The Guardian [UK]
August 30, 2001
East Timor prepares for historic election
UN revamps 'failing' justice system to pave way for independence
John Aglionby in Dili, East Timor
The East Timorese are taking another landmark step on their transition
to full independence today when they go to the polls for their first
free elections.
Following a largely peaceful campaign involving 16 parties, United
Nations administration officials are confident that more than 90 per
cent of the 425,000 registered voters will turn out to vote. They will
be choosing representatives for an assembly that will write the
constitution and prepare for independence, expected in the middle of
next year.
Once independence is completed, they will also preside over another
landmark ballot: the election of a figurehead to help smooth East
Timor's path to democracy.
The resistance hero Jose Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmao, the choice
of all 16
parties contesting today's elections, finally agreed earlier this week
to run for the presidency.
Today's ballot takes place on the second anniversary of a referendum
in
which the East Timorese voted to end 24 years of often brutally
repressive occupation by Indonesia.
Indonesian soldiers and their local militias waged a campaign of violent
intimidation for eight months before that vote and then virtually
destroyed the former Portuguese colony after the result. At least 1,000
people were killed and 250,000 were forcibly relocated to Indonesian
West Timor.
It is accepted that the territory will never fully develop until the
East Timorese get justice for the crimes of this period and the
preceding 24 years, in which about 200,000 people may have died, and
create reconciliation mechanisms to heal rifts with the rank-and-file
militia members.
But the justice and reconciliation process is stalling as the UN
struggles to overcome the delays, crises and scandals in the justice
system that have left the East Timorese questioning the international
community's commitment to them. This is despite the UN achieving a
conviction rate for serious crimes such as murder, rape and torture that
is much higher than the international tribunals for former Yugoslavia
and Rwanda
A strike by local judges complaining of poor conditions, a litany of
mistakes by senior managers, executive interference, the refusal of some
local people to cooperate with the UN, and a failure to implement UN
security council recommendations are just some of the issues that have
prompted the UN to overhaul the system.
So little has been done since the UN Security Council warned last year
of "shortcomings in the implementation of justice in East Timor",
that
the administrator, Sergio Vieira de Mello, has asked his new deputy, the
New Zealand lawyer Dennis McNamara, to address the issue. "There
is
undoubtedly a serious problem with justice," Mr McNamara said. "I
do not
think that the UN has genuinely prioritised that properly."
He is proposing a wide-ranging revamp of the relevant management
structures and the justice system, including the development of a
reception, truth and reconciliation commission.
Amnesty International has drawn similar conclusions about the state of
East Timor, stating last month that the human rights of the East
Timorese "cannot be guaranteed".
Some East Timorese non-governmental organisations (NGO) are becoming
so
disillusioned that they are refusing to hand over evidence to the UN
because they do not think it will make any difference.
The cabinet member for justice, Gita Welch, denies that major changes
are necessary. "The system has not failed, it has not been tested
yet,"
she said.
Some changes have already begun. Jean-Louis Gilissen, the new deputy
general prosecutor for special crimes, said that he had initiated a
shake-up of the Serious Crimes Unit despite still not having received
his budget for July.
"I do not want a total severance from the past," he said. "I
want to try
to find the good things from the past and marry them with new things for
the future."