Congratulations to Aderito

Congratulations to Adérito de Jesus Soares. He was sworn in today as Timor-Leste's first Anti-Corruption Commissioner. Adérito served on ETAN's Executive Committee while he was in U.S. studying for a Masters in Law degree at NYU. He has spoken at numerous ETAN-organized events, including a UN press conference on justice and accountability and a congressional briefing. He is a founding board member of La'o Hamutuk.

ETAN wishes him and the East Timorese people well as he takes on his new position.

News reports of the swearing in ceremony can be found here and here.

 

Aderito (right) with ETAN (and La'o Hamutuk's) Charles Scheiner in Dili, September 2009. Photo by John M. Miller/ETAN

Audio: If you leave us here we will die

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A conversation with Geoffrey Robinson - former political affairs officer with the United Nations mission in East Timor (UNAMET) and current history professor at UCLA - talks about his new book with ABC Radio National's Late Night Live host, Phillip Adams. Robinson talks about "the thinking within the UN and the international community at the time," and provides "a vivid personal account of what he witnessed in East Timor. Robinson also addresses the enduring question of how best to seek justice for the crimes of the past."


His new book ""If You Leave Us Here, We Will Die": How Genocide Was Stopped in East Timor" was recently published by Princeton University Press. 

HAK Association on the 'ninja' and the human rights situation in Covalima and Bobonaro

HAK Association on the Human Rights Situation in Covalima and Bobonaro

As an organization that works for human rights, HAK Association is concerned with the situation in Bobonaro and Covalima Districts, especially the population's right to security. HAK considers the reaction of the National Police of Timor-Leste (PNTL) to the "Ninja" group as an obligation of the competent organs of the state to comply with their human rights commitments. To assure that the police response actually is in accordance with the law and human rights principles, HAK sent a monitoring team to observe the human rights situation in the two districts from 31 January to 4 February 2010.

Read full statement here: http://www.etan.org/news/2010/02hak.htm

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