor abuses
UNITED NATIONS (Agencies): A recent amendment to the Indonesian constitution might force the United Nations to hold an international inquiry into human rights abuses in East Timor, a UN spokesman said on Thursday.
Spokesman Fred Eckhard said that until now, the UN had believed Indonesia "would undertake a serious and credible investigation" of crimes committed before it handed the territory over to UN administration last year.
But last week the People's Consultative Assembly amended the 1945 Constitution to prevent an individual from being prosecuted under laws that did not exist when a crime was committed.
The amendment created an uproar among local and international rights groups, which feared it would be used to prevent the prosecution of military officers for human rights violations in East Timor.
"We'll have to see what happens with this idea for an amnesty," Eckhard said as quoted by AFP on Wednesday.
"But if it were to go forward, I think that would probably force us to reconsider our position concerning the need for an international investigation of these abuses."
He recalled that the Indonesian authorities had said they would carry out "an internal review of the excesses of the military and the militia in East Timor".
At the outset, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan felt "that we should let Indonesia deal with it," Eckhard said.
"When the secretary general visited Indonesia he met with the attorney general," he added.
"He was convinced that the attorney general, who had previously been a human rights activist in the country, had good credibility in the human rights community, and that they would undertake a serious and credible investigation."
The Indonesian Attorney General's Office has already postponed naming suspects in their investigation into the case because it feels it needs stronger legal arguments to prosecute them as a result of the constitutional amendment.
Earlier this month, UN Human Rights Commissioner Mary Robinson said the UN would unilaterally call an international war crimes tribunal if Jakarta failed to bring the perpetrators of the Timor violence to trial.
Refugees
Meanwhile in Jakarta, the Indonesia foreign ministry condemned an attack on three humanitarian workers which occurred at a refugee camp in West Timor on Tuesday.
In a statement, the foreign ministry said it was opposed to the violence which left the three UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) workers badly beaten after trying to distribute relief supplies to East Timorese refugees at a camp.
"The Indonesian police, the provincial government of East Nusa Tenggara and the Indonesian Armed Forces shall investigate the incident in cooperation with the UNHCR.
"The Indonesian government rejects any attempt to politicize by any quarter who seek to exploit the incident for political ends," the foreign ministry said.
The UNHCR on Wednesday suspended operations in West Timor after three of its workers were attacked with machetes, clubs and stones.
UNHCR claimed the Indonesian military did nothing to stop militia gangs from their attacks.
"The militias are allowed to operate with impunity and make a mockery of statements by responsible officials in Jakarta guaranteeing security for aid workers and refugees," Soren Jessen-Petersen, assistant high commissioner for refugees, said in Geneva.
The attack occurred at a camp 130-kilometers from the provincial capital of Kupang. It is one of dozens of camps and settlements still housing the refugees who remain in West Timor.
The agency said it was taking the unusual step of suspending all its operations in the Indonesian province as a result.
"It is something that is not done lightly," UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond told the Associated Press.
He said the three UNHCR workers required hospital treatment following the attack Tuesday when they were distributing plastic sheeting to refugees.
"One of the UN staff had his head held underwater in a rice paddy until he choked," said UN spokesman Fred Eckhard in New York.
It was the worst of more than 100 recorded cases of harassment and intimidation against aid workers and refugees since last September, Redmond said.
UNHCR activities could resume depending on the results of the investigation and whether Indonesian authorities provide sufficient assurances that they will protect workers and refugees, he said.