Unfinished Business: The Commission for Reception, Truth, and Reconciliation in East Timor

Abstract

East Timor has emerged as one of the world’s newest nations after a turbulent history comprising 450 years of Portuguese rule followed by civil war, invasion, and twenty-five years of Indonesian occupation characterized by human rights abuses, massacres, and violence. The United Nations (UN) and international non-government organisations (NGOs) have supported significant peace-building efforts, including attention to both justice and reconciliation strategies to promote healing and rebuilding of relationships within communities divided by violence, as well as the establishment of political, economic, and security structures and institutions. The animosities between the different Timorese political factions stemming from the violence in 1974 have continued to affect relationships in the newly independent East Timor. The relationship between East Timor and Indonesia is critical, as the relationship has not only defined the competing ideologies of the different political parties, which emerged following the departure of the Portuguese in 1974, but has continued to divide the Timorese, especially following the post-referendum militia violence in 1999, which was driven by the desire of some groups seeking to maintain ties with Indonesia, albeit in a new system of government that would allow East Timor a measure of regional autonomy. As discussed in Chapter 11, an estimated 2,000 East Timorese were killed while 500,000 civilians were displaced (including 200,000 to 250,000 to West Timor), and hundreds of women were raped.