East Timor Reception, Truth and Reconciliation Commission

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The East Timor Independent Reception, Truth and Reconciliation Commission ( Comissão de Acolhimento, Verdade e Reconciliacão de Timor-Leste , CAVR for short ) was established in 2000 by the United Nations and the East Timorese government to deal with the human rights violations that occurred between April 25, 1974 and October 25, 1999, in what is now East Timor, were committed from different sides. For this purpose, statements from witnesses, victims and perpetrators were collected and public hearings were carried out. The period concerns the civil war between the FRETILIN and the UDT at the end of the Portuguese rule on Timor and the 24-year occupation by Indonesia that followed . In addition, the CAVR should enable reconciliation in East Timorese society through reconciliation processes. In 2002 Aniceto Guterres Lopes was appointed chairman of the CAVR. In 2017 the Centro Nacional Chega! (CNC) established that the CAVR manages the results of its research.

The name

The term “Acolhimento” (reception) was chosen to emphasize that the hundreds of thousands of refugees in West Timor are also included in the reconciliation . Many were guilty of minor offenses during the occupation or simply sided with East Timor to join Indonesia. Fearing revenge, these East Timorese initially stayed in the west after the Indonesians had withdrawn.

activity

In July 2001, the head of the UN administration, Sérgio Vieira de Mello , signed Regulation 2001/10 to establish the CAVR. The work of the commission was enshrined in the constitution of East Timor, which became independent in 2002. The national and regional commissioners were selected from 300 candidates proposed by the population. The seven national commissioners were sworn in on January 21, 2002. These goods:

30 regional commissioners and 250 employees worked in 13 district teams, supported by international experts . There was also an advisory body to which, for example, the Indonesian human rights lawyer Munir Said Thalib , who was murdered on September 7, 2004, belonged. The headquarters of the CAVR was in Dili's district of Balide . It was set up in the former Comarca prison , which dates back to the Portuguese colonial times. Political prisoners were tortured here during the Indonesian occupation . The last inmates were released in September 1999. From January 2002 the abandoned building was renovated and from February 17, 2003 it became the headquarters of the CAVR. 65 graffiti by East Timorese artists tell of the time of the occupation. The eight solitary confinement cells were left in their original state. There is also a library and documentation center. Since the end of the work of the CAVR, the memorial has been run by the Association of Former Political Prisoners (ASSEPOL). In addition to the headquarters in Comarca, there were six regional offices.

In the refugee camps in West Timor, people were encouraged to return. A radio program was broadcast once a week, reporting on the reconciliation process and the integration work, and broadcasting news from relatives at home for the refugees and vice versa. In both parts of Timor, T-shirts, stickers and brochures with the words “CAVR - The Way to Peace” were distributed. Returnees were looked after by the CAVR from the border to their hometown and helped with the integration process.

Public work ended in April 2004. On October 31, 2005, the CAVR presented East Timor's President Xanana Gusmão with a 2,000-page report called Chega! ( enough, stop ) on the effects of the Indonesian occupation and human rights violations between 1974 and 1999. A copy was given to the East Timorese Parliament in November and to the UN on January 20, 2006. The Australian newspaper The Australian , Singapore's The Straits Times, and other newspapers previously published content from the report after it was leaked to them. The publication of the report led to resentment in the East Timorese government, which sees relations with Indonesia as a result, especially since the Indonesian government did not have the opportunity to study the report in more detail beforehand.

The CAVR spoke to 8,000 witnesses, examined 319,000 gravestones across the country, and concluded that up to 183,000 East Timorese civilians were killed between 1975 and 1999 - out of a total of 800,000 residents. 18,600 were murdered, a further 84,200 starved or died of disease. There were 8,500 cases of torture . 70% of all murders were committed by Indonesian security forces. The rest is due to East Timorese collaborators, but freedom fighters have also killed. The Australian goes on to quote that the occupiers “decided to use starvation as a weapon of war” . The report also reported burning or burying live people, cutting off ears and genitals, and using napalm . "Systematic executions , torture, rape and sexual slavery were officially accepted by Indonesia," said the CAVR. The CAVR accused government officials and Indonesian ministers of knowing about the planned intimidation and scorched earth strategy . Instead of stopping them, they supported them directly, the report says. The CAVR recommended bringing the perpetrators to justice and demanding compensation from Indonesia. The same goes for states that militarily supported the Suharto regime, such as the USA and Great Britain.

FRETILIN was also accused of human rights violations between 1974 and 1999. The report lists 1,297 illegal killings (murder), 71 disappearances, over 3,000 arrests, nearly 1,000 cases of ill-treatment, sexual assault, over 400 cases of forced relocation, forced recruitment, and destruction of private property. The majority of these incidents took place in the 1980s.

President Xanana Gusmão said of the CAVR that they had "grandiose idealism that goes well beyond conventional political boundaries". Gusmão promoted a good relationship with the now democratic Indonesia. He stuck to the Commission for Truth and Friendship CTF, which he had founded, and its goal of "processing without prosecution". It followed the example of the South African Truth Commission ( Truth and Reconciliation Commission ) , which dealt with the apartheid period without bringing perpetrators to justice.

Calls

The CAVR turned to the population with two appeals and asked for cooperation:

“ Our vision
We want to help lay the foundations for lasting peace in East Timor by including all East Timorese in our work.
By looking at our troubled past and recognizing the truth about human rights violations, we hope to contribute to the process of justice and reconciliation in our country. Justice requires acknowledgment of the truth and that individuals take responsibility for their actions. Reconciliation means that we take this path with an open heart to rebuild the social relations that have been damaged by the political conflict in our country. We want to go into this process with the churches with the aim of healing the wounds of victims, families and the nation as a whole. This is a path to peace, a peace we all deserve and need. This peace is possible in East Timor. "

“ Message to those who have committed human rights abuses
In a spirit of reconciliation, we extend our hands to our East Timorese brothers and sisters who have committed human rights abuses. We know that by violating the human rights of others, you have harmed your humanity. The Truth Commission wants to help in a process in which you as a human can be healed.
This does not just mean forgetting the past or the pain, but that we want to offer a process that will help us all heal our wounds and become whole again.
This process will involve righteousness, and that means that sometimes you will have to sacrifice for the mistakes you have made. The courts will continue to have jurisdiction over serious crimes. For minor crimes, the Truth Commission will work with the communities at the local level to conduct a process that will support the justice process and help you peacefully reintegrate into your community. This is what is called the Community Reconciliation Process, and it is a process that you can voluntarily participate in.
The Truth Commission will defend your human rights, including your right to a fair trial and your right to build a new life in East Timor when the justice process is complete. "

See also

literature

  • Pat Walsh : Stormy With a Chance of Fried Rice: Twelve Months in Jakarta , Jakarta 2015.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g Monika Schlicher: East Timor faces its past , missio-hilft.de , accessed on January 28, 2019
  2. ↑ Asia House Foundation: Seminar "Timor-Leste's Journey of Truth, Justice and Reconciliation" , September 21, 2019 , accessed on May 15, 2020.
  3. ↑ CAVR: Chega! , P. 21 ff. (English).
  4. ↑ United Nations : PRESS CONFERENCE BY PRESIDENT OF TIMOR-LESTE January 20, 2006