Are you going to the U.S. Social Forum in Detroit in June

Hi Folks --

ETAN plans to have a presence at the U.S. Social Forum in Detroit this coming June. We're trying to get an idea of how many folks who already have a relation to ETAN in some way will be in attendance. Can you please email me and let us know if you plan to attend and if you might be able to help ETAN there. Also, if you are planning to attend, please let us know if you're attending as part of an organization or as an individual participant. Finally, we are looking for other groups working on issues in Asia, with whom we might be able to propose joint workshops.

Craig Hughes/ETAN

latest issue of the Lao Hamutuk bulletin is online

The latest issue (February 2010) of the La'o Hamutuk Bulletin is now out. It focuses on land Rights, justice & accountability.

Table of contents:

• Land Justice in Timor-Leste
• Land glossary 
• Transitional Land Law 
• Public consultation on the Land Law 
• Timor-Leste in global action against climate change 
• Donor, oil and other money in Timor-Leste since 1999 
• Justice for Timor-Leste: Unmet international obligation 
• Petition from Liquiçá massacre survivors 
• A decade of Security Council talk about justice 
• La'o Hamutuk letter to the UN Security Council  
• Editorial: Rejecting impunity, moving towards justice

Nelson Mandela and Political Prisoners

Nelson Mandela's former prison cell.

The New York Times has a remembrance from a former Indonesian political prisoner about when he learned of South Africa's Nelson Mandela's release . Twenty years ago, tomorrow Feb. 11, Mandela was released from prison and the democratic transition in South Africa began. The Times published brief reminiscences from seven  former Asian and African political prisoners.

Fadjroel Rachman has been kidnapped as a student leader and spent three years in prison under Suharto, arrested wrote

The news of Mr. Mandela’s release had just come over the radio that stood on a shelf in the canteen for prison guards directly in front of my cell. Tears rolled down my cheeks. Justice and freedom will win here in Indonesia, too, I thought, and I will be free. My people will be free from President Suharto’s military regime.

Mandela later met the imprisoned East Timorese leader Xanana Gusmao in July 1997 and called for his release.

Indonesia still has political prisoners, mostly from West Papua and Maluku jailed for waiving flags. Join  Amnesty International USA's campaign to free Filep Karma and Yusak Pakage.

Filep Karma and Yusak Pakage

TL Groups write UN Security Council on Justice with international support

East Timorese groups, with international support from ETAN and others, have written to the UN Security Council urging the renewed UN mission include the following:

1. Establish a mechanism during the UNMIT mission which will create an International Tribunal.
2. Expand the mandate of the Serious Crimes Investigation Team (SCIT) to include some of the most grievous crimes committed prior to 1999, such as the 1975 invasion, 1983 Kraras Massacre, 1991 Santa Cruz Massacre, and others.
3. Give SCIT the authority and sufficient resources to prepare and publish formal indictments for cases they have investigated. 

 They write

...the current UNMIT mandate only includes investigation processes but not prosecutions, and only covers serious crimes committed in 1999. We are worried that this limited mandate will not end the cycle of impunity in Timor-Leste. We are very concerned that if impunity prevails in Timor-Leste it will nourish impunity in other countries, and all of us who struggle for human rights will not succeed. Therefore, if the United Nations fails to end impunity for past crimes against humanity committed in Timor-Leste, there can be no accountability for ongoing crimes, such as those committed during the 2006 crisis in our country.

 See here for the full letter with signers

Timor-Leste's UN Ambassador fired by Foreign Minister over Burma vote

La'o Hamutuk reports that Timor-Leste's Ambassador to the UN was fired by Foreign Minister Zacarias da Costa, because he voted in favor of a General Assembly resolution on Burma (Myanmar) last December.

Santos had voted in favor of a General Assembly resolution on human rights in Burma (Myanmar) following Timor-Leste's previous policy of supporting this annual resolution.



see more details here