PROMOTING HUMAN RIGHTS, PEACE AND DEMOCRACY IN INDONESIA

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East Timor: refugee registration unrealistic and possibly dangerous, warns TAPOL

UN urged to protect refugees' rights

29 May 2001

TAPOL has urged the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to safeguard the rights of East Timorese refugees in West Timor as the Indonesian Government presses ahead with plans to register the refugees and determine whether they wish to remain in Indonesia or return to East Timor.

In a letter to the High Commissioner, TAPOL describes Indonesia's plans to complete the registration in a single day - 6 June - as unrealistic and possibly dangerous given the security situation in West Timor.

It points out that the Indonesian Government has failed to disarm and disband militias in the refugee camps. The current situation - which is preventing the direct involvement of the UNHCR in the registration and repatriation process - is not conducive to the refugees making a free and informed choice about where they wish to live, it says.

TAPOL has expressed particular concern that the Indonesian Government has allowed a militia-linked political organisation - UNTAS - to play a prominent role in informing refugees about the registration and repatriation process.

The authorities are attempting to complete the process in time for refugees to take part in elections for a Constituent Assembly in East Timor on 30 August. TAPOL believes that while every effort should be made to facilitate the return of those who wish to participate in the elections, the overriding objective must be to ensure that the refugees have a free and informed choice about where they wish to live.

That requires a major improvement in the security situation and a timetable for registration which is determined solely by conditions in West Timor. If the registration is to be carried our according to international standards for the protection of refugees, the authorities must allow a period of several months at least for it to be completed, says TAPOL.

TAPOL's concerns are repeated in letters to the British Government and Indonesia's Ministers for Foreign Affairs, Alwi Shihab, and Political, Social and Security Affairs, Bambang Yudhoyono.

Following East Timor's overwhelming vote for independence on 30 August 1999, a wave of violence was unleashed by Indonesian military-backed militias. Hundreds were killed and around 250,000 were forcibly deported to West Timor where they have had to survive in squalid militia-controlled refugee camps. Up to 100,000 remain in the camps awaiting repatriation or resettlement. The UNHCR was forced to suspend its operations in the territory after three of its workers were murdered by a militia-led mob in September 2000.

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