UN recommends prosecutions for East Timor crimes

Phil Goff

A United Nations report on the prosecution of serious crimes committed in East Timor in 1999 has made several recommendations to ensure those responsible are held to account, Foreign Affairs Minister Phil Goff said today.

New Zealand had argued there should be credible justice for crimes committed in East Timor in 1999 and had supported the work of the UN Commission of Experts, Mr Goff said.

"I encourage Indonesia and East Timor to respond positively to the full range of recommendations in the report," he said.

The three-member commission - made up of members from Japan, India and Fiji - made several recommendations in the report commissioned by UN secretary-general Kofi Annan.

These included that:

* Indonesia strengthen its judicial and prosecutorial capacity by receiving advice from a team of international justice and legal experts, preferably from Asia.

* Indonesia's attorney-general's office review its prosecutions and re-open some as appropriate;

* If the recommendations are not implemented within six months, the UN Security Council adopt a resolution to create an ad hoc criminal tribunal for East Timor, to be located in a third state.

The UN report contained recommendations that related to the Truth and Friendship Commission, which had been set up by the governments of East Timor and Indonesia and would soon begin its work, Mr Goff said.

"This includes the need for this body not to extend amnesty to those responsible for gross violations of human rights."

- NZPA