The East Timor ordeal: International law and its limits

Abstract

This article summarizes the ordeal of East Timor since 1975 by primary reference to international law and the evolving notion of international criminality. From such a perspective, it regards the Indonesian invasion and annexation of East Timor to be a flagrant example of international aggression comparable to that of Iraq against Kuwait. The central question is raised as to why the United Nations did so much to restore Kuwaiti sovereignty in 1991 and so little on behalf of East Timor in the more than two decades since 1975. In its essence, East Timor's struggle for independence involved a most difficult transition from its status as a Portuguese colony. The Indonesian annexation of East Timor disrupted the process of decolonization, but did not alter its essential character. Unresolved at this point is the question about whether the atrocities inflicted on the people of East Timor in 1999 will be sufficient cause for any further action by the United Nations. The earlier period of Indonesian criminality, associated with the events of 1975, seems unlikely to be scrutinized with a view to establishing a criminal tribunal even as pressure builds to convene a tribunal to consider charges against surviving members of the Khmer Rouge considered responsible for the massive genocide in Cambodia that occurred at roughly the same time. If victimization is measured by the proportion of the population, then the events in East Timor appear as serious as those in Cambodia, and as deserving of legal scrutiny.