UN to send envoy on abuse of women to RI

UN to send envoy on abuse of women to RI

GENEVA (Reuters): The United Nations investigator on violence against women will visit Indonesia from Nov. 20 to Nov. 30 to look into riots last May, including violence against the Chinese ethnic minority, a UN spokesman said on Tuesday.

Radhika Coomaraswamy, a Sri Lankan jurist who serves as UN special rapporteur on global violence against women, reports to the UN Commission on Human Rights.

Her itinerary and appointments during the 10-day stay at the government's invitation will be announced soon, UN rights spokesman Jose Diaz told reporters.

It was not yet clear whether she would go to East Timor, the former Portuguese colony integrated by Indonesia in 1976 in a move not recognised by the United Nations.

The UN working group on enforced or involuntary disappearances, made up of five independent experts who look into the fate of missing persons, is also expected to go to Indonesia early in 1999, according to the spokesman.

Human rights groups estimate that nearly 1,200 people died in rioting last May in Jakarta, mostly looters trapped in burning buildings. Ethnic Chinese bore the brunt of the violence. Human rights groups have said that about 160 women, many of them ethnic Chinese, were raped in systematic attacks.

President B.J. Habibie has promised sweeping political reforms since taking office last May. Indonesia was heavily criticized by the UN main human rights body and groups, including Amnesty International for killings, torture and other abuses during Soeharto's 32-year autocratic rule.