RIGHTS-INDONESIA: Lifting Of Arms Embargo Slammed

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Brian Kenety

BRUSSELS, Jan 18 2000 (IPS) - The European Union (EU) turned a deaf ear to protests and pleadings from human rights groups and announced this week that it would not extend a four-month arms embargo imposed on Indonesia last September.

A statement from the EU cited “historic changes” in Indonesia and applauded efforts made by the new elected Indonesian Government, “to strengthen the country’s democracy, to reform the military and judicial systems (…) and to solve its internal conflicts through dialogue rather than force”.

It said the situation would now be governed by the EU Code of Conduct regarding arms exports. This calls on the 15 member states to refuse to issue an export licence if there is a “clear risk” that the equipment will be used for internal repression.

On Jan 14, the London-based pressure group, Amnesty International (AI), appealed to the EU not to “resume the sale of arms or security equipment likely to be used to commit human rights violations in Indonesia”.

“By doing so, it (the EU) will risk condemning more people to human rights abuses at the hands of a security force equipped with weapons manufactured in Europe,” Amnesty International said.

The human rights watchdog said that while the newly-independent East Timor was now secure, “similar patterns of intimidation and killings which shocked the world and prompted the EU to impose military sanctions on Indonesia are being repeated in parts of Indonesia”.

“In this highly volatile period of political transition, how can the EU be confident that transfers of armoured personnel carriers, machine guns and internal security equipment will not be used to commit human rights violations?” Amnesty asked.

On Aug 30, almost 80 percent of East Timor’s eligible voters chose independence from Indonesia in a United Nations-sponsored referendum.

Within days Indonesian army-backed militia members reportedly went on a rampage killing independence supporters, looting and burning homes, clinics and churches forcing thousands to flee.

In recent weeks, the Moluccan Islands (Maluku), located some 1600 kilometres to the northeast of Bali, have been the site of repeated bloody clashes between armed Christian and Muslim groups resulting in the death of hundreds of people. Partisans on each side have accused government security forces of directly supporting their adversaries.

“Misdeeds by security forces alone are not responsible for the tragic outbreak of communal violence in the region, but it is imperative that the government set the record straight,” said Joe Saunders, deputy Asia director of the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW).

The Government says more than 1,300 people have been killed since the violence began a year ago but human rights groups say the figure is much higher.

Medecins Sans Frontiers (Doctors Without Borders) reports that more than 100,000 people have been displaced by the conflict within the Maluku region and that at least another 80,000 have fled to the neighbouring Sulawesi Island group.

Last month the HRW released a 19-page report, “East Timor: Forced Expulsions to West Timor and the Refugee Crisis,” based on interviews with over 100 East Timorese returnees in transit centers in Dili, the capital of East Timor.

The report documents the continuing obstacles to the return of East Timorese refugees in West Timor and other parts of Indonesia.

These include death threats against families seeking to leave, attacks on convoys heading back for East Timor and militia-spread disinformation portraying East Timor as a desperate and dangerous place.

In adopting a resolution on Indonesian on Dec 16, the European Parliament called on the new government to find a peaceful solution to the situation in Aceh, on the Moluccan Islands, West Papua and other parts of Indonesia. The resolution urges the authorities to bring to account those responsible for human rights violations in those territories and also in East Timor.