Timor-Leste, 2007

As I address

this body, may I seize this opportunity to extend to

Mr. Kerim my sincere and warm congratulations on his

well-deserved election to preside over the sixty-second

session of the General Assembly.

In view of the constraints of time and in

deference to all, I shall take no more than 10 minutes

to share some facts and reflections on the situation in

my country, as well as on select issues of regional and

international concern.

Timor-Leste is encouraged by Secretary-

General’s organization of the high-level event on

climate change, to be followed by negotiations on the

United Nations Framework Convention in Bali. The

industrialized countries of the North bear enormous

responsibility for the damage done to our fragile

ecosystems. They, more than anyone else, must reverse

the course and lead the effort to save the Earth.

However, we in the developing world cannot escape

our own responsibilities. The demographic explosion

and our own efforts to catch up with the rich North all

contribute to the pressures on our lands, forests, rivers,

lakes and oceans. Let us therefore set rhetoric aside

and work as one to redress the enormous damage we

have done to the common home of humankind.

As to the political situation in Timor Leste, in

April and May 2006, less than five years after my

country’s accession to full independence, we were

plunged into our first major crisis. The then President

of the Republic, the Speaker of the National Parliament

and the Prime Minister jointly agreed to seek the

United Nations urgent assistance and the rapid

intervention of friendly countries. I wish to reiterate

here our sincere gratitude to those who came to our

assistance in that time of need. We are forever grateful

to Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand, as well as to

Portugal, which dispatched a fully equipped company

of its elite force, the National Republican Guard. The

Security Council approved the deployment of an

integrated mission, the United Nations Integrated

Mission in Timor-Leste (UNMIT), with a police

component of 1,740 police. The deployment of the

United Nations police contingent was understandably

extremely slow, and the projected force was complete

only in January 2007.

We have made significant progress since the dark

weeks of April and May 2006. Presidential and

legislative elections were held between April and June

2007. The election campaign period was mostly free of

violence and there were few reported irregularities.

Though we are proud that the two elections were

managed by our own agencies, we also acknowledge

that the active support of UNMIT and other United

Nations agencies, including the United Nations

Development Programme, were indispensable and

crucial to enable us to undertake such a complex task.

While the result of the presidential election was

warmly welcomed by all, including the defeated

candidate, the same did not happen when a new

Government was announced following the 30 June

legislative election. FRETILIN, the former ruling

party, won most votes, but not enough to govern on its

own; after several weeks of lobbying, it failed to forge

a coalition to govern. A post-election four-party

parliamentary alliance opposed to FRETILIN secured

37 seats in the new Parliament of 65 seats, was invited

to form a Government. There was violence in a number

of locations in which local law enforcement elements

were implicated, but the swift intervention of the

United Nations police and the International

Stabilization Force (ISF) succeeded in quickly

controlling the situation. Our own defence force played

a constructive role in helping to defuse the violence. I

also acknowledge the role played by the FRETILIN

leadership in restraining its more passionate followers.

Law and order have been restored. However, the

relative tranquillity prevailing in the country is

precarious and due in large measure to the effective

role played by United Nations police, ISF and our own

defence force. That will remain the case until such time

as our police force has been reconstructed and turned

into a credible and effective force. That will take two

to five years at a minimum. I wish to assure all that, in

the meantime, the East Timorese will pursue national

dialogue so that we can reconcile and heal the wounds

of the past.

As to the social situation in Timor Leste, the 2006

crisis caused widespread looting and destruction in the

capital. More than 30 people died, more than 100 were

wounded, and tens of thousands were displaced. We are

slowly recovering. However, tens of thousands of

people remain in precarious camps in the capital and

elsewhere. I thank the international community, the

United Nations and its agencies, the International

Organization for Migration, and international

non-governmental organizations for their generous and

prompt assistance. The new Government has pledged

to cooperate with all to address the situation of

internally displaced persons.

Last year’s late rains, floods and a locust plague

have caused significant damage to our subsistence

agriculture sector. As a result, an acute food shortage is

foreseen in the coming months. The Government is

planning to purchase significant amounts of food items

in the regional markets to make up for the food

shortage.

Endowed with some oil and gas resources, Timor-

Leste cannot complain of not having enough financial

means to turn our economy around and lift the living

standards of our people. According to a recent report of

the Asian Development Bank, Timor-Leste’s economy

will see a strong 22-per-cent growth this year due to

our oil revenues.

However, all this is not enough to improve the

living standards of the people. The vast majority of the

people who have been poor for centuries should not

wait. I have pledged to be the President of the poor and

I intend to be their best advocate. I am establishing a

fast-track mechanism under my personal leadership to

provide direct assistance to individuals, groups or rural

communities. The idea is that it should take no more

than 10 working days for a decision to be made on a

project and for the first instalment of a grant to be

disbursed. Coupled with public investments in

infrastructure roads, bridges, port and airport and

in the agriculture sector, Timor-Leste should see, in the

medium term, a significant reduction of unemployment

and a decrease in poverty levels.

Regarding the presence of the United Nations, we

are cognizant of the fact that the international

community faces a number of critical situations around

the world in the Middle East, Somalia, the Sudan-

Darfur, Iraq and Afghanistan, to mention but a few

that are far more serious than the situation in my

country and that may be of greater strategic importance

and have greater implications for regional and world

peace. We hope that as the situation progresses, the

Peacebuilding Commission will consider placing

Timor-Leste on its agenda as a follow-up to UNMIT.

I now turn to the issues of human rights, the rule

of law and justice. At the time that sovereignty was

transferred to the people of Timor-Leste, in May 2002,

what existed was no more than the sketch the

idea of a modern, democratic State. We had to build

our country from scratch. While we failed in many

areas, we succeeded in others. We have succeeded in

not abandoning our deep commitment to our human

rights and the rule of law. Timor-Leste stands among

the very few that have ratified all seven core human

rights treaties.

Timor-Leste seeks a seat on the Human Rights

Council for the term 2008-2011, and we are

particularly pleased and grateful that many countries

have so far expressed support for our candidacy. I wish

to assure everyone that as a member of the Council,

Timor-Leste will favour dialogue on human rights

situations and will accord priority to strengthening

thematic procedures, promoting the ratification of

existing human rights treaties and strengthening

national and regional human rights mechanisms.

Next, I shall discuss the Truth and Friendship

Commission. In August 2005, the Presidents of Timor-

Leste and Indonesia inaugurated a forward-looking

policy and mechanism of truth-finding as a means to

address the violence of 1999, when the two countries

parted ways. While there were some calls for the

establishment of an ad hoc international tribunal to try

those responsible for the 1999 violence, the leaders of

the two countries opted instead for a binational version

of the South African truth and reconciliation process.

That was a novel and unique approach to redressing the

wrongs of the past, although, being untested, it

provoked much criticism and opposition in certain

quarters.

With regard to international and regional

relations, we are expanding and consolidating our

relations with the region and the rest of the world. We

are an active member of the Association of Southeast

Asian Nations (ASEAN) Regional Forum and are

working towards full membership in ASEAN. We are

an active observer in the Pacific Islands Forum and a

member of the Comunidade dos países de Lingua

Portuguesa (CPLD).

I shall now turn to some international issues of

concern to Timor-Leste. With regard to the situation in

Myanmar, I wish to say that, as a country of the region,

Timor-Leste is following the developments there with

deep concern and disappointment. As human beings

and friends, we are distressed at the deteriorating

social, humanitarian and political conditions in that

neighbouring country. The leaders of Myanmar must

not continue to hold Nobel Peace Prize laureate Daw

Aung San Suu Kyi and the entire nation hostage to a

mindset that belongs to the cold war and to policies

that have brought international opprobrium and

economic ruin to a country endowed with vast natural

resources and a very proud people.

With regard to nuclear proliferation, Timor-Leste

commends the six-party talks on North Korea, which

have achieved some modest positive results in inducing

that country to reverse its nuclear-weapons capability.

That modest success shows that patient diplomacy can

make progress on even the most intractable conflicts

when the parties involved identify common concern

and interest.

On the other hand, Timor-Leste is deeply

concerned about the climate of mistrust and

confrontation regarding the situation in Iran. Iran is

entitled to explore all peaceful means to acquire

technology that would make it less reliant on

non-renewable sources of energy. No one denies that

Iran or any other nation has that right. However, Iran

must do more to cooperate fully with the International

Atomic Energy Agency and to reassure its neighbours

and the rest of the world that it is not seeking to

acquire nuclear-weapons capability.

Asia is the most nuclearized region of the world.

I do not know that we should be proud of such a status.

Mutually assured destruction MAD is indeed

madness, as the acronym itself suggests. Our scientists

have developed Frankenstein’s monsters that may well

destroy us all either by design, if the weapons fall

into the hands of non-State actors, or by accident.

Concerning the death penalty, Timor-Leste is part

of a cross-regional initiative calling for a moratorium.

We note that the trend towards the worldwide abolition

of the death penalty continues.

As for the situation in Darfur, Timor-Leste

commends the African Union, the United Nations, all

those in Government and those individuals who have

done their very best to end the suffering of the people

in that region suffering that is now compounded by

natural calamity. In the midst of such a tragedy, we can

find some consolation and inspiration as we see

millions of people around the world crossing the

boundaries of religions and cultures and joining

together in solidarity with the victims of Darfur.

I now turn to the situation in Palestine. As a small

and newly independent nation and a friend of Israel,

Timor-Leste cannot remain indifferent to the suffering

of the Palestinian people, who have many times been

victims victims of Israel’s obstinate policies of

occupation and discrimination, victims of manipulation

by regional Powers and victims of their own sectarian

division and violence. While Timor-Leste does not

subscribe to the many one-sided anti-Israel resolutions

adopted over the years in various United Nations

bodies, the facts on the ground show a whole people

living on the edge of desperation as a result of decades

of humiliation, exclusion and violence. Timor-Leste

joins the rest of the international community in calling

for the implementation of the Road Map, leading to the

formal establishment of a viable Palestinian State.

With regard to Western Sahara, Timor-Leste is

encouraged and commends both Morocco and the

Frente POLISARIO for the recent talks held on Long

Island under the good offices of the United Nations.

Concerning indigenous peoples’ rights, more than

500 years ago long after Chinese navigators and

explorers had circumnavigated the globe European

kings, navigators, missionaries, adventurers and

mercenaries began the great European conquest of the

world. In the process, tens of millions of people were

subjugated and colonized, fortunes and empires were

made at the expense of the peoples with whom they

came into contact and new diseases were brought into

the new colonies. Slavery uprooted at least 10 million

from the African continent. Millions of indigenous

peoples were decimated by wars and diseases. Their

demise and their lands gave birth to new nations that

were alien to their sacred birthplaces. This very island

of Manhattan was once the sovereign home of Native

Americans.

That is all part of the history of the world: the

history of European conquest, with its glory and

tragedy. Timor-Leste commends the General Assembly

for finally adopting the United Nations Declaration on

the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (resolution 61/295,

annex). That is the least we can do to redress the grave

injustices done to some of the earlier civilizations of

the world.

I now turn to the issue of United Nations reform.

Negotiations on reform of the United Nations system,

in particular of the Security Council, should begin.

Rather than seeking dramatic reforms, we may want to

adopt an incremental approach. The Council must be

incrementally expanded to include major Powers such

as India, Indonesia, Japan, Brazil, South Africa and

Germany. On the other hand, it is an absurdity that

Asia, which contains almost half of the world’s

population, should be so grossly underrepresented.