What does Timor-Leste need after UNMIT?

RSVP on Facebook

Adapted from http://laohamutuk.blogspot.com/2012/10/public-mtg-what-does-tl-need-after-unmit.html

Tetum iha kraik.  You can download this invitation in English and Tetum from http://www.laohamutuk.org/reports/UN/KonviteEnkPub23Oct2012.pdf .
 
La’o Hamutuk Public Meeting
What does Timor-Leste need from the International Community after UNMIT’s mandate ends?

Tuesday 23 October 2012.    9:00 am - 1:00 pm
Dili University (UNDIL), Mascarenhas, Dili
Uphill from the Alola Foundation, across from the former CNE office

La’o Hamutuk invites the public to participate in a discussion about the mandate of UNMIT in Timor-Leste which will finish this December.

During the mandates of the UN in Timor-Leste since 1999, UN assistance has helped achieve some good results, such as the creation of a democratic state under rule of law, with peace and security. Unfortunately UNMIT has not yet implemented some important commitments, including ending impunity for crimes against humanity committed during the Indonesian occupation. In addition, the UN and the State of Timor-Leste have not yet chosen a sustainable and inclusive development path.

The people of Timor-Leste, together with our leaders, must take responsibility for these gaps after UNMIT leaves.

Speakers: 

• Deputy Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General, Shigeru Mochida: Reflections on the successes of UN missions in Timor-Leste and what remains to be achieved 
• RDTL Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Luis Guterres: Reflections on hopes for what the UN Missions were not able to do during their time in Timór-Leste 
• Representative, ETAN, Jill Sternberg: International solidarity from ETAN now and in the future after UNMIT ends 
• Director, Fundasaun Mahein, Nelson Belo: The Security Sector after UNMIT’s mandate finishes 
• Researcher, La’o Hamutuk, Inês Martins: Sustainable development after UNMIT finishes 

This public meeting will be in Tetum and English. We are grateful for your attention and participation.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Enkontru públiku La’o Hamutuk nian
Saida mak Timór-Leste presiza husi Komunidade Internasionál hafoin mandatu UNMIT remata?
Tersa feira 23 Outubru 2012,  tuku 09:00 dadeer to’o 01:00 lokraik
Fatin: Universidade Dili (UNDIL) Maskariñas, Dili
Fundasaun Alola nia leten ba, Ex. Edifísiu CNE nia oin

La’o Hamutuk konvida públiku atu mai partisipa diskusaun relasiona ho mandatu UNMIT iha Timór-Leste nia ne’ebé sei remata iha fulan Dezembru tinan ida ne’e.

Durante mandatu Nasoins Unidas iha Timór-Leste dezde 1999, ONU nia asisténsia ajuda atinje rezultadu balu di’ak, hanesan kriasaun estadu direitu demokrátiku, ho dame no seguransa. Infelizmente, UNMIT seidauk implementa kompromisu importante balun, inklui hakotu impunidade husi krime kontra umanidade ne’ebé akontese durante okupasaun Indonézia. Ida seluk, UN no estadu Timór-Leste seidauk hili polítika ba dezenvolvimentu ho diresaun ida ne’ebé sustentável no inklusivu.

Lakuna hirak ne’e povu Timór-Leste hamutuk ho nia ukun na’in sira mak tenke simu responsabilidade hafoin UNMIT sai.

Oradór sira:

• Vice-Reprezentante Espesiál Sekretáriu Jerál ONU, Shigeru Mochida: Reflesaun kona ba susesu ne’ebé Misaun ONU halo iha Timór-Leste no saida mak seidauk atinje 
• Ministru Negósiu Estranjeiru, RDTL nian José Luis Guterres: Reflesaun kona ba esperansa ba buat ne’ebé misaun ONU la konsege halo durante nia misaun iha Timór-Leste 
• Reprezentante ETAN, Jill Sternberg: Solidariedade Internasionál husi ETAN agora no ba futuru hafoin UNMIT remata 
• Diretór Fundasaun Mahein, Nelson Belo: Analiza setór seguransa hafoin mandatu UNMIT remata 
• Peskizadór La’o Hamutuk, Inês Martins: Dezenvolvimentu sustentável hafoin misaun UNMIT remata 

Enkontru públiku ne’e la’o iha lian Tetum no Inglés. Mak ne’e de’it ami nia konvite ba ita boot sira nia atensaun no partisipasaun la haluha hato’o obrigadu barak.

ETAN Volunteers Support Timor-Leste Groups Electoral Work

from http://etan.org/news/2012/07elections.htm

ETAN Volunteers Support Timor-Leste Groups Electoral Work

Dili, July 3, 2012 – Tomorrow is the last day of campaigning for Timor-Leste’s Parliamentary Election. The vote will be held on Saturday, July 7, and, by law, campaigning ceases for two full days before voters go to the polls.

It’s been a noisy day in the office of La’o Hamutuk (“Walking Together,” Timor-Leste Institute for Development Monitoring and Research), where an ETAN volunteer is preparing to accompany one of the group's staff as she returns to her home district to vote over the weekend, as well as to observe the election in that district. La’o Hamutuk is on a main Dili thoroughfare, and banner-covered trucks filled with chanting party members and sympathizers, roaring motorcycle caravans, cars with amplified music and loudspeaker campaign slogans, and police vehicles with sirens blaring have passed by regularly throughout the day.

La’o Hamutuk offered a briefing this morning for international media and election observers, to provide background on key development and other issues that the new government will face in the next five years, Presenters had to stop speaking periodically, until a noisy campaign parade had passed.

Photo by John M. Miller/ETAN

In addition to La’o Hamutuk, ETAN volunteers are assisting the electoral work of two other local NGOs: Fundasaun Mahein (monitoring, research and advocacy on the security sector) and Asosiasaun HAK (Association for Law, Human Rights, Justice). Hailing from Australia, France, Uganda and the U.S., the volunteers are attending and reporting on campaign events, receiving briefings on electoral monitoring from STAE (the Technical Secretariat for Electoral Administration), and will join NGO staff as they observe voting and counting throughout the country, bringing the particular questions and objectives of each organization to the observation process. 

From this observer’s perspective, it’s been a “quiet” campaign thus far (notwithstanding the street noise!). While the public media report how well-prepared the country’s police and security forces are to confront and contain any conflict, the people of Timor-Leste do not appear poised for violence. We are regularly reminded here that the United Nations security force will be withdrawing from Timor-Leste at the end of the year - if this election goes well, that is, without significant conflict. Yet conflict seems less on people’s minds than the real issues of survival: employment, sustainable development, education, health care, land rights. Whether and how the next government will move forward on these fronts seem a far more immediate and substantial matters than whether the elections will be marred by mayhem.

La’o Hamutuk reminded us this morning that an election is more than the mechanics of voting, and democracy does not lie only in a free, fare and transparent ballot. Rather, the election is the people’s opportunity to choose the leaders who will determine the direction the country takes over the next five years: whose leadership will – or will not – respond to the Timorese people’s aspirations to vastly improve their lives.

-- Elice Higginbotham