|
JAKARTA, Dec. 21 (Xinhuanet) -- Indonesia and its former province East Timor
are set to reject an idea to establish a commission of experts to review the
judicial processes of human rights abuse cases involving Indonesian military and
police officers, an Indonesian official has said.
The message will be conveyed during a meeting with UN Secretary General Kofi
Annan this week, Marty Natalegawa, spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, was quoted Tuesday by The Jakarta Post newspaper as saying.
Indonesian Minister for Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda left for New York
late Sunday for talks with Annan.
Hassan and his East Timorese counterpart Jose Ramos Horta will jointly meet
with Annan some time this week.
The two ministers will share their views on the formation of commission of
experts, which was proposed by the UN to focus on alleged human rights abuses in
East Timor, Marty said.
"In this connection, together with Foreign Minister (East Timor's) Horta,
Hassan is expected to brief Annan regarding the two countries' views on how best
to address the issue of alleged violations of human rights in East Timor and how
to promote friendship between the two countries," he said.
The UN secretary general proposed the establishment of an international
commission of experts following calls from several non-governmental
organizations, such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, after
Indonesian courts acquitted a number of security and civilian officials.
The commission was aimed at reviewing whether or not judicial processes on
human right violations in East Timor had been properly conducted.
"In principle, we can not accept the idea (of the commission ofexperts) as
it would create new precedents in the judicial processes of sovereign
countries," Marty said.
"The Indonesian government itself can not intervene and conductany
evaluation of our own judiciary, so why we should allow UN to evaluate our
judiciary," he said.
The visit by Ministers Hassan and Horta to New York
follows discussions between the two ministers in Jakarta last Sunday and
bilateral talks between President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and East Timor
President Xanana Gusmao in Bali last week.
Enditem |