Indonesia: U.N. Adopts HRW Call for East Timor Commission

In conjunction with a coalition of nongovernmental organizations, Human Rights Watch successfully convinced the United Nations to create a commission to investigate the prosecution of Indonesian officials accused of committing crimes against the people of East Timor in 1999. In September 1999, Indonesian Armed Forces and Timorese militias embarked on a campaign of murder, arson, and forced expulsion after East Timorese civilians voted for independence from Indonesia. Since that time, the Indonesian government has created sham criminal trials to acquit or overturn the convictions of every single Indonesian official indicted for crimes related to the violence. We have repeatedly called for an independent U.N. investigative commissionto bring justice and accountability to the people of East Timor.