g7+ and the New Deal: Country-Led and Country-Owned Initiatives: a Perspective from Timor-Leste

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Notes

¹ After four hundred years of occupation, 24 years of war and three years of a United Nations Transitional Administration, sovereignty was restored to the Timorese people in 2002. East Timor declared independence from Portugal on November 28, 1975. It was invaded and occupied by Indonesian forces just days later, and was declared Indonesia's 27th province the following year. A campaign of pacification over the next 24 years saw as many as 250,000 individuals lose their lives. In a referendum supervised by the United Nations on August 30, 1999, an overwhelming majority of Timorese voted for independence from Indonesia. In the weeks that followed, however, the Indonesian military launched a campaign of retribution in which an estimated 1,400 Timorese died, 300,000 became refugees in western Timor, and countless homes and utilities infrastructure were destroyed. Weeks later, Australian-led troops entered the country and brought the violence to an end. Indonesia ratified Timor-Leste's secession on October 20, 1999. Timor-Leste was administered by the United Nations from October 25, 1999, until independence. On May 20, 2002, Timor-Leste was internationally recognised as a sovereign state.

² The g7+ group is the country-owned and country-led global mechanism to monitor, report and draw attention to the unique challenges faced by conflict-affected countries. To date, there are 17 member countries: Afghanistan, Burundi, Central Africa Republic, Chad, Cote d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Liberia, Papua New Guinea, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Solomon Islands, South Sudan, Timor-Leste and Togo.

³ In implementing the New Deal, the g7+ believes that the term ‘inclusive politics’ is better communicated in the intention of Peacebuilding and Statebuilding Goals. The original term ‘legitimate politics’ will need to be reviewed in future meetings of the International Dialogue.