A collection of recent media releases, position-statements, speeches, petitions, reports, and news on the Umbrella agency for East Timorese Non-Government Organisations - FONGTIL.
E-mail: etngocentre@hotmail.com Homepage: http://www.geocities.com/etngoforum/index.html
NEW = Added to BACK DOOR Website since last Monday's Emailout
October
2001 LHB: An International Tribunal for East Timor? Article
added Nov 9
"Consideration should also
be given to the establishment of a consultation committee composed of East
Timorese and international NGOs and other interest groups to facilitate
the transfer of information and views to and from SCU [Serious Crimes Unit],
the Special Panels and defense counsel. To consider post-independence options
for justice, UNTAET should sponsor a meaningful conference that would include
representatives of East Timorese and international NGOs, various sectors
of civil society, and international legal specialists." Jon Cina,
[until recently] Case Manager and Legal Advisor to UNTAET’s
Serious Crimes Unit, [previously] war crimes investigator in Kosovo &
working at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
Oct
24 ET NGOs: Urgent Steps Needed to Establish Justice Letter
added Oct 27
"We urge the United Nations not to leave
East Timor alone with the consequences of the crimes
so terrible that they are characterized as against all humanity. It
is time to take immediate steps to establish an
International Tribunal for East Timor. This is the only mechanism
that could address the current need for justice, the missing element so
far, in the process of nation building for East Timor and worldwide respect
for human dignity." Yayasan HAK; Lao
Hamutuk; FOKUPERS; Bishop
Belo’s Center for Peace and Development Kdadalak Sulimutu Institute (KSI);
Working Group for Electoral Education (KKPP); Judicial
System Monitoring Project (JSMP); East
Timor Student Solidarity Council (ETSC); Student Solidarity Council
of Oe-Cusse; Yayasan Timor Nabilan;
Nove-Nove Survivers Group (Maliana); NGO Forum
Oct
16 Dili Seminar: Justice and Accountability in East Timor
Invitation added Oct 11
"You are invited to attend a one day seminar
on: 'Justice and Accountability in East Timor:
International
Tribunals and other options'. The purpose of the seminar is to discuss
the progress so far regarding prosecution of crimes
against humanity committed in East Timor and where we go from here.
... The seminar will be held at the Canossian Sisters, Becora, Dili, Timor
Lorosa’e. Tuesday 16th October ... Most of the presentations will be in
Tetun or Bahasa Indonesia. An English interpreter will be available." The
NGO Forum; Yayasan HAK; La’o
Hamutuk; Fokupers; Caritas
Australia; Judicial System Monitoring Programme
Sep
8 ETese NGOs write UNHCR to protest planned withdrawal
Letter added Sep 13
" ... we recommend that UNHCR act upon
the following:
* Maintain its current presence in East
Timor until at least June 2002.
* Extend humanitarian assistance to returnees
until at least June 2002, when a further needs assessment can be made.
* Increase co-ordination and co-operation
with both governmental and non-governmental organisations that are currently
assisting refugees in West Timor. This will further
enable UNHCR to fulfil its mandate towards the protection and assistance
of these refugees, while it is not physically present in West Timor.
* Engage in a more comprehensive way with
non-governmental organisations in East Timor currently advocating and working
towards returnees’ reintegration." NGO Forum; Dewan Solidaritas
Mahasiswa TL; Yayasan HAK; FOKUPERS;
Kadalak Sulimutuk Institute; RENETIL;
Jesuit
Refugee Service; Oxfam in East Timor.
July
2001 LHB: Reconstruction & Transition: What are the Next Steps?
Bulletin added July 29
"East Timorese NGOs need to monitor whether
UNTAET/ETTA and donors are actually fulfilling the promises made in Canberra.
One issue that East Timorese NGOs must continue to raise is the need for
an
international tribunal for East Timor. Support for this issue is very
strong. East Timorese NGOs unequivocally support the work of human rights
groups that continue to raise this matter, and will certainly raise it
at the next donors’ meeting in Oslo. For such reasons, we will need to
prepare well between now and December." Arsenio
Bano, Director, East Timor NGO Forum
Bahasa Indonesia:
Jul
12 NGO Forum / Rede Feto: Tokoh Masyarakat Ditahan Lagi Untuk Kekerasan
Rumah Tangga Pernyataan Pers (added Juli
13)
"Kasus ini akan dijadikan preseden untuk
kasus-kasus kekerasan rumah tangga berikutnya dan untuk semua kasus yang
melibatkan pejabat masyarakat tinggi ... Sistem pengadilan kita harus memperlakukan
semua orang dengan cara sama.” Filomena Reis, Staf Advokasi di NGO Forum
Timor Lorosa’e
Jun
15 ET NGO Forum: Economic and Social Development Issues
Comment added June 18
"Such a vision would need to include access
to appropriate education for excluded groups, particularly many children
and adults in rural and remote areas. With 64% of our women unable to read
and write, non-formal education is very important for them. There must
also be guaranteed access to schooling for girls so that education contributes
to more gender equity in our society." Forum Nacional ONG Timor Lorosa'e
/ The East Timor National NGO Forum
Jun
15 ET NGO Forum: Financial Sustainability Comment added
June 18
"NGOs believe that the East Timorese people
must direct their own development, This includes decisions around funding
particularly given that so many difficult decisions will need to be made
on spending priorities. NGOs promote the principle of decentralised and
participatory budget making as detailed by Emilia Pires of the NPDA." Forum
Nacional ONG Timor Lorosa'e / The East Timor National NGO Forum
Jun
15 ET NGO Forum: Political Transition Comment added June
18
"Refugees: We
know that more than 90% are reported to have said they want to stay in
Indonesia. NGOs suggest that there should be an independent evaluation
of the validity of this registration process." Forum Nacional ONG Timor
Lorosa'e / The East Timor National NGO Forum
Jun
15 ET NGO Forum: Administrative Transition Comment added
June 18
"there has to be a
strong focus now on capacity-building. This means international staff
must move into advisory positions with objectives and job descriptions
related to capacity-building. There should be performance indicators established
and monitored to ensure capacity-building is happening. Capacity building
is not just training individuals. It requires building policies and procedures,
and the development of a culture of transparency, accountability, and effectiveness,
including training on gender awareness for public services."
Arsenio
Bano, Executive Director of the ET NGO Forum
Jun
13 ET NGO papers for Donors’ Conference June 2001 Complete
text of Presentation [210 KB] updated June 15
"Includes papers on these topics: Justice
and Human rights; Constitution;
Women
(REDE Statement); Children and Youth;
Education;
Capacity
building; Health;
Agriculture;
Environment;
Water
and Sanitation;
Refugees."
Jun
13 ET NGO: Donors’ Conference: Justice & Human Rights
Paper added June 15
"The only remaining option for the prosecution
of those responsible for human rights violations in East Timor currently
residing Indonesia is to establish an International Ad Hoc Criminal Tribunal.
The tribunal should be established on recommendations from, and according
to terms negotiated by the East Timorese people." Forum Nacional ONG Timor
Lorosa'e
/ The East Timor National NGO Forum
Jun
13 ET NGO: Donors’ Conference: Constitutional Process in East Timor
Paper added June 15
" ... we recommend that there should be
a greater effort to resource the consultation process for the constitution,
and the consultation needs to be extended beyond the elections for the
Constituent Assembly. Without significant change in the timetable, the
new Constitution should only be viewed as an interim Constitution, allowing
more time for broad based input and consultation." Forum Nacional ONG Timor
Lorosa'e / The East Timor National NGO Forum
Jun
13 ET NGO: REDE: Donors’ Conference: Women's Issues in East Timor
Paper added June 15
"All policy making must be done on the
basis of gender mainstreaming. The government must ensure that there is
a mechanism which guarantees the rights of women and gender justice in
operational funds. This must be done in parallel in the allocation of programs
which strengthen civil society and organisations within it which promote
women’s issues so as to ensure the effectiveness of advocacy and measures
to progressively bring about changes in the lives of women." REDE
Feto Timor Lorosa’e (Timorese Women’s Network)
Jun
13 ET NGO: Donors’ Conference: Children & Youth Paper
added June 15
" ... initiatives for children have been
localised and small. The net result is that there is very little service
provision for children now. ... One of the main concerns for NGOs has been
the potential crisis that may occur when the international NGOs pull out.
Some of this has started to occur already. We are concerned that the government
does not appear to have made adequate provision either in terms of planning
or budgets for the large scale central government social care that will
be required." Forum Nacional ONG Timor Lorosa'e / The East Timor National
NGO Forum
Jun
13 ET NGO: Donors’ Conference: Education Paper added June
15
"Education should be seen as the key to
East Timor’s future. ... We believe that it is vital for ETTA and donors
to listen to civil society views about the situation in education at the
point of delivery, so that appropriate strategies can be devised. ... We
believe that the potential for national and international NGOs to contribute
human and financial resources to the education sector has yet to be fully
realized. This is particularly true with the non-formal sector where civil
society organizations have a special contribution to make." Forum Nacional
ONG Timor Lorosa'e / The East Timor National NGO Forum
Jun
13 ET NGO: Donors’ Conference: Capacity Building Paper
added June 15
"Ultimately the challenge to donors now
lies in finding ways to assist the East Timorese to lead their country
into full independence and manage the demands that will bring. The East
Timorese do not want a culture of dependence to develop with donors. Instead
they want donors to work together with leadership within both the government
and non government sectors to build the national human capacity across
the country and across all sectors." Forum Nacional ONG Timor Lorosa'e
/ The East Timor National NGO Forum
Jun
13 ET NGO: Donors’ Conference: Health Paper added June
15
"The pace of transition and the resources
required for an effective transition from the post conflict situation to
the development of a sustainable health system needs to realistic. ...
[East Timorese] NGOs recognise that sufficient time is needed to consolidate
and ensure the transfer of both management and technical skills to East
Timorese both within the DHS employed staff and other civil society organisations."
Forum Nacional ONG Timor Lorosa'e / The East Timor National NGO Forum
Jun
13 ET NGO: Donors’ Conference: Agriculture Paper added
June 15
"Efforts to reconstruct East Timor from
ruins, including rebuilding the agriculture sector, are being made by UNTAET,
ETTA, and national and international NGOs, together with donor countries
and donor institutions such as the World Bank, the
International Monetary Fund and the Asian Development Bank. However,
due to limited human and natural resources and some ineffective management
systems, these efforts have not yet yielded significant results. This is
very disturbing, because a failure to address the pressing needs of the
agricultural sector could eventually lead to social and economic instability
and increased environmental fragility." Forum Nacional ONG Timor Lorosa'e
/ The East Timor National NGO Forum
Jun
13 ET NGO: Donors’ Conference: Environment Paper added
June 15
"Current environmental issues are inextricably
related to environmental management in the previous era. For this reason,
current environmental management cannot be divorced from the need to change
community perspectives, which have become unconsciously caught up in environmentally
damaging ways of exploiting natural resources. ... These challenges require
holistic and multi-sectoral approaches to environmental management, where
environmental issues are viewed as interdependent with other types of issues,
including how policy is formulated." Forum Nacional ONG Timor Lorosa'e
/ The East Timor National NGO Forum
Jun
13 ET W&S NGOs: Donors’ Conference: Water & Sanitation
Paper added June 15
"Water and sanitation provision across
East Timor is still a right denied to many. An immediate manifestation
of this fact is the compromised health of communities due to both a lack
of water and the range of water-born diseases that are making an impact.
On a lifestyle level, the absence of a water distribution system is absorbed
almost exclusively by the labour of women and children,
as they are the ones who must carry water over long distances." East
Timorese National water and sanitation (W&S) NGOs
Jun
13 ET NGO: Donors’ Conference: Refugees Paper added June
15
""There are still tens of thousands of
East Timorese who fled across the border to West Timor in September 1999
and who are still waiting in the camps until they think it safe to return
to East Timor. Those of greatest concern to the NGO Forum are those who
fled from violence and crossed the border by force or in confusion. ...
it is an injustice that these persons are being denied the right to participate
in the East Timor election of 30 August 2001" Forum Nacional ONG Timor
Lorosa'e / The East Timor National NGO Forum
Jun
13 ETNGO Forum: The voice of Civil Society calls the Donors
Statement added June 14
"Following consultation amongst the NGOs
in East Timor, the following are the key issues that national and international
NGO’s wish to draw to the attention of international donors:
1. Timeframe For Transition; 2. International
Tribunal; 3. Capacity Building As A Priority; 4. Involvement Of A Broad
Sector Of Timorese Society; 5. Monitoring And Transparency Of Reconstruction
Process; 6. East Timorese Must Direct Their Own Development." Forum Nacional
ONG Timor Lorosa'e / The East Timor National NGO Forum
Jun
7 ETNGO Forum: Donors Meeting must be for Rural People
Release added June 14
“It is crucial that those attending this
meeting do not merely discuss the political and administrative transition,
but also consider how rural communities can benefit from donor grants,”
Arsenio
Bano, Executive Director, Forum Nacional ONG Timor Lorosa'e / The East
Timor National NGO Forum
May
14 LH: NGO Forum declines to join UNTAET Constitutional Process
Letter added May 16
"The NGO Forum has chosen to coordinate
with, but remain independent of, the UNTAET Constitution building process
because of strong concerns that UNTAET’s process is rushed and highly inadequate."
Lao
Hamutuk, East Timor Institute for Reconstruction Monitoring and Analysis
Apr
25 NGO Forum: Expression of Concern at Xanana’s Statement regarding an
International Tribunal Press Release from ETimor updated
May 16
"The NGO Forum regards an International
Tribunal as an option that needs to be seriously considered given that
to date Indonesia has not made any progress in investigating human rights
offences committed by the Indonesian military in East Timor." Forum Nacional
ONG Timor Lorosa'e / The East Timor National NGO Forum
"If an international court is not a priority
for resolving war crimes cases in East Timor, what other court is able
to ensure that the war criminals concerned do not just walk free?” Arsenio
Bano, Executive Director of the NGO Forum
Mar
28 LH: Sexton: Update on ET NGO Forum: Rushed Constitutional Process
Letter & News
"As you have likely already seen, things
are moving very quickly on this issue, and not in the direction we had
hoped. ... With the news of the defeat in yesterday’s NC vote, the working
group is trying to think strategically about where we can go from here.
Unfortunately, there seems to be little room to argue alternatives." Pamela
Sexton, La'o Hamutuk: The East Timor Institute
for Reconstruction Monitoring and Analysis
Mar
22 LH: ET NGO Forum: Rushed constitutional process Request
& Letter
"The [East Timorese] NGOs
are demanding the establishment of a mechanism for thorough consultation
throughout East Timor on the constitution, and for adequate time and resources
to be allotted for this critical process. Clearly, this process is a crucial
step in East Timor's struggle for self-determination. We ask for your immediate
assistance in lobbying the UN Security Council through your national governments
and in passing this letter to others." Pamela Sexton, La'o
Hamutuk: The East Timor Institute for Reconstruction Monitoring and Analysis
English and Bahasa
Indonesia:
Mar
13 E.Timor NGOs protest police predictions of violence
Letter & Commentary added Mar 17
"On February 8, and Australian news article
interviewed the civpol Commander of Operations in East Timor who predicted
violence
as the election process progresses, basing
it on myths of East Timor having little experience with democracy and a
culture of
violence. After a phone conversation in
which the Commander confirmed that the interview does reflect his opinions,
a coalition of East Timorese NGOs wrote him a letter on 17 February. As
there has been no response to the letter for three weeks, the NGOs
have decided to release the letter to
the public and the media." Charles Scheiner, International
Federation for East Timor
Bahasa Indonesia:
Feb
17 ETNGOs: Pimpinan Operasi Civpol UNTAET Letter added
Mar 17
"Kami memahami bahwa anda memiliki berbagai
kekuatan, dengan berbagai pelatihan, pengalaman, bahasa, dan latar belakang
budaya, yang membuat semua itu menjadi penting bagi kepemimpinan Civpol
mengusahakan informasi yang akurat yang merefleksikan masyarakat Timor
Loro Sa’e dan mendorong suatu hubungan yang baik dengannya. Mengembangkan
suatu ide secara meluas bahwa kini orang Timor Loro Sa’e tidak mampu memecakan
perselisihan secara damai merupakan sesuatu yang keliru dan berbahaya."
La’o
Hamutuk, Yayasan HAK, Center
for Popular Economic Development,
Sa’he
Institute for Liberation, NGO Forum, Organizacao Juventude de Timor
Loro Sae,
Klinika PAS, Fokupers
Jan
31 NGO Forum Statement to NC And UNTAET Statement added
Feb 1
"The National NGO Forum of East Timor
is seriously concerned with the decision-making processes in the National
Council (NC) of East Timor. The decision regarding the East Timor Defence
Force (ETDF), in which the National Council did not have enough time to
study the regulation and consult with the communities and groups that they
represent, is disturbing." Forum Nacional ONG Timor Lorosa'e / The East
Timor National NGO Forum
Dec
5 2000 FONGTIL: First East Timorese NGO Forum AGM Added
Dec 6
"[The Vision of the Forum is] To contribute to the building of a pluralist,
democratic, just and sustainable East Timor through the development of
a strong, independent and responsible civil society committed to upholding
and making real in the daily life of the community both village, and urban,
the full range of human rights that all East Timorese, particularly the
poor and disadvantaged, can enjoy the fruits of liberation and development
in East Timor forever free." Forum Nacional
ONG Timor Lorosa'e / The East Timor National NGO Forum
Tetum:
Novembro
2000 BLH: Hari Sistema Saude Nasional iha Timor Lorosa’e
Overview added Nov 1 2001
"Ema barak
nebe iha interse maka’as atu evolve sistema saudi nian fo kritika bar-barak
kona ba dejenvolvimentu iha aspektu ida ne’e. Kritiku nebe ema barak hatene
(Common) mak kona ba konsultasaun nebe ladun
to’o ho populasaun lokal, ONG internasional no partner lokal sira
nebe involve iha sektor saudi. Nune’e mos ema barak ladun fiar katak fundu
la dun adekuadu atu bele fo garantia ba standar saudi minimu no sustainabilidadi
praju-naruk em termus provisaun servisu
saudi nian. Iha linha nebe hanesan iha mos concerns
kona ba sasan tekniku nebe la to’o iha fatin atu hala’o treinu ba.
... Konstrusaun ba facilidadi saudi nian nudar area ida nebe kompanhia
lokal sira potensialmente bele partisipa. Maibe tamba Banku
Mundial ho DHS rekere standar nebe as teb-tebes ba kontrator sira,
no aceita de’it tawaran kontrak ba grupu hosi klinika lima, ida ne’e la
dun fo fiar katak timor oan sira nebe halo bisnis (ONG lokal ka internasional)
sei simu kontratu ruma. Atu kaer projektu hirak ne’e precija kapital no
kapacidadi nebe boot teb-tebes). Resultadu nebe ita bele hetan hosi ne’e
mak osan tokon ba tokon sei ba para hotu iha malae
sira nia liman. Osan sira ne’e sei la hela iha Timor atu ajuda hodi
hametin ekonomia lokal." La’o
Hamutuk, Instituto Timor Lorosa’e ba Analiza no Monitoring Reconstrucao
Nov
13 2000 The East Timorese NGO Forum: Meeting with UN Security Council
"Is UNTAET committed to the participation
of East Timorese civil society or only to consultation in the performance
of the mandate?
The National Council is not a democratically
elected parliament. UNTAET should not treat it as such. Until there is
a democratically elected Congress, UNTAET must make greater efforts to
ensure the participation of interested East Timorese groups in the law
and policy making processes. The recent budget processes in the National
Council with minimal public hearings and inadequate publication of documentary
materials highlights the lack of transparency in the law and policy process.
While welcoming the mandate, the NGO Forum urges UNTAET to decentralize
in its attempts to fulfill its mandate." Forum Nacional ONG Timor Lorosa'e
/ The East Timor National NGO Forum