CAVR East
Timor
Media Release 23 April 2003
The Commission
on Reception Truth and Reconciliation in East Timor (CAVR)
will conduct its third national public hearing in the nation¹s capital
Dili
on 28-29 April 2003. Women in Conflict is the theme of this hearing, in
which the CAVR will hear from over 20 women about their experiences, and
about policies and practices which resulted in human rights violations
against women between 1974 and 1999.
³Women
suffered terribly in East Timor between the years of 1974 and 1999.
As victims, and as mothers, wives and sisters of victims trying to keep
families alive and together. It is the role of the CAVR to listen to women,
and to acknowledge their suffering and help them heal ongoing suffering
in
their lives,² said Aniceto Guterres Lopes, a leading human rights
lawyer and
Chairperson of the CAVR.
The hearing
will take place over two days at the headquarters of the CAVR, a
rehabilitated former prison in the capital Dili. Testimony will be given
before seven national commissioners, who are responsible for identifying
the
truth of human rights violations which occurred in the context of political
conflict in East Timor between 25 April 1974 and 25 October 1999.
³We
must also seek to understand and promote and awareness of the policies
and practices that contributed to targetting women as victims of human
rights violations, to help ensure that this never happens again in our
society,² added Mr Guterres Lopes.
Commissioners
will also hear submissions from several organisations,
including Indonesian women¹s organisations who see the process as
important
for human rights in Indonesia. The National Commission on Violence Against
Women in Indonesia (Komnas Perempuan), will present information on women
victims ans survivors of violence in areas of military operations. A
humanitarian group from West Timor will present information about violations
suffered by women in refugee camps after mass deoprtations of September
1999. An East Timorese women¹s group will also make a submission
to the
commission based on months of research in the community.
Evidence
gathered at the hearing will contribute to the CAVR¹s official
report, due to be published upon completion of the commission¹s work
in
October 2004. The report will make findings about the nature, causes and
responsibility for human rights violations which occurred in East Timor
between 1974-1999, and make recommendations for the protection of human
rights in East Timor.