WRITTEN QUESTION E-1970/00 by José Ribeiro e Castro (UEN) to the Council. Investigating human rights violations in East Timor.
Date: 2000-06-21
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: East Timor, fact-finding mission, human rights, report

13.3.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 81 E/121

This is not the first court case on this subject; individuals have already been sentenced in the past.

The Commission has made combating doping a priority in the field of sport.

The cases referred to are simply horrific, and provide shocking evidence of the ruthless manipulation of
sport in the former GDR, against all principles of health and fundamental humanity. Such cases should
therefore not be allowed to fall into oblivion. They constitute grim lessons for the future, since the only
use they have is to prevent such things happening again.

Has the Commission followed all the court cases concerned? On the basis of the horrific experiments
carried out in the former GDR, does it intend to promote research, information and training activities
which will form part of a thoroughgoing anti-doping policy and help to combat any similar instances
today or tomorrow, and provide lasting protection against such excesses and extreme abuse for future
generations of sportsmen and sportswomen?

Answer given by Mrs Reding on behalf of the Commission

(19 September 2000)

The Commission has followed with interest the court cases concerning the former German Democratic
Republic (GDR) and doping.

The Commission shares the view that such practices should be strongly condemned. It is vital that the
results of the political motivation, that was apparent in the former GDR, do not reappear in today(cid:146)s
environment through other means such as over-commercialisation.

The President of the Commission referred to the fight against doping on 21 July 1999 in his first speech to
the Parliament. The Commission(cid:146)s stance can be found in its communication on a Community support
plan to combat doping in sport (1) which was issued on 1 December 1999.

The support plan contains a wide range of possible Community actions that can be carried out through a
number of different policy areas ranging from public health to justice and home affairs. Research is
included as one of the main areas that should be focused upon.

The Commission also intends to support a number of pilot actions in the field of education and
information.

Through this structured package the Commission aims to reinforce the action taken by sports organisa-
tions, which must assume the leadership, in fighting against this scourge that seriously tarnishes the image
of sport.

(1) COM(1999) 643 final.

(2001/C 81 E/145)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1970/00

by JosØ Ribeiro e Castro (UEN) to the Council

Subject: Investigating human rights violations in East Timor

(21 June 2000)

Paragraph 9 of the European Parliament(cid:146)s resolution on East Timor of 18 November 1999 (B5-0271/1999)
called on Council to examine the granting of technical aid to the UN authorities in East Timor with a view
to preserving and investigating evidence of atrocities perpetrated during the occupation of the country.

C 81 E/122

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

13.3.2001

Recent official reports, and various reports published in the media in the intervening months talk of
innumerable difficulties and shortcomings in this area. Statements by President Abdurrahman Wahid and
Dr Sidney Jones, Human Rights Director, in the report recently submitted to the European Parliament on a
parliamentary delegation visit to Indonesian East Timor on 16-21 April, refer to difficulties in proving and
assessing the facts. In the equally recent report by the Portuguese Parliament(cid:146)s Committee Delegation to
East Timor, on the visit it made between 9 and 17 April, there is a reference to the fact that inter alia, (cid:145)the
recent discovery of new mass graves indicatijng that we are still far from knowing the full extent of the
tragedy suffered by East Timor(cid:146).

Furthermore, over and above the terrible events which occurred immediately after the holding of the
30 August 1999 referendum, there is no news about any proper investigation of the atrocities and human
rights violations perpetrated by the Indonesian authorities during the years of the occupation of East
Timor, as demanded by the spirit and the letter of the EP resolution, a situation which could give the
impression that there may be a desire to sweep the whole matter under the carpet.

Six months from the European Parliament resolution, what can the Council tell me about how it has
followed up Parliament(cid:146)s request?

Reply

(10 October 2000)

The Council shares the Honourable Member(cid:146)s wish to see a proper investigation into the violation of
fundamental human rights and international human law perpetrated in East Timor. It has welcomed the
report of the International Commission of Enquiry as well as that by the Indonesian Human Rights
Commission. It has also welcomed the strengthening of the capacity within the UN Transitional Admin-
istration in East Timor (UNTAET) to conduct forensic investigations. The EU, both through Community
and through assistance provided by Member States, remains one of the largest,
the largest,
contributor to UNTAET and to East Timorese reconstruction and reconciliation more generally.

if not

(2001/C 81 E/146)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1972/00

by Camilo Nogueira RomÆn (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(21 June 2000)

Subject: Speculative sales of Galician milk quotas with a view to the reform of the Common Agricultural

Policy

The prospect of a reformed Common Agricultural Policy, with bonuses per kilogram of milk granted
directly to the farmers, which will, from 2005, partially compensate for the reduction of intervention
prices, means that in the Galician milk sector, which is equipped for far higher levels of milk production
than it has been allocated, a strongly speculative market is emerging, thus reducing the opportunities for
internal development when the CAP reform comes into force. Does the Commission intend to introduce
measures to prevent this kind of serious perversion of the Common Agricultural Policy? Does it intend to
introduce measures to allocate state-held quota reserves on the basis of socio-economic criteria free of
charge? Does it intend to establish measures for allocation free of charge on the basis of social economic
criteria of State reserve of quotas? Does it intend to link measures such as the simultaneous handing over
of land with the possibility of transferring quotas? Is the Galician government engaged in any specific
negotiations with the Commission to correct these harmful effects of current policies in the milk sector?