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1. Introduction

Following the widespread and flagrant violations of human rights and international humanitarian law committed in Timor Leste from the illegal invasion and occupation by Indonesia in 1975 and leading up to and following
the referendum for independence in August 1999, the need for justice was clearly and universally acknowledged.

The Security Council in Resolution 1264 of 15 September 1999 demanded that those responsible be brought to justice. On 25 October 1999 the Security Council adopted Resolution 1272 in relation to Timor Leste condemning "all violence and acts in support of violence in Timor Leste" and further, and importantly for the purposes of the Commission's role, demanded that "those responsible for such violence be brought to justice". The Security Council stressed "that persons committing such violations bear individual responsibility".

The Secretary General wrote, on 31 January 2000, "I have also been strongly assured by [the Indonesian] Foreign Minister Alwi Shihab of the [Indonesian] Government's determination that there will be no impunity for those responsible".[1] The United Nations High Commission of Human Rights (UNHCHR), at a special session convened in September 1999, adopted a resolution affirming that the international community would exert every effort to ensure those responsible for the violence are held accountable.[2] The UN's International Commission of Inquiry on Timor Leste (ICIET) and three UN Special Rapporteurs in late 1999 clearly documented the systematic and widespread intimidation and terror, destruction of property, violence against women, forced displacement, and attempts to destroy evidence.[3]

Negotiations between the UN, Indonesia and Timor Leste led to the establishment of the Ad Hoc Human Rights Court on Timor Leste in Jakarta (the Ad Hoc Tribunal) and the Special Panels for Serious Crimes (SPSC). Both these two institutions have unequivocally failed to fulfill their mandates. The processes of the Ad Hoc Tribunal were highly irregular and critically flawed. The SPSC has been under-resourced and starved of
international political support and cooperation.

The United Nations and its member states are obligated to see that justice is done for the crimes against humanity committed in Timor Leste. It is time for a more determined, direct international role in ensuring accountability through the creation of an international tribunal.