Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs written question – answered at on 26 February 2002.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the prospect of the alleged perpetrators of violations of human rights and international humanitarian law in East Timor being brought to justice in Indonesia in proceedings which meet international human rights standards before the Ad Hoc Human Rights Court established for that purpose.
While there has been good progress in East Timor in bringing to account those who committed crimes in 1999, progress in Jakarta has been disappointingly slow. However, judges and prosecutors for the Ad Hoc Tribunal have now been appointed and the tribunal is expected to begin hearing cases in March.
While it is important for the tribunal to begin as soon as possible, we will continue to raise our concerns about the jurisdictional limitations of the tribunal with the Indonesian authorities. The question of retroactive prosecutions will be for the tribunal to determine. The judges and prosecutors appointed to the tribunal are professional lawyers.
There is currently no provision for victim/witness protection under Indonesian law. However, it is expected that this will be included in forthcoming legislation.
The embassy in Jakarta will monitor the proceedings of thet tribunal closely.
The Indonesian Government and representatives from the UN Transitional Administration to East Timor (UNTAET) and the East Timorese leadership meet regularly to discuss a range of bilateral issues.
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