From: apakabar@igc.org (Indonesia Publications/Task Force)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.portuguese
Subject: East Timor Newsbriefs July 29
Date: 30 Jul 92 01:29:00 GMT
Nf-ID: #N:cdp:1591800212:000:31727
Nf-From: cdp.UUCP!apakabar    Jul 29 18:29:00 1992


From: Indonesia Publications/Task Force <apakabar>
Subject: East Timor Newsbriefs July 29



   IPS, Manila, July 29 - Sharp disagreements over human rights in recent
talks between the Association of South-east Asian Nations (ASEAN) and
major Western nations were a fresh reminder for developing countries
that the world's aid donors were becoming more and more
conditionality-minded.
   The most pointed exchanges during last week's meetings between the
asean foreign ministers and their counterparts from seven rich countries
were over Burma and Indonesia.
   U.S. Secretary of State James Baker said that, given the military
regime's dismal human rights record, the U.N. General Assembly should
repeat its resolution last year censuring burma, which now calls itself
"Myanmar."
   "We should all do what we can to... try and effectuate change there,"
Baker said.
   In contrast, Thai Foreign Minister Arsa Sarasin said recent releases
of political prisoners by Rangoon and the loosening of restrictions on
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi were "positive developments."
   "I think things are going in the right direction," he said, adding
that ASEAN would continue its policy of 'constructive engagement' with
Rangoon.
   For ASEAN, much closer to home was the case of Indonesia, which came
under worldwide criticism after Indonesian army troops last year fired
on demonstrators in East Timor, a former Portuguese colony until it was
annexed by Indonesia in 1976.
   A member of the European Community (EC), Portugal vetoed a new
economic cooperation agreement now under negotiation between the EC and
ASEAN.
   In Manila, Portuguese Deputy Foreign Minister J.M. Durao-Barroso said
Lisbon would not withdraw its opposition to the new treaty -- which is
meant to replace a 1980 pact -- until Jakarta undertakes "fundamental
changes" in its current policy towards East Timor.
   Since the Indonesians are not expected to oblige the Portuguese, the
new ASEAN-EC economic agreement is likely to be frozen for some time.
   So far, the Indonesians have kept international outrage over the East
Timor massacre from harming its efforts to secure foreign aid. In
mid-July, Jakarta got aid pledges worth $4.75 billion from a new
consortium of international aid donors chaired by the World Bank.
   This consortium replaces the Inter-governmental Group on Indonesia,
an aid coalition chaired by the Netherlands. Jakarta abandoned the group
after the Dutch suspended their aid program to Indonesia because of the
East Timor killings. The new consortium raised no human rights
conditionalities.
   Indeed, opinion among donor governments and agencies on the wisdom of
tying human rights to aid programs is far from unanimous.
   Britain, which has assumed the EC presidency, and the European
Commission are said to be unhappy about Portugal's stand against a new
ASEAN-EC agreement.
   British Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd was at pains to stress that
the EC was not out to impose its values on human rights, but rather was
seeking common understanding on "share values" as spelled out by the
United Nations' Universal Declaration on Human Rights.
   Still, EC Commissioner Abel Matutes warned the community was "more
and more linking the issue of human rights to cooperation" (meaning,
development aid) with developing countries.
   As Durao-Barroso stressed, linking human rights with development
assistance was a community policy stated in a policy declaration by the
EC council's in November 1991.
   But while the Europeans are perhaps the most emphatic in raising
human rights, they are not the only ones. Nor are human rights the only
concern being raised by aid donors.
   Both the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have been
talking of the need for developing countries to slash military budgets
to free more resources for basic needs like education and health.
   This has fed fears that the Bretton Woods institutions may eventually
make arms reductions a condition for lending to developing countries in
the future.
   One of the more prominent advocates of this arms-for-aid linkage is
former World Bank president Robert McNamara who said such a policy
should be an essential part of the post-cold war international order.
   In its 1990 Human Development Report, the United Nations Development
Program (UNDP) urged that the ratio of military to social expenditure
should be one of the criteria for external assistance.
   The countries most at risk under such a policy would be South Asian
giants of India and Pakistan, which both face massive poverty problems
and maintain fat defense budgets.
   At odds since independence from British rule, both countries are
among the world's biggest arms buyers, spending much more on the
military than on hospitals and schools.



Forwarded from GreenNet reg.easttimor conference:
Topic 353Xanana stmt to Decol. Committee
cscheinerreg.easttimor12:18 am  Jul 29, 1992

Complete text, scanned.

Statement from Xanana Gusmao, head of the National Council of Maubere
Resistance, to the U.N. Decolonization Committee in New York, July 27,
1992. Translated from the Portuguese and delivered by Jose Ramos-Horta,
External Spokesman, CNRM.

EAST TIMOR
NATIONAL COUNCIL OF MAUBERE RESISTANCE
NATIONAL LIBERATION ARMED FORCES OF EAST TIMOR

Mr. Chairman,

Distinguished members of the Special Committee on Decolonization:

I have the honor to address this Committee on behalf of the people
of East Timor.

It is with faith that I am addressing this prestigious United Nations
body in the current international context. I believe it to be appropriate
to note that so many independent States were born in the shadows of the
principles that are embodied in this Committee. These are the same
principles that are inspiring the birth of new states in the old
Continent.

This Committee took upon itself the task of eradicating colonialism by
the Year 2,000. With this promising vision the Special Committee on
Decolonization asserts itself as the guardian of the hopes and
aspirations of the peoples still under a backward system of domination.

In the decades that crowned the struggles for national liberation, this
Committee was the forum for the defence of the international rights of
the colonial countries and peoples. These historical achievements are our
source of faith and hope and this is even more so with the approaching
end of colonialism from the face of the Earth.

Mr. Chairman,

Distinguished members of the Special Committee on Decolonization:

With the inclusion of East Timor in 1960 on the UN GA List of Non-
Self-Governing Territories, this committee undertook total responsibility
to see to it that the principles embodied in the Charter are fully
applied to this territory.

In the history of the struggle against colonial expansionism, the
oppressed peoples were always left with no alternative but to resort to
violence to assert their rights in the face of the arrogant use of force
by the colonizers. This is what happened to us when we were brutally
invaded on 7 December 1975. Till this very day we are resisting the
Indonesian criminal military occupation by all means available to us,
including armed resistance.

However, we are in the midst of a historical whirlwind, underscored by
political changes in various latitudes. Terrorist states have seen their
very foundation smoldered by the democratic conscience of their citizens.
Totalitarian regimes are now on the path towards the full respect for
fundamental freedoms. Dictatorships in the Third World, installed by the
West, are being overthrown in the face of popular protests. Humanity is
indeed on the road towards a New World Order.

We have to continue to build a New world order that is based on the
elimination of all the evils that affect so many regions of this planet.
This Committee, with only eight years ahead before the Year 2,000, has
the daunting task of sweeping from the face of the Earth all the
manifestations of colonialism.

Regrettably, some Member States use double standards on identical
situations, namely, East Timor and Kuwait. In spite of this, I am
certain, the Special Committee on Decolonization will not betray the
sacred principles that gave birth to it. We are also certain that in
dealing with the question of East Timor it will be guided by
International Law and all the relevant norms on self- determination and
independence.

We are certain that East Timor will not be an exception in the
decolonization process. Indonesia, a member of this august body, used it
in the past as a forum to denounce Portuguese colonialism. Now again it
is using this Committee as a forum to defend its own colonial aggression,
annexation and military occupation of East Timor in complete disregard
for the relevant Security Council Resolutions 384 (1975) and 389 (1976).

Mr. Chairman,

Distinguished members of the Committee:

It was only yesterday, so to speak, that the world was divided into two
major military blocs, led by the U.S. and the U.S.S.R., both sides using
at will the veto power to preserve their respective spheres of influence.
We note with consternation that even after the dismantling of the old
Soviet empire and the communist bloc, the West continues to make use of
its veto power whenever just causes affect their economic interests.

The sanctions against Iraq seemed to suggest that gone is the taboo of
state sovereignty and domestic jurisdiction; the measures adopted against
Libya seem to suggest that the universal concept of justice should breach
national boundaries when it comes to the application of universal
principles; the Security Council resolutions on Yugoslavia seem to
suggest that it now belongs to the past the notion that only the powerful
and rich could determine the fate of peoples and that the universal
principles of self- determination should prevail in time, in all
latitudes and in all circumstances.

More than 200,000 dead and a continuing practice of persecution,
imprisonment and massacres are the balance of more than 16 years of our
resistance to Indonesia's military occupation of our country.

The 12 November 1991 massacre of East Timorese civilians jolted the
international conscience. Some governments, even though accomplices in
the physical, ethnic and cultural genocide of our people, were not able
not able to hide their horror in the face of the Santa Cruz massacre.
However, a few months have elapsed, and their conscience slipped back to
business as usual.

Much has been said about the 12 November 1991 massacre and the images of
the massacre revealed the nature of the annexation of East Timor. 12
November underscored the historical fact that people's nationalism cannot
be liquidated by repression, nor can it be alienated by so-called
economic development. Namibia emerged as an independent state 40 years
later. Small and large independent states whose right to
self-determination and independence were denied blossomed 40 years later.

The referenda in the Baltic States were a model in conflict resolution.
The world is shocked by the armed conflicts in Yugoslavia and Armenia.
However, the international community is only harvesting the fruits of
historical mistakes perpetrated by oppressive regimes that assaulted
human conscience and regarded their fellow beings as mere pawns of the
ambitions of the economic oligarchy to which they belonged.

A referendum process is now in preparation in Western Sahara. We are
perplexed by the news that Indonesia reportedly offered a contingent to
participate in the UN multinational force in Western Sahara.

Mr. Chairman,

Distinguished members of the Committee:

Indonesia claims that the people of East Timor have already chosen
integration by "free will". If this is the case, then why so many
restrictions in East Timor? If this is so, why does it, fear a
ratification of the act under international supervision? if this is
so, why did it create so many obstacles that aborted the projected
Portuguese Parliamentary Mission to East Timor? Why did Indonesia
close the territory following the 12 November massacre? Why are
foreign visitors subjected to pro-Indonesia criteria? Why does East
Timor remains closed to international humanitarian organizations?

Why all this if the people of East Timor chose by its free will
integration with Indonesia? Why all this if, according to the
Indonesian generals, only a few "marginal" continue to think about
independence?

The new democracies, conscious that they are part of the community of
nations, have shown political good will by inviting international
supervision of their inaugural electoral processes. Why does the
international community allows East Timor to remain a large prison? Is it
because the people of East Timor wanted their island to be a prison?

Mr. Chairman,

Distinguished Members of the Special Committee on Decolonization:

I believe that in regard to East Timor, there are three fundamental
resolutions that should be taken into consideration:

a. Security Council Res. 384 of 22 December 1975 and 389 of 26 April 1976
which, inter alia, reaffirm:

"the inalienable right of the people of East Timor to self-determination
and independence in accordance with the principles of the United Nations
Charter and the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial
Countries and Peoples contained in General Assembly Res. 1514 (XV) of 14
December 1960".

The above-mentioned resolutions called

"on all States to respect the territorial integrity of East Timor as well
as the inalienable right of its people to Self- determination in
accordance with GA Res. 1514 (XV); and " ... the government of Indonesia
to withdraw without delay all its forces from the territory".

The Security Council finally called upon "all states and all interested
parties to cooperate fully with the United Nations in its efforts to
finding a peaceful solution to the prevailing situation and to facilitate
the decolonization of the territory".

b. Yearly resolutions between 1975 and 1981 met with the indifference of
the international community which in turn served only to encourage
inflexibility on the part of Indonesia. In 1982, the General Assembly
adopted Res. 37/30 which states and I quote:

"Recognizing the inalienable right of all peoples to self- determination
and independence in accordance with the United Nations Charter and the
Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and
Peoples, contained in Res. 1514 (XV) of the General Assembly, of 14
December 1960,

"Requests the Secretary-General to initiate consultations with all
parties directly concerned with a view to exploring the avenues for
achieving a comprehensive settlement of the problem and to report thereon
to the General Assembly at its 38th session".

Mr. Chairman,

Any solution to the problem of East Timor must be based on the respect
for the expressed will of the people of East Timor. We are conscious of
the fact that it is particularly difficult for the government of
Indonesia a solution that put in question the fundamental interests of
the Indonesian state, but we cannot abdicate from our own interests and
rights.

Dialogue is the means to solve conflicts. This is the trend in today's
world. Indonesia herself continues to play an important role in the
resolution of the Cambodian conflict. The whole argument of "internal
affair" has been invoked time and again by the powerful. We witnessed it
in the Gulf. What is happening in Yugoslavia, now focus of peace-making
efforts by the UN and the EC, exposes the arrogance of those who continue
to create obstacles to the peaceful resolution of conflicts.

Dialogue without pre-conditions preserves the mutual interests of the
parties to the conflict. Both Portugal and the Maubere People are ready
for dialogue. However, the government of Indonesia, enjoying the status
as benefactor of Western economic and financial largesse, feels strong
enough to reject the inclusion of the East Timorese themselves in the
peace talks. We continue to invite Indonesia to round-table talks and we
reaffirm our political will in endeavoring to find the best way to
balance the interests of all parties to the conflict.

Portugal, the Administering power recognized by the UN, stands for a
process of dialogue with the inclusion of the East Timorese, without
pre-conditions.

Our flexibility regarding the involvement of the East Timorese aims at
helping Portugal face the negotiation process seriously. It is the role
of Portugal, legal Administering power of East Timor, in the context of
its responsibilities, to work with the East Timorese towards finding
formulas that might lead towards a comprehensive and lasting solution.

The Special Representative of the National Council of Maubere Resistance,
Mr. Jose Ramos-Horta, conceived and outlined a set of key-ideas with a
view to contributing to a solution. I wish to elaborate on this plan.

Three elements emerge from this plan:

a. An extremely important element to emphasise, without any doubt, is the
fact that the territory remains under UN responsibility until a final
solution of the problem;

b. Concerning the Portuguese role in the process, I believe that the role
of Portugal has to be seen in the context of its commitment to engage in
dialogue with Indonesia. Its role in the whole peace process is vital.

c. In accepting a transition situation and recognizing that a "de facto"
situation exists in East Timor (Namibia was under South African
domination and yet the UN did not relinquish its responsibilities), we
wish to create favorable political conditions so that through democratic
means and in a peaceful climate each party may persuade the people about
the advantages of its policies. An act of self-determination, as the
result and goal of this transition period, would be the true political
act of free choice by our people.

I reaffirm our collective political will to abide by the popular verdict
if the Maubere people, under international supervision, decide to opt for
integration with the Republic of Indonesia.

We do not fight against Indonesia, we are not fighting against the people
of Indonesia. We respect the great Indonesian nation, we respect our
Indonesian brothers.

In an independent East Timor we will strive to have privileged relations
of friendship and cooperation between our two peoples; we will strive to
promote the instruments of bi-lateral and regional cooperation in the
framework of ASEAN. We will spare no effort to enhance ASEAN and its role
in promoting political and economic cooperation as well as promoting the
region as a zone of peace and prosperity.

An independent East Timor will seek membership with the South Pacific
Forum. We share the same aspirations with the small island-states of the
Pacific and we will strive to foster cooperation for the benefit of our
peoples.

An independent East Timor will reject the existence of armed forces as
our real contribution towards regional and world peace. We oppose
militarization because we are against armed conflicts. We oppose
militarization because as part of the Humanity that desires peace we do
not fear our powerful neighbors. We oppose militarization because we
believe the conscience of mankind opts for dialogue to resolve
differences. If dialogue means democratic practice, if, above all, it is
a concept of justice, if dialogue means respect for fundamental rights
and freedoms of peoples, we are then against the use of force, we are
against war, we are against oppression.

We are convinced that if all share the same convictions, Southeast Asia
could become a model in the new world we all wish to build.

We hope that the Indonesian leaders understand our message of peace, our
gesture of reconciliation and that our resistance is not aimed at the
Indonesian state or people. In equal circumstances of rights and
obligations we will know how to honor the friendship that the great
Indonesian nation may offer us.

We appeal to the Special Committee on Decolonization to spare no effort
to see to it that the UN relevant resolutions on East Timor are fully
implemented.

Headquarters of the National Council of Maubere Resistance, in East
Timor, 20 June 1992.

For the CNRM,
Kayrala Xanana Gusmao
Comandante das FALINTIL


Forwarded from GreenNet reg.easttimor conference:
Topic 352ETAN/US Petitition to Decol Comm.
cscheinerreg.easttimor 9:49 pm  Jul 28, 1992

Statement to the United Nations Special Committee on the Situation with
Regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of
Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples
by the East Timor Action Network / United States
PO Box 1182, White Plains, NY 10602 USA.  Tel. 914-428-7299   fax 914-428-7383
presented by Charles Scheiner
United Nations, New York July 27, 1992

Mr. Chairman, distinguished members of the committee and guests, my name
is Charles Scheiner, and I am coordinator of the East Timor Action
Network / United States. ETAN/US is grateful for the opportunity to speak
with you today, and for your continued attention to the situation in East
Timor. We will try not to repeat others' statements, but to supplement
them.

The East Timor Action Network was formed at the beginning of this year.
Several of us had been aware of the ongoing tragedy of East Timor, but
despaired that people there would ever be allowed to determine their own
political future. We were shaken and moved by the horrendous Santa Cruz
massacre in Dili last November 12. In a manner never seen before, there
were foreign witnesses and videotape to document the inhuman brutality of
the Indonesian military for the outside world. If East Timor was ever to
be free of Jakarta's oppression, the time to act was now.

We created the East Timor Action Network/U.S. as a grassroots movement to
help change American, international, and ultimately Indonesian policy on
East Timor. We hope that the Special Committee on Decolonization and the
other organs of United Nations share our understanding that the present
moment carries both opportunity and responsibility. We urge you to act
now to support human rights and self-determination for the East Timorese
people, and not to prolong their 17 years of suffering and struggle. ETAN
struck a chord in the United States: in six months we have local chapters
in a dozen cities, and several hundred members in more than half of the
fifty states.

Members of the United States Congress, continuing their record of concern
for East Timor, are taking unprecedented action. In November and
December, both houses passed strong resolutions against human rights
violations in East Timor, and 52 Senators signed a letter to President
Bush initiated by Republican Malcolm Wallop, urging the President to seek
a diplomatic resolution of the situation. In May, Representative Tony
Hall and other Congresspeople from both parties introduced H.R.5176,
which would suspend military and economic aid, arms sales, and trade
preferences to Indonesia until it allows human rights observers into East
Timor and complies with U.N. resolutions requiring military withdrawal
and a plebiscite for self-determination.

On June 25, the House of Representatives unanimously voted to terminate
U.S. military training for the Indonesian armed forces under the
International Military Education and Training (IMET) program, which has
trained more than 2,600 Indonesian officers since 1975. Under IMET,
roughly 150 Indonesian officers have attended U.S. war colleges every
year. The U.S. Senate will soon act on the IMET cut, and may well take
even stronger action to protest ongoing repression in East Timor.

Although last month's vote is the first time the U.S. Congress has cut
aid to Indonesia, it builds on a long history of bipartisan Congressional
concern. That concern continues to expand; in fact, several
Representatives took the floor during the discussion of the IMET
suspension to warn Indonesia that this is only the beginning.

On June 21, the United States Conference of Mayors (which includes the
chief executives of every city in the United States) passed a resolution
on human rights in East Timor, urging the President and Congress to
support General Assembly action to "assist in the resolution of the
conflict, providing for the self-determination of the Timorese people."

I go into detail on developments in the United States because the views
conveyed by President Bush's administration to the international
community do not always accurately reflect what is happening in this
country. Although Undersecretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz referred to
the "unfinished business" of the Santa Cruz massacre during his recent
visit to Jakarta, Americans have the uneasy feeling that the White House
and the Pentagon are reluctant to strongly pressure Indonesia to resolve
the situation. We look hopefully toward the upcoming election in the
United States, but we hope that your Committee will not wait until then
to take action.

Mr. Chairman, I am not going to give you a long list of recommendations
from the East Timor Action Network. We concur with the suggestions from
other NGO's that the report of Special Envoy Amos Wako be released and
that the Secretary-General facilitate negotiations including Indonesia,
Portugal, and representatives of the Timorese people, leading to self-
determination for East Timor. We also urge this Committee to recommend
that the General Assembly act this fall to reaffirm its decade-old
resolutions calling for human rights and immediate Indonesian withdrawal
from East Timor.

We do, however, want to share with you the urgent appeal presented by the
National Movement of the East Timorese Students in Indonesia to the
United Nations mission in Jakarta last November 19. Many of the
presenters of this appeal were arrested; some have been sentenced to as
long as ten years in prison for peacefully appealing to the international
community to safeguard their human rights. I hope you will pay close
attention to these translated words from young Timorese patriots who
sacrificed their freedom to convey them to you:

Because:

1.The invasion of East Timor by Indonesia was a flagrant violation of
the General Assembly of the United Nations Resolution 3485 (12 December
1975) and of the UN Security Council Resolution 384 (22 December 1975),
which recognize the inalienable right of all peoples to
self-determination and independence, according to the principles of the
United Nations Charter and the Declaration of the Colonized Countries and
Peoples in Resolution 1514 (XV) of December 14 1960;

2.Resolution 384 of 22 December 1975 by the UN Security Council
appeals to all states to respect the Territorial Integrity of East Timor;

3.The above resolutions appeal to the Indonesian Government for the
immediate and unconditional withdrawal of all forces from East Timor;

4.The very same resolutions recognize Portugal as the administrative
power;

5.The similarity of the invasion and occupation of East Timor by
Indonesia with that of Kuwait by Iraq;

6.The struggles of the people of Namibia and the Western Sahara, which
are similar to that of Maubere People (East Timorese), have attained
their national political goals;

7.The enforced presence of Indonesia in East Timor for the last 16
years is, in the light of the International Principles, illegal and
obsolete according to the dynamic evolution for the Human Society;

8.The enforced presence of Indonesia in East Timor escalates day by
day the suffering of the already martyred Maubere People through
conscious, systematic and routine violation of the most elementary Human
Rights.

We, the East Timor Nationalist Students in Indonesia, in our own name and
that of all those Heroes innocently felled by the Indonesian military
assassins over the last 16 years, but mainly our brethren who were
cruelly and inhumanely killed en masse on November 12 1991, ask and
demand of the United Nations:

1.a) To maintain strong and continuous pressure on Indonesia so that
all efficient measures can be taken to carry out the General Assembly and
Security Council resolutions which have already been voted upon and that
recognize the right of the East Timorese people to Self-Determination and
Independence;

     b) According to those above mentioned UN General Assembly and Security
Council resolutions, Indonesia, as a member of that Organisation, has no
right to try and condemn all East Timor nationalists who have arduously
fought for their Right of Self-Determination and Independence;

2.To exert strong political, economical and mainly military pressures
on the Jakarta government as is happening with  Iraq;

3.To demand of Indonesia an absolute respect for the Fundamental
Rights of the East Timorese People and their identity as a People and as
a Nation;

4.To demand that Indonesia immediately and unconditionally withdraw
all its belligerently repressive apparatus, be it military or
bureaucratic, from East Timor;

5.To demand the Portuguese Government as the Administrative Power to
co-operate fully with the United Nations in order to create the
conditions for the People of East Timor to enjoy freely their Right to
Self Determination and Independence;

6.Finally, and in conclusion, our Petition and Protest for the
Genocide barbarously perpetrated by the Indonesia army on 12th November
1991. We ask the UN General Assembly and the Security Council to take
urgent, and efficient measures to safeguard the lives of all those
Timorese Nationalists, mainly the political prisoners;

7.We request U.N. representatives in Jakarta, together with the
Indonesian Parliament, to issue safe-conduct papers to guarantee the
personal security of all Timorese Nationalist Students who are under
coercive resistance in Indonesia. Trusting that Your Excellency will do
your best to consider and identify yourself with our aspirations and
wishes as a People and a Nation, we are, yours sincerely,

Joao Freitas da Camara (Jakarta)
Agapito Cardoso (Bali)
Jose Luis de Oliveira (Yogyakarta)
Domingos Bareto de Jesus Vas (Semarang)
Virgilio da Silva Guterres (Malang)
Jose Dias Quintas (Surabaya)
Gregorio de Araujo (Bandung)

Nearly all of the 70 students who presented this appeal were arrested.
Seventeen were imprisoned for four months before being released without
charges. Five were put on trial, although they refused to accept the
jurisdiction of Indonesia's courts. At the trial of Agapito Cardoso,
co-defendant Joao Freitas da Camara denied that the demonstration was
planned to hurt the government, but said that "We could not stay inactive
while our brothers were being shot dead. We wanted to protest against all
the actions in East Timor which were not in accordance with human rights
from the beginning until the tragedy of November 12."

For helping to organize this peaceful appeal, Fernando de Araujo received
a nine-year prison sentence. Joao Freitas da Camara got ten years, and
three others got sentences of up to 30 months. None were accused of any
violent activities or any actions which could be considered illegal if
Indonesia honored the Universal Declaration of Human Rights -- all they
did was appeal to the international community to live up to its
previously-expressed findings.

Mr. Chairman, the past year has shown that there is a new generation of
East Timorese activists, infants at the time of the Indonesian invasion,
who are willing to risk all for their independence. Your Committee and
the United Nations have the power to end the 17-year nightmare of the
Timorese people, to begin a process which will spare these idealistic
youth from the horrible hell that was inflicted on their parents'
generation. I hope you will use it.

Thank you.
Organization: Freshman, Biology, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA