In an open letter to East Timorese President José Alexandre Gusmão, Human Rights First congratulated the Timorese leadership and called for the prompt release of the full report of that country’s truth commission. Over the last three years, the Commission for Reception, Truth, and Reconciliation (Comissao de Acolhimento, Verdade e Reconciliacao de Timor-Leste, or CAVR) collected thousands of statements, held unprecedented public hearings, prepared detailed statistical analyses, and implemented village-level reconciliation efforts. The Commission submitted the 2500-page report to President Gusmão on October 31, covering human rights violations from 1974 through 1999.
On November 28, President Gusmão officially handed the report over to parliament. However, he did not release the report to the public as expected. The letter from Human Rights First urges “that the report is made widely available to the Timorese public and the international community as soon as possible.”
In his speech, President Gusmão acknowledged the hard work of the commissioners, but worried they went “beyond conventional political boundaries.” In its letter, Human Rights First responded, “The Commission is not a political body, and the commissioners arrived at recommendations based on the facts uncovered and the aspirations they heard from the people of Timor-Leste. There may still be a need for political debate on how to proceed, but the first step must be to release the report and its recommendations.”
The Timorese government has expressed the need for good relations with Indonesia, which occupied East Timor for the period covered in the report. In its letter Human Rights First argued that “a true accounting of the facts and a genuine search for accountability is in the interests of both nations. Such measures will support democratic development in Indonesia, a country still grappling with its responsibility for human rights violations in East Timor and within its own borders.”
Read HRF letter: http://www.humanrightsfirst.info/pdf/051209-hrd-ltr-gusmao-cavr.pdf
Contact:
Jillian Gladstone (212) 845-5245
