Máirín Quill
Question:20 Miss Quill asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs the steps, if any, Ireland has taken recently in relation to the abuse of human rights in East Timor.
Written Answers. - Human Rights Violations.
Frances Fitzgerald
Question:40 Ms. F. Fitzgerald asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will give a report on the current situation in East Timor and whether the EC Council of Ministers have raised European concerns with the Indonesian Government regarding the gross violations of human rights of the people of East Timor.
Nora Owen
Question:69 Mrs. Owen asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs the current situation in East Timor; and whether the EC Council of Ministers have raised European concerns with the Indonesian Government over the gross violations of human rights of the people of East Timor.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 20, 40 and 69 together. Ireland and our partners in the European Community remain very concerned at the human rights situation in East Timor, which continues to be unsatisfactory. As recently as last March, at the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in Geneva, together with our Community partners, we made known our strong views on the human rights abuses in the territory.
At the same session, Ireland with the other EC member states co-sponsored a strongly worded resolution, adopted by the Commission, which was critical of the human rights situation in East Timor and which urged the government of Indonesia to invite the UN Special Rapporteurs on Torture and on Summary Executions and the UN Working Groups on Arbitrary Detention and on Disappeared Persons to visit East Timor and to facilitate them in their work. Ireland played an active role in Geneva in support of this resolution.
Ireland welcomes and supports the negotiations on the status of East Timor which are taking place at ministerial level between Portugal and Indonesia under the auspices of the UN Secretary-General. The respective Foreign Ministers met in Rome on 21 April under the auspices of the Secretary General and have agreed to meet again in New York on 17 September.