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<font size=3>In honor of Human Rights Day 2009, La'o Hamutuk has
published a textual analysis of the debates on Timor-Leste in the UN
Security Council over the last ten years. The full document, with
interesting graphs, data, and links, is at
<a href="http://www.laohamutuk.org/Justice/SCanalysis/09TenYearsUNSCEn.htm" eudora="autourl">
http://www.laohamutuk.org/Justice/SCanalysis/09TenYearsUNSCEn.htm</a>. A
Tetum version will be up in a day or two.<br><br>
The following is a summary of the text on the page, but the more
interesting part is in the graphs.<br><br>
</font><div align="center"><font size=4><b>Talking about Justice for Ten
Years in the UN Security Council<br>
From La'o Hamutuk, 10 December 2009<br><br>
</b></font></div>
<font size=3>Since May 1999, the United Nations Security Council has held
more than 55 meetings about Timor-Leste. La’o Hamutuk counted how often
certain words – justice, impunity, accountability and rule of law –
were used during this debate, showing what diplomats and U.N. officials
want people to believe they care about, and how it has changed over time.
<br><br>
During 125 hours of Security Council meetings, diplomats mentioned
"justice" 816 times and "rule of law" 279 times
(usually after 2006). Other concepts, such as "impunity" (131
times) and "accountability" (143 times), received little
mention before 2004. The first graph shows how often each word was said
in each Security Council meeting, as counted from the 1,300 pages of
transcripts.<br><br>
"Justice" dominates the Security Council debate at particular
times, especially in late 2000 (after UN staffers were killed in
Atambua), August 2004 (after the UN decided to phase out the Serious
Crimes Unit and Special Panels), and January 2006 (when President Xanana
Gusmão told the Security Council about restorative justice). After the
Independent Commission of Inquiry report on the 2006 Crisis, combating
"impunity" (for 2006 crimes) was a popular topic. During
the last three years, delegates have increasingly mentioned "rule of
law" and "accountability," perhaps because achieving them
is increasingly unlikely.<br><br>
After Maternus Bere was freed in early November, the U.N.
Secretary-General’s spokesperson told journalists: "The United
Nations position that there should be no impunity, especially for serious
crimes, including crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide, is
well known." A month earlier, the Secretary-General told the
Security Council of his “hope that the Governments of both Timor-Leste
and Indonesia will ensure that Martenus (sic) Bere is brought to
justice…"<br><br>
The governments of Timor-Leste and Indonesia have repeatedly shown that
they will not or cannot end impunity for Indonesian perpetrators of
Crimes against Humanity in Timor-Leste during 24 years of Indonesian
occupation. People all over the world who believe in justice and
accountability urge the international community to put action behind
their words by establishing an international tribunal.<br><br>
Some other aspects of these meetings are interesting. Diplomats talked
about "peace" 853 times, "reconciliation" 581 times
and "human rights" 279 times.<br><br>
Many delegates mentioned "reconciliation" (often together with
"justice") after the 2006 Crisis and the Secretary-General’s
report on "justice and reconciliation." "Peace" was
popular in December 2007, hopefully to be consolidated (along with
stability) by the newly-elected government. Human rights was popular from
2004 until the Crisis, but has been slowly moving up since the beginning
of 2007.<br><br>
During this period the Security Council enacted 25 Resolutions on
Timor-Leste, although some of them were very brief. The third graph
tabulates how often each Resolution contained these words.<br><br>
La'o Hamutuk encourages others to use our data to further explore the
words and resolutions used in the UN Security Council, and their
implications for Timor-Leste. As we explained in our October 2009
letter to the Council, we feel that it important for the diplomats to
have as complete information as possible. We also believe that the
public, especially the citizens of Timor-Leste and the countries which
are members of the Security Council, need to know what is being said by
and about their Governments.<br><br>
The page includes a table with links to all transcripts of Security
Council meetings and resolutions related to Timor-Leste. It also
has a link to the database used to prepare these graphs, as well as other
resources related to the unfulfilled international obligation to end
impunity for crimes committed during the 24-year illegal Indonesian
occupation of Timor-Leste. <br><br>
<x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
***********************************************************<br>
Charles Scheiner<br>
La'o Hamutuk (The Timor-Leste Institute for Development Monitoring and
Analysis)<br>
P.O. Box 340, Dili, Timor-Leste (East Timor)<br>
Telephone: +670-3325013 or +670-734-0965 mobile<br>
email: cscheiner@igc.org website:
<a href="http://www.laohamutuk.org /" eudora="autourl">
http://www.laohamutuk.org </a> skype:
cscheiner<br><br>
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