BACK DOOR Newsletter on East Timor      home    March news
Background: Jan 20 ETO: Refugees: How many? How many want to return to East Timor?  Report
"The Indonesian authorities are keen to see redeployment of international relief agencies, but Jakarta’s inability to deal with the militias is an indication that certain sectors are prepared to support them or tolerate them as long as the refugees are a source of some benefit to them. The victims should not be forgotten!" East Timor Observatory

Portuguese: Jan 20 OTL: Refugiados: Quantos são? Quantos querem voltar para Timor Leste?  Report
"As autoridades indonésias querem o regresso das agências internacionais, mas a sua incapacidade em resolver o problema das milícias mostra que há sectores que as apoiam, ou as toleram, enquanto os refugiados lhes trouxerem benefícios. Não se deveriam esquecer as vítimas." Observatório Timor Leste

"The refugees in the camps are suffering great hunger. They have had no support from local aid groups since January and from international agencies since September last year, when they withdrew following the killing of UNHCR personnel by militias,” Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) West Timor

Source: Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS)

Date: 22 Mar 2001

JRS Dispatches No. 89

REFUGEE NEWS BRIEFINGS

WEST TIMOR: REFUGEES GOING HUNGRY

The East Timorese refugees in camps in West Timor are going hungry. The refugees have been without aid since January, when the government of Indonesia (GOI) last distributed food. “The refugees in the camps are suffering great hunger. They have had no support from local aid groups since January and from international agencies since September last year, when they withdrew following the killing of UNHCR personnel by militias,” reported JRS West Timor on 19 March.

“We are dying, it would be better to live in prison than to endure this great suffering day after day,” said one of the refugees. The local government of the East Nusa Tenggara province loaned 465 tons of rice to refugees in Kupang, after coordinators of three refugee camps in the region complained to officials of the province today. “We are trying to push the central government to give aid to the refugees as soon as possible, but we cannot promise anything, except the probability,” said the head official of the province, Dr Husein Pankraitus, adding that the rice would be delivered on 20 March. Muhajir de Hornay, coordinator of Noelbaki refugee camp, said that this week, three people died in his house. “I cannot go home and say I am not strong enough to see the tears of old men in front of me,” he said.

The refugees may soon have the assistance of UNHCR once again as the Indonesia director of the UN agency said a return to Atambua was in the pipeline pending the result of a security assessment. UNHCR estimates that the number of East Timorese refugees left in Indonesia is now around 50,000.

(for more details, see the Timor alert on http://www.jesref.org/inf/alert/tplatest.htm from 23 March)

JRS DISPATCHES is from the International Office of Jesuit Refugee Service,
CP 6139, 00195 Roma Prati, Italy.
Tel: +39-06 689.77.391; Fax: +39-06 687.92.83;
Email: dispatches@jesref.org; JRS on-line: http://www.jesref.org;
Publisher: Lluis Magrina SJ; Editor: Danielle Vella; Translation: Edith Castel (French), JRS Centro Astalli (Italian), Gonzalo Sanchez-Teran (Spanish)
Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS): To accompany, To serve, To advocate
The JRS is an international Catholic organisation, at work in over 40 countries, including East Timor and Indonesia, with a mission is to accompany, serve and defend the rights of refugees and forcibly displaced people. The mission given to JRS embraces all who are driven from their homes by conflict, humanitarian disaster or violation of human rights, following Catholic social teaching which applies the expression ‘de facto refugee’ to many related categories of people. The purpose of JRS is intimately connected with the mission of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), namely to promote the justice of God’s Kingdom, in dialogue with cultures and religions.
International: CP 6139, 00195 Roma Prati, Italy. Tel: +39-06 689.77.391; Fax: +39-06 687.92.83; Email: international@jesref.org
Asia Pacific: Tel: +66 - 2 279 1817; Tel: +66 - 2 278 4182; Fax: +66 - 2 271 3632 Email: asia.pacific@jesref.org
Contact JRS contact person in the country where you live. The JRS International office also provides an information service. Homepage: http://www.jesref.org  Timor alerts: http://www.jesref.org/inf/alert/tplatest.htm

Spanish:
El Servicio Jesuita a Refugiados (JRS): Accompañar, Servir, Defender
El Servicio Jesuita a Refugiados es una organización católica internacional que trabaja en más de 40 países, con la misión de acompañar, servir y defender los derechos de los refugiados y desplazados forzosos. La misión confiada a JRS comprende a todos los que han sido apartados de sus hogares por los conflictos, los desastres humanitarios o las violaciones de los derechos humanos, de acuerdo con la enseñanza social católica que define como refugiado “de facto” a múltiples categorías de personas. La razón de ser de JRS está íntimamente liada a la misión de la Sociedad de Jesús (Jesuitas), a saber, el promocionar la justicia del Reino de Dios en diálogo con otras culturas y religiones.
International: CP 6139, 00195 Roma Prati, Italy. Tel: +39-06 689.77.391; Fax: +39-06 687.92.83; Email: international@jesref.org
Asia Pacific: Tel: +66 - 2 279 1817; Tel: +66 - 2 278 4182; Fax: +66 - 2 271 3632 Email: asia.pacific@jesref.org
Para pedir información sobre JRS, diríjase a la persona de contacto del Servicio Jesuita a Refugiados en su país de residencia. La oficina internacional de JRS también tiene un servicio de información. URL: http://www.jesref.org

BACK DOOR Newsletter on East Timor      home    March news
Website: http://www.pcug.org.au/~wildwood  Email: wildwood@pcug.org.au
Snail mail: BACK DOOR, GPO Box 59, Canberra City, ACT 2601, Australia