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DATE=9/21/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=EAST TIMOR / HUMAN RIGHTS (L ONLY)
NUMBER=2-254136
BYLINE=LISA SCHLEIN
DATELINE=GENEVA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
            //Eds., PLS MAKE TAPE CONFORM TO TEXT//
INTRO: The United Nations Human Rights Commission 
plans an emergency meeting Thursday to examine charges 
of human rights violations in East Timor.  V-O-A's 
Lisa Schlein reports from Geneva.
TEXT:  The U-N Human Rights spokesman, Jose Dias, says 
the commission will examine a number of reports on 
East Timor.
            //  DIAS ACT//
      The commission will have among other documents 
      the report that the High Commissioner has 
      submitted already on the situation of human 
      rights in East Timor as well as other documents, 
      including the resolution adopted by the  (U-N) 
      Security Council on the deployment of the multi-
      national force.
//END ACT//
In her report, High Commissioner Mary Robinson -- the 
U-N's top human rights official -- denounced what she 
called "a deliberate, vicious, and systematic campaign 
of gross violations of human rights" in East Timor 
following the territory's overwhelming vote in favor 
of independence.
Diplomats say the commission is expected to approve a 
resolution condemning human rights violations in East 
Timor and calling for those responsible to be brought 
to justice.  The diplomats say Western countries may 
try to get the commission to set up an international 
inquiry into war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Portugal -- the colonial power in East Timor until 24 
years ago -- requested the special meeting of the 
Human Rights Commission.
The Portuguese request was supported by High 
Commissioner Robinson, who has condemned killings and 
forced deportations of East Timorese by anti-
independence militias and Indonesian security forces.
A simple majority of 27 of the commission's 53 member 
countries was needed to call the special meeting.  
Spokesman Dias says that after a procedural wrangle, 
28 countries voted in favor, with 15 against and two 
"non-committal" responses.
This is only the fourth time the U-N Human Rights 
Commission has met in special session in its 50-year 
history.  
Two previous emergency meetings were held in 1992 and 
1993 on the wars in the former Yugoslavia and a third 
was held in 1994 to discuss the genocide in Rwanda.  
(Signed)
NEB/LS/JWH/JP
21-Sep-1999 11:10 AM EDT (21-Sep-1999 1510 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
.