Written question asked by Lord Foster of Bath (Liberal Democrat) on Monday, 17 July 2006, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 19 July 2006. It was answered by Ian McCartney (Labour) on Monday, 24 July 2006 on behalf of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

East Timor

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the answer of 4 July 2006, Official Report, column 931W, on East Timor, what assessment she has made of whether acts of violence in Timor-Leste in 1999 (a) constituted crimes against humanity, (b) were planned by the Indonesian military and (c) were undertaken in opposition to the US mission sanctioned by Indonesia.

Answer: We have no record of any independent detailed assessment of these issues. However, the UN-established serious crimes unit was mandated to investigate crimes against humanity and other serious crimes committed in East Timor in 1999 and issued a number of indictments against people who were serving in the Indonesian military at that time. A parallel process, the Commission for Reception, Reconciliation and Truth (CAVR) was set up by East Timor to look at less serious offences. The CAVR report found that human rights abuses were committed by Indonesian security forces. These human rights abuses were clearly contrary to the aims of the UN Mission to East Timor.

Secondary information