DATE=8/3/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=U-N-H-C-R / TIMOR (L-O)
NUMBER=2-265113
BYLINE=LISA SCHLEIN
DATELINE=GENEVA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: The United Nations' top human-rights official,
Mary Robinson, plans to press for stronger human-
rights commitments during a weeklong trip to three
Asian countries. Lisa Schlein in Geneva reports Ms.
Robinson will visit East Timor, Mongolia and South
Korea next week (from August 5th to 11th).
TEXT: U-N human rights spokesman, Jose Dias, says
Mary Robinson is going to East Timor to check on the
human-rights situation. He says she will offer her
help in working with the East Timorese to develop a
society that promotes and protects human rights.
Ms. Robinson last visited the region in the fall of
1999, at the height of the violence that followed a
pro-independence referendum.
During her three-day visit to East Timor, she will
meet with U-N and East Timorese officials including
Xanana Gusmao, head of the National Council of
Timorese Resistance. Mr. Dias says Ms. Robinson will
emphasize the need to create safe conditions for the
return of refugees still in West Timor and elsewhere
in Indonesia.
/// DIAS ACT ///
We need to work with the U-N administration
there, and the East Timorese and Indonesian
authorities, to try to avoid reprisals against
people who come back. Also, to reaffirm the
principle that people who violated the right of
East Timorese right after the popular
consultation last year, and afterwards and even
recently, should be brought to justice.
/// END ACT ///
Mr. Dias says Ms. Robinson is still working with the
Indonesian authorities to set up a court before which
people accused of human-rights violations would be
prosecuted.
The spokesman adds that Ms. Robinson hopes to be able
to go to the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, to meet with
the president, the attorney general and other
officials. Mr. Dias says Ms. Robinson's trip will
allow her to put the spotlight on some very important
issues.
/// 2ND DIAS ACT ///
I think these visits give a further push to the
work that the Office of the High Commissioner is
trying to do, and it brings a lot of attention
to issues that perhaps because of time have
fallen off the agenda. She brings with her the
force of a commitment that she has and
personalizes - the commitment of the United
Nations as a whole to take the process forward.
/// END ACT ///
After East Timor, High Commissioner Robinson will
travel to Ulan Baatar, the capital of Mongolia. She
will meet with senior government officials and open a
sub-regional seminar on ways national parliaments can
work to improve human rights. She will end her Asian
trip in South Korea, where she will meet
representatives of the country's human-rights
community, as well as government officials. (SIGNED)
NEB/LS/WTW/RAE
03-Aug-2000 12:15 PM EDT (03-Aug-2000 1615 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
|
Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list
|
|
|
