The Wire

The violence that occurred during East Timor’s vote for independence from Indonesia in 1999, left more than a thousand people dead and hundreds of thousands displaced. In early 2000, a special UN sponsored ‘human right’s court’ was set up to try key military officials responsible for the massacres. But so far the court has failed to punish any Indonesian official. Last week the court announced it had overturned the convictions of four security officials. This now means that only two people will face jail and both are East Timorese. Despite masses of evidence, some are not even going to trial, including the recent presidential candidate General Wiranto. Human Rights activists are now putting pressure on the UN to set up an international war crimes tribunal to see justice be done. But suprisingly the East Timorese government last week said it would not support an international tribunal. Katherine Field spoke to Deakin University’s senior lecturer in International Relations, Dr Damien Kingsbury, about why no Indonesian officials are being held accountable.