IV
107TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. CON. RES. 405
Commemorating the independence of East Timor and expressing the sense
of Congress that the President should establish diplomatic relations with
East Timor.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MAY 14, 2002
Mr. SMITH of New Jersey (for himself, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. WOLF, Mr.
FRANK, and Mr. KENNEDY of Rhode Island) submitted the following con-
current resolution; which was referred to the Committee on International
Relations
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
Commemorating the independence of East Timor and ex-
pressing the sense of Congress that the President should
establish diplomatic relations with East Timor.
Whereas on May 20, 2002, East Timor will become the first
new country of the millennium;
Whereas the perseverance and strength of the East Timorese
people in the face of daunting challenges has inspired the
people of the United States and around the world;
Whereas in 1974 Portugal acknowledged the right of its colo-
nies, including East Timor, to self-determination, includ-
ing independence;
•HCON 405 IH
Whereas East Timor has been under United Nations admin-
istration since October 1999 during which time inter-
national peacekeeping forces, supplemented by forces of
the United States Group for East Timor (USGET), have
worked to stabilize East Timor and provide for its na-
tional security;
Whereas the people of East Timor exercised their long-sought
right of self-determination on August 30, 1999, when
98.6 percent of the eligible population voted, and 78.5
percent chose independence in a United Nations-adminis-
tered popular consultation despite systematic terror and
intimidation by the Indonesian military and its militia;
Whereas the East Timorese people again demonstrated their
strong commitment to democracy when 91.3 percent of
eligible voters peacefully participated in East Timor’s
first democratic, multiparty election for a Constituent As-
sembly on August 30, 2001, and when 86.3 percent of
those eligible participated in the first presidential election
on April 14, 2002;
Whereas East Timor adopted a constitution in March 2002;
Whereas East Timor is emerging from over 400 years of colo-
nial domination and a 24-year period of occupation by
the Indonesian military;
Whereas, as the people of East Timor move proudly toward
independence, many still struggle to recover from the
scars of the military occupation and the 1999 scorched-
earth campaign that resulted in displacement which, ac-
cording to the United Nations and other independent re-
ports, exceeded 500,000 in number and widespread
death, rape, and other mistreatment of women, family
•HCON 405 IH
separation, and large refugee populations and the de-
struction of 70 percent of the country’s infrastructure;
Whereas efforts are ongoing by East Timorese officials and
others to seek justice for the crimes against humanity
and war crimes that have been perpetrated in recent
years, efforts which include the work of the United Na-
tions Serious Crimes Investigation Unit and the East
Timorese Commission for Reception, Truth, and Rec-
onciliation to document and assess responsibility for these
crimes;
Whereas recommendations by the Indonesian National
Human Rights Commission and the United Nations Se-
curity Council to investigate and prosecute senior Indo-
nesian military and civilian officials for their roles in pro-
moting the 1999 anti-independence violence in East
Timor have not yet been fully implemented;
Whereas, although the people of East Timor are working to-
ward a plan for vigorous economic growth and develop-
ment, the Government of East Timor faces a substantial
shortfall in its recurrent and development budgets over
the first 3 years of independence, and is seeking to fill
the gap in full with grants from donor countries;
Whereas a large percentage of the population of East Timor
lives below the poverty line with inadequate access to
health care and education, the unemployment rate in
East Timor is estimated at 80 percent, and the life ex-
pectancy in East Timor is only 57 years; and
Whereas Nobel Peace Laureate Carlos Ximenes Belo, Roman
Catholic Bishop of Dili, East Timor, has appealed to the
international community and the United States for in-
•HCON 405 IH
creased economic and development assistance for the
fledgling nation: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate
concurring), That—
(1) Congress—
(A) congratulates and honors the coura-
geous people of East Timor and their leaders;
(B) welcomes East Timor into the commu-
nity of nations as a sovereign state and looks
forward to working with East Timor as an
equal partner;
(C) supports United Nations and inter-
national efforts to support reconstruction and
development in East Timor, and United Na-
tions and international peacekeeping forces to
safeguard East Timor’s security, including con-
tinuing the periodic visits by United States
military forces;
(D) remains committed to working toward
a debt-free start to East Timor and just, sus-
tainable, and secure development programs as
well as adequate resources for the judicial sys-
tem for East Timor for the foreseeable future
beyond independence;
(E) expresses continued concern over de-
plorable humanitarian conditions and an envi-
•HCON 405 IH
ronment of intimidation among the East Timor-
ese refugees living in West Timor;
(F) strongly supports prompt, safe, vol-
untary repatriation and reintegration of East
Timorese refugees, in particular those East
Timorese still held in militia-controlled refugee
camps in West Timor, especially reunification
of East Timorese children separated from their
parents through coercion or force;
(G) expresses a commitment to maintain-
ing appropriate restrictions and prohibitions in
law on military assistance, training relations,
and technical support to the Indonesian Armed
Forces; and
(H) acknowledges that a United Nations
International Commission of Inquiry found in
January 2000 that justice is ‘‘fundamental for
the future social and political stability of East
Timor’’, and remains deeply concerned about
the lack of justice in the region; and
(2) it is the sense of Congress that the Presi-
dent and the Secretary of State should—
(A) immediately extend to East Timor the
diplomatic relations afforded to other sovereign
•HCON 405 IH
nations, including the establishment of an em-
bassy in East Timor;
(B) maintain a level of United States as-
sistance for East Timor commensurate with the
challenges this new nation faces after independ-
ence;
(C) work to fund in a generous and re-
sponsible way East Timor’s financing gap in its
recurrent and development budgets, and coordi-
nate with other donors to ensure the budget
gap is addressed;
(D) focus bilateral assistance for East
Timor on the areas of employment creation, job
training, rural reconstruction, microenterprise,
environmental protection, health care, edu-
cation, refugee resettlement, reconciliation and
conflict resolution, and strengthening the role of
women in society;
(E) strongly urge the Indonesian Govern-
ment to step up efforts to disarm and disband
all militia, hold them accountable to the rule of
law, ensure stability along the border, and
promptly reunite East Timorese children sepa-
rated from their parents through coercion or
force; and
•HCON 405 IH
(F) review thoroughly information from
the East Timorese Commission for Reception,
Truth, and Reconciliation and use all diplo-
matic resources at their disposal to ensure that
those officials responsible for crimes against hu-
manity and war crimes against the East Timor-
ese people are held accountable and that the In-
donesian Government fully cooperates with the
East Timorese judicial system.
Æ