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 NEW 7 NOVEMBER 00:
Program News from Dili: sexual
assault workshop, visits to Bacau & Maliana, input on draft legislation, production of video
NSW Deputy State Coroner, Jan Stevenson, has made a wide range of recommendations designed to reinstate a more effective justice system in East
Timor. Ms Stevenson travelled to East Timor in June with Caritas Australia, the Catholic agency for overseas aid and development, as part of the agency’s East
Timor Evidence Collection Training Program. Her report was released in Dili on September 16.
Ms Stevenson’s recommendations include:
• the establishment of a missing persons registry;
• the deployment of properly trained scientific and forensic police in East Timor;
• Australian forensic pathologists to assist with setting up of fully equipped morgue and training of staff, including introduction of ‘nurse pathologists’;
• the introduction of a coronial system incorporating
a registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages;
• the introduction of a mentoring system to aid the development of Timorese judges, defenders and prosecutors;
• improvements to interpreter services.
For more information, see MEDIA RELEASES
Download REPORT
 The second module of our training course on
evidence collection techniques took place in June in Dili (click here to download a report on the training in PDF format). The course notes are
also available for download from this site.
The module included a field visit to the scene of the April 1999 Liquica massacre (photos above and right).
Sponsored by Caritas Australia, the Catholic agency for overseas aid and development, the Evidence Collection Training Program is the first in-country
legal training since the systematic "scorched earth" departure of Indonesia from the territory.
The Program is being attended by over 50 Timorese people eager to establish
a system of justice in East Timor, and will feature lecturers from the University of Newcastle, NSW, as well as the NSW Deputy State Coroner, Ms Jan Stevenson.
The scale of wanton destruction and killing in East Timor unleashed by a combination of Indonesian military and militia after the
successful UN ballot of August 1999 has to be seen to be believed.
Caritas Australia has commenced a project of assisting with the collection of evidence of these horrendous crimes.
The project has as its main priority the provision of training and resources to Timorese organisations that have already started collecting evidence. The training
will help ensure that best practice methods of evidence collection will be utilised. .
 Evidence may be used in court proceedings in East Timor, Indonesia or before
an International Tribunal. Truth and Reconciliation and the historical record will also benefit.
This website is designed to present information, analysis and some evidence collected by a wide range
of participating Timorese non-government organisations on crimes committed in East Timor since the Indonesian invasion, but specifically during the events surrounding
the UN ballot in 1999. It is expected that this website will become a vehicle for Timorese organisations to present their case to the international community.
The site includes a critique of UN action to investigate and prosecute for crimes against humanity.
Any comments and offers of assistance should be made to John
Scott-Murphy, Caritas Australia, email johnsm@caritas.org.au
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