NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #31/NN_1992_31.iso/spool/misc/activism/progress/9598

Text File | 1992-12-24 | 5.7 KB | 144 lines

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From: [e-mail] (Rich Winkel)
Subject: NGO's on Indonesian "HR" conference
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Date: Thu, 24 Dec 1992 08:29:29 GMT
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/** reg.easttimor: 349.0 **/
** Topic: TAPOL protests to UN/Geneva **
** Written 12:00 pm  Dec 20, 1992 by gn:tapol in cdp:reg.easttimor **
TAPOL writes to UN in Geneva

[We ask groups and individuals who also write to the UN
Human Rights Centre to post their letters as responses to
this Topic. Thank you.]


Antoine Blanca, Director,                   18 December 1992
Centre for Human Rights,
UN Office at Geneva,
Fax: [phone]


Dear M. Blanca,

We have just learnt with incredulity that your Centre has
accepted an invitation from the Indonesian Government to
host an Asia-Pacific Human Rights Workshop in Jakarta on 26-
28 January 1993.

It is difficult to believe that the Centre, which is better
placed than most to know the extent of human rights abuses
perpetrated by the Indonesian security forces, considers
Jakarta to be a suitable location for such a Workshop.
Indeed, you cancelled an earlier plan to hold this Workshop
in December 1991, because of the Santa Cruz Massacre in
Dili, East Timor on 12 November 1991.

Can it be that you now consider that the human rights
situation in East Timor is better than it was then? Our own
monitoring of the human rights situation in East Timor since
the time of the Massacre shows conclusively that abuses have
reached an unprecedented level since the present military
commander, Brig-General Theo Syafei, took command in January
this year. Things have deteriorated even further in the past
month following the arrest of resistance leader, Xanana
Gusmao, and many of his relatives and associates, on top of
which we are now getting reports of mass arrests, horrific
torture and 'disappearances' in all parts of East Timor.

Similarly the situation in Aceh, North Sumatra, where at
least 2,000 are known to have been killed during the recent
wave of military operations, highlights the grievous state
of human rights in that part of the archipelago, not to
speak of human rights violations in various parts of
Indonesia itself.

If your Centre wishes to retain its credibility as an
advocate of human rights on behalf of the international
community, you should revoke this incomprehensible decision
now. How appropriate would it be to hold the workshop in,
say, Rangoon while the opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi
remains incommunicado and hundreds of political prisoners
continue to be incarcerated?

Yours sincerely,


Carmel Budiardjo
cc: Alvaro De Soto, Special Assistant to the Secretary
General in New York.
** End of text from cdp:reg.easttimor **

/** reg.easttimor: 349.1 **/
** Written  6:34 am  Dec 22, 1992 by jinglis in cdp:reg.easttimor **
                                          December 22, 1992
Mr. Antoine Blanca
Center for Human Rights
United Nations Office
Geneva, Switzerland

Dear Sir:

      I understand that the Center for Human Rights is planning
a AsiaPacific human rights workshop in Jakarta on January 2628.

      On behalf of the International Federation for East Timor,
an organization of NGOs working to contribute to a just solution to
the East Timor issue, I urge that you reconsider this plan.

      As you must be aware, the United Nations Commission on Human
Rights considered the issue of East Timor at its fortyseventh
session.   The result of intense debate on the issue was a Consensus
Declaration on March 3 which, inter alia, calls on the Indonesian
Government to treat "humanely" all civilians arrested in connection
with the Santa Cruz massacre of November 12, 1991 and to release
without delay all those not involved.  The Consensus Declaration
further "urges the Government of indonesia to improve the human
rights situation in East Timor" and to facilitate access to East
Timor for humanitarian and human rights organizations.

      Regretably, nine months after this declaration there is no
indication that Indonesia has complied with any of these
stipulations.  On the contrary, the military commander in charge
of the territory has publicly stated that he is carrying out
policies much harsher than those of his predecessor (during whose
tenure the Santa Cruz massacre took place), and reports from the
territory indicate that this is indeed so.  Humanitarian and human
rights organizations continue to be denied access to the territory,
and journalists other than those working closely with the Indonesian
authorities continue to be banned.  By Commander Syafei's own
admission, over a thousand people in Dili were rounded up in late
October in nighttime raids on homes, and reports by Amnesty
International and other reliable sources indicate that since the
November 20 arrest of resistance leader Xanana Gusmao arbitrary
arests and torture are being carried out on a daily basis in many
parts of the territory.

      Against this background, the decision to convene the
human rights workshop in Jakarta would seem to confer the Center's
"stamp of approval" on Indonesia's noncompliance with the Consensus
Declaration.  Likewise, it suggests a very low regard on the part of
the Center for the deliberations of the Commission and the
painstakingly achieved (and very minimal, one must say)
Declaration.

      Again, I strongly urge that the Center not go ahead with
the workshop in Jakarta.

Yours truly,

Jean Inglis
(In the absence of general secretary, Kawagoe Yoshiko)

** End of text from cdp:reg.easttimor **