Precedence: bulk
PROTECT REFUGEES IN WEST TIMOR
Camps, Humanitarian Workers Still at the Mercy of Indonesian Militias
(New York, September 23, 1999) -- Human Rights Watch today welcomed an
agreement that would give staff of the UNHCR safe access to the violence-
wracked refugee camps in West Timor, but cautioned that no discussion of
resettlement or return should take place before the physical security of all
who fled or were forced to West Timor is completely secured.
An agreement between the UNHCR and the government of Indonesia is expected
to be announced today. According to a UNHCR spokesman, under the agreement,
the government of Indonesia will assure safety and access for UNHCR staff to
the refugee camps of West Timor. UNHCR has agreed to embark on an
information campaign to publicize three options for those who have fled East
Timor: voluntary repatriation to East Timor, staying in West Timor, and
resettlement elsewhere in Indonesia once the UNHCR has full access and is
able to provide international protection for those in the camps.
"Security and humanitarian aid are the urgent needs right now," said Human
Rights Watch Refugee Policy Director Rachael Reilly, who pointed out that
the refugees in West Timor are still at the mercy of the Indonesian militias
and military that forced them from their homes. "Many of the East Timorese
in West Timor have been and continue to be terrorized, making it impossible
for them to exercise anything like free choice as to where to go next.
Meaningful choice will be possible only after militia members are kept away,
aid workers have unimpeded access, and basic security and physical needs are
met."
Militias in West Timor are terrorizing the East Timorese, infiltrating the
camps and systematically attempting to identify and retaliate against
indepedence supporters. They have also assaulted, "disappeared," and killed
those attempting to aid or shelter refugees. Indonesian authorities have
also confiscated identity papers from those forced into West Timor. At the
same time, army-backed militias continue to attack and expel persons from
East Timor.
Fears that the expulsions are aimed at draining western districts in East
Timor of independence supporters as a prelude to partition of East Timor
were given credence on Thursday by former Governor of East Timor Abilio Jose
Osorio Soares, who publicly called for the western districts of East Timor
to be incorporated into Indonesian West
Timor. The Indonesian Minister of Transmigration, Maj.Gen. Hendropriyono,
announced on September 19 that all East Timorese in West Timor would be
permanently resettled elsewhere in Indonesia within two months.
According to the UNHCR spokesman, UNHCR has insisted on free and unhindered
access to refugees in all locations in West Timor, that the nature of the
refugee camps be civilian, that refugees have freedom of choice as to
staying, returning or resettling elsewhere, and that the
government prevent further forced displacement.
Human Rights Watch said these guarantees were critical, and called on the
UNHCR and the international community to elaborate them by insisting on the
following measures before lending support to programs to resettle or return
those who left:
1. Expulsions from East Timor and relocations of those already displaced by
the Indonesian government must stop. Transmigration and resettlement
efforts by the Indonesian government appear to be an effort to keep the
displaced from returning home and shift the political balance away from
independence in the western districts of East Timor.
2. The physical safety of those who have left East Timor must be secured.
Militia members who are terrorizing the displaced or threatening
humanitarian workers must be arrested and brought to justice, and free
access for international humanitarian workers must be established.
3. There must be no forced confinement of displaced persons. Militias have
tight control over camps in Atambua and the displaced have little or no
freedom of movement.
4. All persons who were forced from or fled East Timor must be registered
and provided with some form of identity document by international
humanitarian agencies, such as the UNHCR, in order to facilitate return if
they so choose. All registration lists must be kept confidential in the
hands of international agencies to protect individuals from retaliation.
Contact: Sidney Jones (New York): 212-216-1228
Joe Saunders (New York): 212-216-1207
Jean Paul Marthoz (Brussels): 322-732-2009
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