East Timor: Truth and
Reconciliation Commission Takes Office in Dili
DILI, East Timor, Jan 21
East Timor´s seven-member
Reception, Truth and Reconciliation Commission took office at a ceremony in Dili
Monday, pledging "to promote reconciliation, national unity and
peace".
The commission, sworn in by UN transition
administrator Sergio Vieira de Mello and Chief Minister Mari Alkatiri, will
oversee hearings on violence and human rights abuses from 1974 through 1999, the
period covering the territory´s brief civil war and the 24 years of Indonesian
occupation.
The hearings, based in part on a
post-apartheid South African initiative, would "gather all those involved
in the conflict, offering a path to the future and an opportunity for lasting
and genuine reconciliation", Vieira de Mello said.
Foreign Minister Jose Ramos Horta, a Nobel
Peace Prize laureate, challenged the commission, saying its work would aid East
Timor "to avoid similar tragedies" in future and "open the door
to forgiveness".
The seven-member commission, which
includes, among others, two women, two clergymen and a former apologist for
Indonesian integration, will oversee hearings of both victims and protagonists
of human rights violations during the past quarter-century.
The national commissioners will undergo
training from international experts before beginning the selection of 25 to 30
district commissioners.
The Reception, Truth and Reconciliation
Commission does not have the power to grant amnesty. It will have a
complementary mandate to the courts, dealing with less serious human rights
abuses.
In a message to the Dili ceremony, South
Africa´s Anglican Bishop Desmond Tutu said the hearings would give a
"voice to silenced victims", helping them regain "dignity and
heal wounds".
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights,
Mary Robinson, also sent a message, underlining the difficulty of establishing
the truth.
She urged victims to come forward with
"strength and openness" and violators of human rights "to
publicly recognize their role and assume responsibility" for their actions.
SAS
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